Expenditure - Average weekly household expenditure by item 2019–2023

The expenditure classification used is the New Zealand Household Expenditure Classification (NZHEC).
Each statistic from this survey is based on a sample and is subject to a sampling error.
All expenditure includes GST.

Household: a group of people who share a private dwelling and normally spend four or more nights a week in the household. They must share consumption of food, or contribute some portion of income towards essentials for living as a group.

For HES 2022/23, Stats NZ used the weights based on the 2018 Census population. As a result of this the number of households was revised downwards by 0.1 percent for the year ended June 2019, with the largest decrease in Auckland and the largest increase in the Bay of Plenty. Looked at in isolation, census rebasing led to minor changes in average household expenditures nationally. The 2018/19 figures used in the 2022/23 release are the revised figures.

https://datainfoplus.stats.govt.nz/item/nz.govt.stats/bb33039e-f49f-4d5d-90f1-d30d91fdadeb?_ga=2.162134655.2117623933.1711487856-1399521469.1678132138

In late January and mid-February 2023, Aotearoa New Zealand was affected by torrential rain and tropical cyclone Gabrielle. The adverse weather and resulting flooding caused significant damage and disrupted our usual collection activities across the North Island. Face-to-face interviews were completely suspended in these two regions. These regions collectively accounted for 5% of Aotearoa New Zealand’s population. As the timeline for resuming interviews remained uncertain then, statistical investigations were conducted to assess the potential impact of excluding data from these regions on the national expenditure.
Based on the analysis undertaken, omitting data from these regions did not exhibit any substantial difference in total expenditure for Aotearoa New Zealand. Consequently, missing data from these regions had minimal effect on national-level estimates with our current estimation procedure. Interviews in these two regions resumed towards the end of March 2023.

At URL provided, select 'Household expenditure statistics: Year ended June 2023' from under the 'Download Data' heading.

The household economic survey (HES) is an annual survey designed to measure the economic wellbeing of New Zealanders. HES has three components: HES income, HES expenditure, and HES net worth.
- HES income is the main vehicle, and it is run every year. It includes household income, housing costs, and material wellbeing – this is ‘core’ HES.
- HES expenditure includes additional components – an expenditure diary and an expanded household expenditure questionnaire. It runs every three years.
- HES net worth includes additional questions on household assets and liabilities. It also runs every three years.

HES data is used to:
- indicate the overall living standards and well-being of New Zealanders
- advise on income inequality and poverty
- help with decisions such as how changes to tax thresholds affect different types of households.

Data from HES (Expenditure) also feeds into vital economic measures for the country, such as the consumers price index, household living-costs price indexes, and gross domestic product. Data from HES (Expenditure) is also used to measure child poverty.

For the overall Household Economic Survey, the target achieved sample rate is 70% which is 20,000 responding households out of the 28,500 households that are initially selected. However, for the 2022/2023 HES, the achieved target sample size was reduced from 20,000 down to 15,000 households.
The final achieved sample in the overall HES 2022/2023 survey included 14,100 households (overall achieved sample rate of 67 percent).
The selected sample size for HES expenditure which covered detailed household expenditure, including the 1-week diary, was maintained at 5,500 households with a target of 3,500 households.