Disability - Disability in multiple domains by gender, ethnic group, age group, LGBTIQ+ status and region 2023

Functional domains are the aspects of human functioning that were assessed as part of a method for identifying disabled people in a data collection like a survey. If a disabled person had difficulty in two or more domains, they are counted as having 'Difficulty in multiple domains'. For adults (15 years are over) the domains are: seeing, hearing, walking, flexibility/dexterity, personal care, communication, concentrating, remembering, learning, intellectual disability, mental health, socialising, pain, and fatigue. For children 5–14 years old the domains are: seeing, hearing, walking, flexibility/dexterity, personal care, communication, concentrating, remembering, learning, intellectual disability, mental health, making friends, accepting change, and controlling behaviour. For children 2–4 years old the domains are: seeing, hearing, walking, flexibility/dexterity, communication, learning, controlling behaviour, developmental delay, and playing. For children 0–1 years old the domains are: seeing, hearing, flexibility/dexterity, developmental delay, and playing.

A disabled person in this survey is a person with a self-reported (or caregiver-reported for children) long-term difficulty in at least one of the functional domains for their age group. Where answer options are scaled, the amount of difficulty reported needs to meet a specified threshold.

People who only belong to an ethnic group other than European, Māori, Pacific, or Asian, or whose ethnic group is unknown, are included in the total column only. Ethnicity data comes from Census 2023.
People with a gender other than male or female, or where gender was not provided, are included in the total estimates only.

This dataset is only representative of people living in households. ‘Households’ refers to people who live alone or with others in either private dwellings or community-based residential care facilities (these are living arrangements where people are supported to live in the community). The survey did not survey people living in aged-care facilities and long-stay hospitals or in other non-private dwellings (eg, hotels, university halls, and prisons).

At URL provided, select 'Disability statistics: 2023 – experiences and outcomes of disabled people – updated'.

The 2023 Household Disability Survey (HDS) was designed to provide estimates of disability prevalence among people living in New Zealand households, and information about their experiences and needs.
The HDS is an important source of official statistics about disabled people in New Zealand and helps to show how well they are faring compared with non-disabled people.
The 2023 HDS sample was selected from the 2023 Census of Population and Dwellings (2023 Census).