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Table 3.2: Living standards and production and consumption patterns in New Zealand and selected OECD countries.
Indicator Unit measured * Year New Zealand Australia Canada Japan Mexico Norway Turkey United Kingdom United States All OECD** World**
Economy
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person 4, 6 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in US$ 1995 16,851 19,354 21,031 21,795 7,383 22,672 5,691 17,756 26,438 19,410 A ca 6,000 A
Total GDP (measured as expenditure) 4, 6 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in billion US$ 1995 60 350 623 2,730 673 99 351 1,041 6,956 18,946 T ca 24,000 T
Past economic growth 4 average percentage GDP increase per year 1985-95 1.7 3 2.2 3 1.6 2.6 4.4 2.2 2.5 2.2 M md
Present economic growth 4, 6 percentage GDP increase per year 1995-96 1.2 4.1 1.5 3.6 4 5.1 7.5 2.4 2.4 2.4 M md
Primary sector (farming, forestry, fishing etc) 3, 6 as percentage of GDP 1991-94 7 3 2 2 7 3 16 2 2 3 A 6 A
Secondary (manufacturing, building, energy) 3, 6 as percentage of GDP 1991-94 26 28 26 40 29 35 33 28 26 31 A 36 A
Tertiary sector (services) 3, 6 as percentage of GDP 1991-94 67 69 72 58 64 62 51 71 72 66 A 58 A
International tourism 4 as percentage of GDP 1995 3.9 2 1.4 0.1 2.2 1.6 2.9 1.7 0.9 1.2 A md
Trade dependency 6 exports as percentage of GDP 1993 24 15 30 9 8.8 31 9.8 22 7 14 A 16 A
Subsidy equivalents to agriculture 4 as percentage of agricultural production 1996 3 9 22 71 13 71 30 - 16 36 A md
Consumer Prices 4 percentage change over a year 1995-96 2.5 1.5 2.2 0.6 27.7 1.8 79.8 2.5 3.3 4.7 A md
Short-term standardised interest rates 3 percent 1995 8.6 7.4 5.8 0.5 49.2 5.4 98.0 6.5 5.6 md md
Energy and transport
Consumer energy 2 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) per person 1993 3.1 3.5 5.7 2.5 1.1 4.3 0.8 2.6 5.4 3.2 A 1 A
Primary energy 2, 4 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) per person 1994-95 4.3 5.2 7.9 4 1.5 5.5 1 3.8 7.9 4.7 A 1.4 A
  • Fossil fuels (i.e. coal,oil, gas) 4, 5
 percent of primary energy 1995 68 94 74 81 87 53 84 88 86 83 A 85 A
  • Nuclear energy 4, 5
 percent of primary energy 1995 0 0 11 15 2 0 0 10 9 11 A 7 A
  • Renewables (e.g. hydro, geothermal, wood) 4, 5
 percent of primary energy 1995 32 6 15 4 15 11 16 1 5 6 A 9 A
Energy intensity 2, 4 primary energy (TOE) per million US$ GDP 1994-95 310 280 380 160 480 170 350 210 340 250 A 150 A
Gross CO2 emissions from energy use 4 tonnes per person 1993-95 8 16 16 9 4 8 2 10 20 11 A 4 A
Motor vehicle abundance 2 licensed vehicles per 100 people 1993 55 57 60 51 1 46 6 42 75 50 A md
Motor vehicle use 2 kilometres driven per person per year 1993 7,184 7,986 8,625 5,698 592 5,995 5,211 7,600 14,350 1,345 A md
Consumption patterns and waste
Printing and writing paper consumed 6 tonnes per 1,000 people 1992 47.8 43.3 84.9 75.9 8.1 37.9 3.3 56.2 86.6 58.6 A 14.1 A
Televisions 6 per 1,000 people 1992 443 482 640 614 149 424 176 435 815 528 A 151 A
Mobile cellular phone subscribers 6 per 1,000 people 1992 29 28 35 14 3 65 1 26 43 22 A md
Solid waste generation 2,8 kilograms per person per year 1992-95 400*** 400*** 660 410 310 510 400 350 *** 730 400 M md
Environment and resource use
Land area 5 millions of hectares 1995 27 771 998 38 196 32 78 25 981 3,459 T 13,098 T
  • Farmed land (crops and pasture) 5
 percentage of land area 1991-93 52 60 8 14 52 3 47 72 45 37 A 38 A
  • Forested land (natural and planted) 5
 percentage of land area 1991-93 28 19 45 67 26 39 26 10 31 33 A 32 A
  • Major protected areas 5
 percentage of land in IUCN categories I to V 1994 22 12 8 7 5 17 1 21 13 8 M 7 A
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 5 marine fishery area in millions of hectares 1995 483 450 294 386 285 203 24 179 971 4,338 T md
