Environmental Health Indicators

Social vulnerability indicators for natural hazards

This section presents a set of social vulnerability indicators that we have developed for natural hazards, pandemics and other emergencies in New Zealand for 2018.

These indicators help identify areas with people who are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of natural hazards, pandemics and other emergencies. These indicators provide valuable information for action for the health sector, local authorities, and government agencies.

Latest 23 Aug 2024: We have published a national report on social vulnerability to the impacts of climate-related hazards, to inform the Climate Change Commission's work. There is also a new section on our website for social vulnerability.

We have developed a set of social vulnerability indicators for natural hazards, pandemics and other emergencies in New Zealand. Data for the indicators mostly come from the 2018 Census. The indicators are based on specific dimensions of social vulnerability. The indicators build on a set of social vulnerability indicators for flooding that we developed using 2013 Census data.

These social vulnerability indicators provide important information for action. They can inform planning, response, and recovery for natural hazards and pandemics (such as COVID-19).

We published the report 'Social vulnerability to the impacts of climate-related hazards in Aotearoa New Zealand' in August 2024. This report presents national results for individual social vulnerability indicators for New Zealand, including changes over time, maps by territorial authority, and differences by key population groups where possible. The social vulnerability indicators mostly draw on 2013 and 2018 Census data.

Download report:
Social vulnerability to the impacts of climate-related hazards in Aotearoa New Zealand (pdf, 9.54 MB) (Aug 2024)

Download appendix:
Heatmap of social vulnerability indicator data (at the territorial authority level) (pdf, 397 KB) (Aug 2024)

This report was commissioned by the Climate Change Commission, and informed their first national adaptation plan progress report. View the Climate Change Commission's report.

This Story Map lets you explore interactive maps of the Social Vulnerability Indicators for New Zealand for 2018. Indicators are presented for each dimension of social vulnerability, with rationale about why they are important for social vulnerability. Indicators are mostly presented at the Statistical Area 2 (SA2) level (neighbourhood level).

Visit the Story Map for the Social Vulnerability Indicators for New Zealand 2018

This Data Explorer is a tool for local authorities, the health sector, and government agencies, to help explore social vulnerability indicators for New Zealand.

This tool presents the indicator data in interactive tables, heatmaps, and geographic maps. Indicator data is available at the SA2, territorial authority, district health board and Auckland local board area level.

Visit the Data Explorer for the Social Vulnerability Indicators for New Zealand 2018

Indicator data and heatmaps for New Zealand

Social vulnerability indicator data is now available to download for both 2018 and 2013. Indicator data are available for a range of geographies, including SA2 (for 2018 data), area unit (AU2013 for 2013 data), territorial authority, Auckland local board areas, and District Health Boards. Indicator data are mainly from the 2018 and 2013 Censuses.

2018 indicator data

Social vulnerability indicators 2018 - heatmaps by SA2 (Dec 2021) (xlsx, 4.2MB): This SVI heatmap dataset provides summary social vulnerability indicator data for 2018 by SA2, for Civil Defence regions and territorial authorities. Indicator data are presented as summary 'heatmaps', to show indicators at a glance. The updated dataset (Dec 2021) now includes indicators about single-parent households, one-person households, older adults living alone, and households with children.

Figure 1: Example of social vulnerability indicators 'heatmap'

Heatmaps are also available as pdfs for each CDEM region:
- Northland (Dec 2021) (pdf, 551KB)
- Auckland (Dec 2021) (pdf, 2677KB)
- Waikato (Dec 2021) (pdf, 1159KB)
- Bay of Plenty (Dec 2021) (pdf, 767KB)
- Tairawhiti (Dec 2021) (pdf, 246KB)
- Hawke's Bay (Dec 2021) (pdf, 533KB)
- Taranaki (Dec 2021) (pdf, 376KB)
- Manawatu-Whanganui (Dec 2021) (pdf, 741KB)
- Wellington (Dec 2021) (pdf, 1063KB)
- Nelson-Tasman (Dec 2021) (pdf, 362KB)
- Marlborough (Dec 2021) (pdf, 219KB)
- West Coast (Dec 2021) (pdf, 239KB)
- Canterbury (Dec 2021) (pdf, 1460KB)
- Otago (Dec 2021) (pdf, 687KB)
- Southland (Dec 2021) (pdf, 359KB)

Summary heatmaps show the social vulnerability indicators at a regional level:
- Heatmap by District Health Board (Dec 2021) (pdf, 193KB)
- Heatmap by territorial authority (Dec 2021) (pdf, 397KB)
- Heatmap of languages spoken, by territorial authority (Dec 2021) (pdf, 326KB)

Social vulnerability indicators 2018 - full indicator dataset (Dec 2021) (xlsx, 8.5MB): This full indicator dataset provides the full set of social vulnerability indicators for 2018, by SA2, territorial authority, Auckland local board areas, and District Health Board (where possible). Data about population demographics are also included. The indicator data comes mainly from the 2018 Census. The updated dataset (Dec 2021) includes additional indicators about households.

