Environmental Health Indicators

Environmental health indicators and Māori

This section summarises the latest environmental health indicators related to Māori health, for selected domains.

You can find specific information and factsheets about Māori environmental health in the links to each indicator.

Māori population and the indoor environment

Indicator	Key findings
Maternal smoking	Smoking rates among Māori mothers have declined from 32.3% in 2009 to 19.5% in 2021.
Second-hand smoke exposure	While Māori were more likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke than non-Māori, rates have decreased. The rate of second-hand smoke exposure in the home for Māori children decreased from 9.2% in 2012/13 to 6.1% in 2015/16.
Asthma	Māori children had a higher asthma prevalence than non-Māori children in 2022/23. Māori children were 1.85 times as likely to have medicated asthma as non-Māori children, after adjusting for age and sex.
Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI)	Māori babies had five times the rate of SUDI as European/Other babies in 2015–19.

Indicator	Key findings
Vulnerability to climate change	Māori are likely to be more exposed to a changing climate given that many Māori live in the north and east of New Zealand where hot days are projected to increase. The Māori economy is heavily reliant on climate-sensitive primary industries.

Indicator	Key findings
Road traffic injury deaths and hospitalisations	Hospitalisation rates for road traffic injuries for Māori were lower in 2023 than in 2022, but remained significantly higher than other ethnic groups. For 2011–2020, Māori had significantly higher mortality rates for vehicle occupant, motorcyclist and pedestrian injuries than non-Māori.