You may have come to this website because you have been invited to take part in the New Zealand Health Survey, and want to find out more about it.
Every year about 9,000 New Zealand households take part in the survey.
Addresses from across New Zealand are chosen at random, with different households invited to take part in the survey each month.
From each selected household, one adult and one child will be invited to take part in the survey (a parent or guardian can complete the survey on behalf of the child).
The survey collects information about common health conditions and diseases, health services used, and factors that affect New Zealanders’ health.
This information is used to give a picture of the health of New Zealanders, and how we use health services such as GPs and hospitals. It will also enable us to develop better health programmes and services.
Information about the survey is available to download in various languages on this page.
About the interview
The interview takes about 45 minutes for adults and about 25 minutes for children.
Households get a letter from the Ministry of Health inviting them to take part in the survey, and then get a visit from an interviewer to see if they want to take part. The letter will have a contact telephone number in case you prefer to arrange a time for the interviewer to visit you.
If you choose to take part, the interview will take place in your home.
The interview will be carried out by trained interviewers from a company called Ipsos New Zealand. Ipsos New Zealand is a company experienced in carrying out surveys.
During the interview, the interviewer will ask a series of questions and also ask to measure your height and weight. All the information collected is valuable for the survey, but if you would prefer not to be measured, just let the interviewer know.
Overall results from the survey will be published on the Ministry of Health website.
Your privacy
The information you give to the interviewer is protected by the Privacy Act 2020 and won’t be discussed with anyone and no one else will know that you have taken part in the survey.
The answers you give are added to other people’s answers to create grouped results, so your information cannot be traced to you.
At the end of the interview, you will be asked permission to combine the valuable information you have provided in your survey responses with other information routinely collected by government agencies – such as education, income, and housing information. This combined data helps better understand and improve the health and wellbeing of New Zealanders.
If you give permission, the Ministry of Health will share the survey information with Statistics NZ (Stats NZ) to support official statistics and research under the Data and Statistics Act 2022 .
This includes securely linking the information you provided with other data in Stats NZ’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). This helps researchers explore more complex issues.
Stats NZ will:
- Use your information only for approved research and statistical purposes.
- Keep your identity confidential, in line with the Statistical Confidentiality rules in the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
- Control access to the data under strict legal and ethical guidelines.
More information about how your data is kept secure
- Respondents information would be shared with Stats NZ for the purposes of official statistics and research under Part 5 of the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
- Once collected, Stats NZ would link information about the respondents and their responses with other data collected by Stats NZ to form integrated datasets, including but not limited to integration into the IDI.
- Once collected by Stats NZ, all disclosure, including publication, of this data will comply with the Statistical Confidentiality requirements in Subpart 5 of the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
- If the Data is used for research purposes within Stats NZ, the access to the data for that purpose will be governed according to Part 5 of the Data and Statistics Act 2022.
No information that could directly identify you or your child will be published or shared with researchers outside these protections.
Your information will always remain confidential.
Need more information?
For more information about the New Zealand Health Survey, contact Ipsos, the company carrying out the interviews, on 0800 478 783.
