Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor | NZ Edition

Wellington, 24 May 2024 – Ipsos, one of the world’s leading market research companies releases the Cost of Living Monitor, a 32-country survey which tracks how people around the world feel about their finances. Key findings include:

• 1 in 4 (24%) of New Zealanders are finding it difficult to manage financially. This figure has remained stable over the past year. Back in May 2022, 20% said they were finding it financially difficult, and by February 2023 this figure stood at 26%. Across the 32-countries surveyed, on average, 26% of people are finding it difficult to manage financially.
  o    Just under half (45%) of New Zealanders say they are living comfortably/doing alright (c.f. 39% global country average).
• In addition, a quarter (25%) of New Zealanders believe their own standard of living will fall over the next year (c.f. 23% global country average).
• Over half (56%) of New Zealanders think inflation will continue to rise over the next year. However, this has decreased from 82% in 2022 and 71% in February 2023. It is also in line with the global country average (58%).
• New Zealand is among one of the countries most likely to also expect unemployment to rise over the next year (66% cf. 55% global country average). 
• Nearly half (48%) of New Zealanders expect their rent / mortgage spend to increase over the next six months. This compares to a global country average of 39%.
• In terms of other rising costs, many New Zealanders are expecting increases in the cost of food (73%), utilities (71%) and other household shopping costs (70%). Two-thirds (66%) also expect the cost of fuel to increase.
• New Zealand is among the countries where people are most likely to feel their disposable income will fall in the next year at 1 in 3 New Zealanders believing so (38% c.f. 29% global country average). The countries that share this sentiment with New Zealand are Türkiye, Hungary, and Argentina.
• New Zealanders believe the things contributing to rising cost of living in our country are the global economy (79% c.f. 70% global country average), our New Zealand interest rates (79% c.f. 68% global country average), national policies of governments (70% c.f. 68% global average) and businesses making excessive profits (69% c.f. 62% global average). These are also the most commonly agreed upon reasons across the global 32-country average.

Carin Hercock, Managing Director, Ipsos New Zealand, said: "More than half of New Zealanders cannot see an end to high inflation over the next 12 months. While this is a significant drop from the last two years, the impacts of high inflation are top of mind, and higher than the global average. Significant job losses in New Zealand’s public sector are likely contributing to the higher than average sentiment that unemployment is expected to rise, and more New Zealanders are expecting increases in rent and mortgage costs than their global counterparts”
 
Amanda Dudding, Research Director, Public Affairs, Ipsos New Zealand, added: “There’s no doubt that many New Zealanders will be watching the upcoming budget with interest given their concerns around the cost of living. It is still seen to be the biggest issue facing our country and New Zealanders are not optimistic with expectations of further rising day-to-day living costs, despite a quarter already saying they are struggling financially.” 
 

Ipsos has conducted this study as part of its Cost of Living Monitor to understand how people around the world feel about their finances. More than 24,000 people across 32 countries were surveyed, including 1,000 people aged 18+ in New Zealand.

About the Study
These are the results of a 32-country survey conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform and, in India, on its IndiaBus platform, between Friday, March 22 and Friday, April 5, 2024. For this survey, Ipsos interviewed a total of 24,801 adults aged 18 years and older in India, 18-74 in Canada, Republic of Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Türkiye, and the United States, 20-74 in Thailand, 21-74 in Indonesia and Singapore, and 16-74 in all other countries. 

Quotas were set to ensure representativeness and data have been weighted to the known population profile of each country. The sample consists of approximately 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, and Türkiye. The sample in India consists of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online. Samples in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the U.S. can be considered representative of their general adult populations under the age of 75. Samples in Brazil, Chile, mainland China, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, and Türkiye are more urban, more educated, and/or more affluent than the general population. The survey results for these countries should be viewed as reflecting the views of the more “connected” segment of their population.