People receiving main benefits in New Zealand

Working age: Working-age clients are aged 18-64 years. This definition reflects the minimum age of eligibility for most main benefits and the age of qualification for New Zealand Superannuation. In some cases benefits may be received by individuals outside of 'working age' (i.e. 18-64 years). Examples of this include individuals being eligible for a benefit from a younger age, or people over 65 years receiving the Emergency Benefit due to residency issues impacting on their eligibility for superannuation.
Ethnic group: Ethnic group data is self-identified and multiple ethnic groups may be chosen by an individual as fits their preference or self-concept. Multiple selected groups are then prioritised into a hierarchy. The Māori ethnic group has the highest priority in this hierarchy, followed by Pacific peoples. NZ European has the lowest priority.
Continuous duration: The length of time the client has continuously been receiving any main benefit.
Other main benefits: Includes the remaining benefit categories such as Emergency Benefit and working-age Youth Payment/Young Parent Payment (YP/YPP).

https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/index.html#Technicalinformation2

From the quarter ended March 2025, data provided about Accommodation-related hardship payments have included non-recoverable grants for moving costs, security cover, other accommodation-related costs paid in advance, and other accommodation-related costs paid in arrears.
From 1 July 2023, the revised Child Support policy came into effect. This means that Child Support payments would be passed on, in full, by Inland Revenue to sole parent beneficiaries. This resulted in a smaller than usual increase in recipients of Temporary Additional Support (TAS) in the September 2023 quarter. The income received from Child Support payments meant that some sole parents were no longer eligible for TAS.

At URL provided, under Excel Tables, select 'National level data tables - June 2026'. All Recipients tables were combined into one tab for processing purposes by Figure.NZ.

The Benefit Fact Sheets provide a high-level view of trends in social welfare receipt, including Jobseeker Support, Supported Living Payment, Sole Parent Support and other main benefits.