Summarised by Centrist
A report by Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law at the University of Waikato, provides an overview of New Zealand’s performance in various aspects in 2023. Gillespie cautions that: “It’s important to remember that this exercise is for fun and debate. International and domestic indices and rankings should be read with a degree of caution – measurements, metrics and numbers from 2023 tell us only so much.”
Nonetheless, he says “Given the change of government, it will be a useful benchmark for future progress reports”
Gillespie notes that New Zealand maintained a strong position in terms of democratic values and low corruption, ranking second in Transparency International’s index out of 180. It also scored well in political and civil liberties but experienced a slight decline in the Global Peace Index, ranking fourth out of 163 for safety and security.
While New Zealanders generally remained happy, economic freedom dropped slightly. Socially, child poverty seemed to stabilize, and public housing stock increased, but challenges in areas like suicide rates and incarceration persist.