Ecological footprint (land and sea area needed hectares per person to supply resources and absorb wastes) 7 hectares per person 1996 9.8 8.1 7 6.3 2.3 5.7 1.9 4.6 8.4 5.7 M 2.3 A
Economy
Population4 millions of people 1995 3.6 18.1 29.6 125.3 91.1 4.4 61.6 58.6 263.1 976.1 T 5,716.4 T
Population density 5 persons per square kilometre (=100 hectares) 1995 13 2 3 332 49 14 81 241 28 28 A 44 A
Urban population 5 as percentage of total population 1995 86 85 77 78 75 73 69 89 76 77 A 45 A
Household size 1 average number of persons per household latest **** 2.9 3 2.7 3 5.1 2.2 4.5 2.7 2.6 2.9 A md
Human development ranking 6 rank in UNDP Human Development Index (HDI) 1993 14 11 1 3 48 5 84 16 2 na na
Health and health services
Infant mortality 4 per 10,000 live births 1994-95 72 57 63 43 170 40 468 62 80 60 M 630 A
Maternal mortality 6 per 100,000 live births 1993 25 9 6 18 110 6 180 9 12 33 A 307 A
Male life expectancy 4, 6 probable longevity at birth 1995 74 75 75 76 70 75 65 74 73 73 A 61 A
Female life expectancy 4, 6 probable longevity at birth 1995 79 81 81 83 76 81 70 80 79 80 A 65 A
Deaths from heart disease (males) 6 per 1,000 males aged over 65 1990-93 35 34 md 21 md 34 md md md 31 A md
Deaths from heart disease (females) 6 per 1,000 females aged over 65 1990-93 34 37 md 26 md 31 md md md 30 A md
Cancer deaths (males) 6 per 1,000 males aged over 65 1990-93 25 25 md 25 md 22 md md md 24 A md
Cancer deaths (females) 6 per 1,000 females aged over 65 1990-93 18 17 md 16 md 16 md md md 17 A md
Road accident deaths 4 per 100,000 of population 1994-95 16 11 11 '10 md 7 14 6 16 12 M md
Suicides (males) 6 per 100,000 people 1989-93 24 21 21 22 md 21 md md 20 21 M md
Suicides (females) 6 per 100,000 people 1989-93 6 5 6 11 md 8 md md 5 7 M md
Doctors 4, 6 per 10,000 people 1991-95 21 22 22 18 16 28 12 16 26 27 M 20 A
Hospital beds 4 per 10,000 people 1991-95 7 9 5 16 1 14 3 5 4 7 M md
Total health spending 4 as percentage of GDP 1991-95 8 9 10 7 5 6 3 7 14 8 M md
Health spending per person 4 expenditure per person in US$ (PPP) 1991-95 1,203 1,741 2,049 1,581 386 1,821 272 1,246 3,701 1,581 M md
Government share of total health spending 3, 4 as percentage of total expenditure 1991-95 76 67 72 79 57 83 50 86 46 78 M md
Food and nutrition
Food versus other spending 1 percent of household spending going on food latest **** 16 19 13 24 37 24 33 19 11 20 M 39 M
Daily available calories 1 calories per person 1988-90 3,460 3,302 3,242 2,021 3,061 3,221 3,197 3,270 3,642 3,421 A 2,582 A
Excess calories 1 percentage above FAO recommendations 1992 39 20 16 24 35 21 36 32 41 34 A 19 A
Pure fats and oils (animal and vegetable) 1 percent of total calorie intake 1980-90 16 14 19 11 13 17 16 11 18 17 A 10 A
Animal products (excl. fish and pure fats) 1 percent of total calorie intake 1980-90 28 31 25 12 14 24 5 27 26 22 A 12 A
Starches (e.g. cereals and potatoes) 1 percent of total calorie intake 1980-90 25 27 26 42 47 32 52 28 24 32 A 57 A
Alcohol consumption 6 litres per person per year 1991 7.8 7.7 7.1 6.3 md 4.1 md 7.4 7 8.1 A md
Grains fed to livestock 5 percent of total grain consumption 1994 47 60 76 46 38 66 31 50 68 60 M 38 A
Employment and unemployment
Primary sector (farming, forestry, fishing) 3 percent of total employment 1994 10 5 4 6 26 6 45 2 3 6 M md
Secondary (manufacturing, building, energy) 3 percent of total employment 1994 25 24 23 34 22 23 22 26 24 27 M md
Tertiary sector (services) 3 percent of total employment 1994 65 71 73 60 52 71 33 72 73 65 M md
Part-time employment 4 percent of total employment 1995 22 25 19 20 26 27 17 24 19 19 M md
Unemployment rate 3 percent of workforce seeking and available for work 1994 8 10 10 3 4 5 8 10 6 8 A md
Income distribution
