WELLINGTON, July 15
(Xinhua) -- New Zealand's widening
wealth gap is having a major
impact on the country's sense
of "wellbeing, " according to the
country's first social
index.
The survey of 9,962
adult New Zealanders found that
compared with 22 European countries using
the same measures, New Zealand "
consistently ranks near the bottom" in
both personal and social
wellbeing.
AUT University, which
developed the index with the Sovereign
insurance company, claimed it was an
alternative to measuring a country's
success through economic indicators such
as GDP.
"A good GDP is
great, but it's a means to
an end. That end result is
wellbeing. The challenge is to enable
a society where people lead purposeful
and meaningful lives," study leader
Professor Grant Schofield said in a
statement.
New Zealand's worst
comparative result was in connecting
within communities, and it ranked at
the very bottom in terms of
people feeling close to others in
their local area.
"I
hadn't expected New Zealand to
be the best, but I hadn't
expected we'd do as badly as
we did. I think it comes down
to our comparative lack of social
connectedness and the fact that the
gap is growing between the haves
and the have-nots. We're not
the even and fair society we
once thought we were," said
Schofield.
"We need to start
having discussions about the New
Zealand we want to be, and how
we can start to achieve
that."
The main opposition
Labor Party said the survey confirmed
that the country's "current economic
conditions" were leading to the
exclusion of the poor.
"It
proves what we all instinctively know:
that New Zealand, which used to
pride itself on its egalitarian
spirit, has changed, " Labor social
development spokesperson Jacinda Ardern said
in a statement.
"One of
the biggest predictors of how well
a country and its people are
doing is its income gap. Right
now, New Zealand's is wider
than at any other time since
detailed records began."
