An annual report on the Waikato region’s state of wellbeing notes some significant positive and negative trends for the 2022 update.

The update of the Waikato Progress Indicators (WPI) – Tupuranga Waikato was presented to the Strategy and Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday (6 September 2022).

The WPI scorecard, which is a summary of 32 critical environmental, social, cultural, and economic indicator trends over the last 15 years, showed 12 improving trends, 11 worsening trends and nine trends with no significant change.

Significant positive trends were seen in road safety, increased building activity, improved air quality, higher average incomes and better educational attainment, while significant negative trends included poorer perceptions of community engagement, more waste to landfill, higher water use and lower frequency of physical activity.

The report also compared the Waikato region with the New Zealand average on specific key indicators, with the Waikato ahead in te reo Māori speakers, social connectedness, physical activity, community pride, community engagement, life expectancy and building activity, and below in road safety, crime, regional GDP, income and recycling.

Report author Dr Beat Huser said the results of the WPI programme, which annually monitors a range of publicly available data, provided a robust basis to discuss regional challenges and identify priorities for action and partnerships. The results are shared at a national, regional and local level, including the Government, the Waikato Plan, Waikato Wellbeing Project, and Momentum Waikato.

“It’s like taking the pulse of the region, and if you see there is something wrong then you can undertake further tests and analysis and try to do something about it.”

Strategy and Policy Committee members noted that there was a lot of work to do within the region and the report did not show much to celebrate.

However, Dr Huser told the councillors that the devil lay in the detail, and the WPI only scratched the surface.

“As the name suggests, indicators are only indicating. They summarise complex data into a single number but often mask underlying issues. Additional data and more detailed analysis is required to provide actionable insights, for example at a local level or about a particular issue.”

All indicators and other WPI information products are published on the Waikato Regional Council website: waikatoregion.govt.nz/wpi.

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