Statistics about ageing

Demystifying who lives in care

According to Health New Zealand's quarterly reporting from care providers, 35,591 people were living in aged residential care in September 2023. In the 2023 Census, there were 828,600 people aged 65 and over recorded as living in New Zealand. This means fewer than 5% of people over 65 call a residential care facility home. People who move into aged residential care don't do so because they hit a certain age; it's because they require a higher level of care and support. In fact the average age of a person living in residential care is aged 85.

Basically, age on its own does not determine whether you need to move into a care home or not.

If you do need extra support as you get older, however, a care home is the perfect place to be. Residents in care homes across the country receive a great level of care, specific to their needs. Importantly, moving to a care home does not mean you will be lonely or isolated either. Based on interRAI statistics, 69% of residents spend most or some of their time involved in activities, and 91% gave strong and supportive family relationships.

Population stats

In Aotearoa, the number of older adults is steadily increasing (while the birth rate has been decreasing for the past few decades). According to the 2023 Census, there were 828,600 people aged 65+ living in New Zealand (16.6% of the population), up from 715,200 in 2018. According to projections from Stats NZ, it is expected to pass one million before the end of the decade. 

In fact, it is predicted that within the next few years there will be more people aged 65+ than children aged 0-14. By the mid 2030s, people aged 65 and older are expected to make up ~20% of the population. 

We are also living longer than any previous time in history too - as health outcomes in general continue to improve, so does our life expectancy. Around 1 in 9 people aged 65+ are currently aged 85 or over. By the 2050s, this is expected to be about 1 in 5. People aged 80+ are expected to become the largest group of older people by 2034, growing from about 208,300 in 2024 to 521,200 by 2049.

This brings with it some good things...

• Around one in four Kiwis over 65 are in the workforce.
• By 2036, it is predicted that those over the age of 65 will contribute $50 billion of consumer spending to the economy, $25 billion worth of unpaid or voluntary work, and $13 billion in taxes, every year.
• As our population ages, it is also getting increasingly diverse. All ethnic groups are ageing. The number of Māori  aged 65+ is likely to more than double, from 75,000 in 2025 to around 180,000 in 2048.

... as well as more challenging things...

•  Older people are currently more likely than any other age group to own their own home, but this is dropping for those aged 50-64. For older people who do own their own home, the numbers with mortgages are increasing. 
• The number of people aged 65+ on the public housing register has grown from 567 in 2016 to 3,270 in 2024, and the average wait to be housed has risen from 165 days to 394 days.
• As a result of families increasingly becoming displaced, coupled with people having fewer children, it is estimated that by 2034, people 65+ will make up 55% of all people living alone.
• Ageism continues to be a problem, with 20% of people aged 50 or older suggesting they have felt invisible because of their age.

interRAI stats

interRAI is an internationally recognised computer-based assessment programme and is used to assess the level of care and support an older person needs. Assessments are done in person in your home, aged residential care facility, hospital, or elsewhere in the community, and occasionally over the phone. As well as benefitting the individual being assessed, information from the interRAI assessments is used to improve services for all older people.

In New Zealand, there are six assessment instruments:

• Contact assessment (a brief initial assessment)
• Home Care Assessment (for people living at home with complex needs)
• Community Health Assessment (for people living at home with less complex needs)
• Long Term Care Facilities assessment (for people in aged residential care)
• Acute Care assessment (for people in hospital)
• Palliative Care assessment (for end-of-life care in aged care, hospice, or the community)

After being stripped of names, addresses, and any other identifying information, the data helps policymakers, healthcare professionals, and researchers find out more about the needs of older people.

Here are some statistics taken from interRAI’s 2019/2020 Annual Report that help show what an important tool interRAI is:

• In 2019/2020, over 122,400 interRAI assessments were completed throughout New Zealand. That is an average of 335 a day!
• In total, more than 670,000 assessments have been completed and are stored in interRAI’s data warehouse.
• In 2019/2020, 13% of women and 8% of men aged 65 and older have had at least one interRAI assessment.
• Every resident in aged residential care and every person receiving funded home care in New Zealand is assessed using interRAI.
• Of the assessments completed in 2019/2020, more than half were completed in aged residential care facilities (approx. 70,500). The 31,300 Home Care assessments were also completed, accounting for 25% of total assessments.
• Throughout the country, there are more than 5000 trained interRAI assessors. In response to the Alert Level 4 announcement in March 2020, interRAI services trained 329 new assessors in three months.