Household income inequality 6 income ratio of top 20 percent of households to bottom 20 percent 1981-91 8.8 9.6 7.1 4.3 3.6 5.9 md 9.6 8.9 6 M md
Income share of top 10 percent 1 percent of national income latest **** 29 28 24 32 38 27 42 28 33 27 M 32 M
Income share of bottom 40 percent 6 percent of national income 1981-91 16 16 18 22 12 19 md 15 16 18 M md
Income share of bottom 20 percent 1 percent of national income latest **** 5 5 6 11 4 3 4 5 4 5 M 5 M
Women's income share 6 percent of national income earned by women 1993 38 39 37 33 24 41 22 34 40 34 M 32 A
Women's position
Status of women 6 rank in UNDP's Gender Development Index (GDI) 1993 10 9 2 12 46 3 61 14 4 na na
Empowerment of women 6 rank in UNDP's Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) 1993 5 15 6 37 31 1 92 18 9 na na
  • Women in parliament 6
 percent of seats held by women 1993 21 14 18 7 14 39 2 8 10 14 M 12 A
  • Women in management 6
 percent of all managers and administrators 1993 32 43 42 9 20 31 7 33 42 20 M 14 A
  • Women in professions 6
 percent of all professional and technical workers 1993 48 25 46 42 44 58 29 44 53 47 M 39 A
Crime
Police 1 per 1,000 people latest **** 159 222 12 208 md 152 64 238 314 159 M md
Reported assaults (including murder) 1 per 100,000 people latest **** 318 377 162 16 38 96 25 365 450 65 M md
Reported burglaries 1 per 100,000 people latest **** 2,942 1,963 1,674 188 md 74 md 2,404 1,099 1,098 M md
Education and science
Expenditure on education 3, 6 percentage of GDP 1992-94 7 6 7 5 4 7 3 4 7 5 M 5 A
  • Expenditure per primary student 4
 US $ (PPP) 1995 2,659 2,985 md 3,960 741 md 832 3,295 5,492 2,985 M md
  • Expenditure per secondary student 4
 US $ (PPP) 1995 3,951 4,871 md 4,356 1,477 md 587 4,494 6,541 4,632 M md
  • Expenditure per tertiary student 4
 US $ (PPP) 1995 7,337 9,036 11,132 7,556 4,264 8,343 2,696 8,241 14,607 7,447 M md
Pupil teacher ratios (primary) 1, 6 students per teacher 1992 18.5 18.4 17.8 19.7 29.6 12.9 29.3 19.6 20.1 18 M 30 A
Pupil teacher ratios (secondary) 1, 6 students per teacher 1992 13.4 12.4 17.8 17.2 17.7 11 25.6 13.7 12 13 M 20 A
Mathematics achievement score 4 average national score in TIMSS survey ***** 1996 508 530 527 605 md 503 md 505 500 519 M md
Adults with upper secondary school education 4 percentage of 25-64 olds 1993 34 27 28 md md 53 13 54 53 38 M md
Adults with tertiary education 4 percentage of 25-64 olds 1993 23 23 46 md md 27 7 21 32 21 M md
Current tertiary students 3 full-time students per 1,000 people 1993-94 28 23 41 29 15 32 19 18 31 26 M md
Tertiary science enrolment 6 as percentage of total tertiary enrolment 1992 20 26 16 22 34 20 23 28 17 21 A 25 A
Scientists and technicians 4 per 10,000 of the labour force 1991-94 37 64 52 <99 4 69 7 51 74 47 M md
Research and development (R&D) spending 4 US$ (PPP) per head of population 1994 157 305 330 601 382 370 19 379 646 310 M md

Sources:

1 Encyclopaedia Britannica (1996);

2 OECD (1995);

3 OECD (1996);

4 OECD (1997);

5 World Resources Instutute (1996);

6 United Nations Development Programme (1996)

T=total A=average M=midpoint (median) md=missing data na=not applicable

* In most cases, rates and percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

** Excludes Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and South Korea because of insufficient data.

*** NZ data are for 'residential' waste. Data for Australia and the UK are for 'household municipal' waste. All others are for 'municipal' waste (i.e. waste from households and small businesses disposed of through municipal collections or facilities).

**** 'Latest' data are the most recent available, with most dating from the early 1990s but some dating from the 1980s.

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