Metadata for social vulnerability indicators SVI2018 (Dec 2021) (pdf, 236KB): This document provides details of the SVI2018 dataset, as at December 2021. This includes definitions of individual indicators, and a summary of the information in the indicator dataset.

2013 indicator data

Social vulnerability indicators 2013 - heatmap and territorial authority summary (Oct 2019) (xlsx, 6.8MB): This dataset provides summary social vulnerability indicator data for 2013 by area unit (AU2013) and territorial authority, for the whole of New Zealand. Indicator data are presented as summary 'heatmaps', to show indicators at a glance.

Social vulnerability indicators 2013 - full indicator dataset (Oct 2019) (xlsx, 37MB): This dataset provides the full set of social vulnerability indicators for 2013, by meshblock (MB2013), area unit (AU2013) and territorial authority (where possible). Data about population demographics, languages spoken, and population projections have also been included. The indicator data is mainly from the 2013 Census.

Geospatial data

The social vulnerability indicators are available as an ArcGIS Online REST service. These data are for 2018, and are at the SA2 level. View the REST service.

Shapefiles for the social vulnerability indicators 2018 are also available upon request. Please email Kylie Mason (k.mason@massey.ac.nz) or the EHI team (ehinz@massey.ac.nz).

The social vulnerability indicators measure the following dimensions of social vulnerability:

Exposure: direct exposure, indirect exposure
Susceptibility: children; older adults; people with physical health needs; people with mental health needs; people with a disability
Lack of resilience: enough money to cope with crises/losses; social connectedness; knowledge, skills and awareness to face hazards; safe, secure and healthy housing; enough food and water to cope with shortage; decision-making and leadership.

These dimensions come from a conceptual framework that we developed for social vulnerability to flooding (Figure 1) [1], which was based on previous work [2, 3, 4].

This conceptual framework for social vulnerability can be used for other natural hazards and emergencies such as pandemics.

Figure 1: Conceptual framework for social vulnerability to natural hazards [1]

This conceptual framework takes into account that natural hazards can have a large impact on people's health and wellbeing, through:

injuries and/or death
illness (eg due to contact with contaminated water)
worsening of existing health conditions (such as heart disease, diabetes, asthma)
poorer mental health.

People can also be impacted by disruption to lifeline infrastructure, including transport networks, electricity, telecommunications, safe drinking water, food supplies, and health services.

Natural hazards can also damage houses, property and cars, and lead to ongoing issues to housing (such as damp and mouldy houses, and displacement).

Information about the 2018 indicator data

Data for the Social Vulnerability Indicators 2018 come from the 2018 Census of Populations and Dwellings, the 2018 New Zealand Index of Deprivation (NZDep2018) [5], local body election voter turnout statistics [6], and tourism spending data [7]. This work includes customised data from Stats NZ, which are licensed by Stats NZ for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.

The 2018 Census suffered from implementation problems, resulting in lower response rates than expected. Given this, we have only used data of at least moderate quality (as determined by Stats NZ and the External Data Quality Panel) that we also considered would be of sufficient quality at the small area level. We have also included information about data quality for indicators. For indicators with missing data, the dataset includes the counts, percents among the total stated, unknown counts, and the lower and upper bounds of the percents.

As part of the original social vulnerability indicators project, several ways were identified to include social vulnerability into land use planning and local government, including District Plans. The following report is available:

Incorporating vulnerability into land use planning (pdf, 1.5MB): This report identifies ways of including social vulnerability into local government processes, including land use planning, Annual Plans and Long Term Plans. A case study of Porirua City Council is included, to give an example of how to include vulnerability into a District Plan. This report was authored by James Beban and Sarah Gunnell (Urban Edge Planning Ltd), as part of the social vulnerability indicators for flooding project.

Publications

Mason K, Lindberg K, Haenfling C, Schori A, Marsters H, Read D, Borman B. Social Vulnerability Indicators for Flooding in Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(8):3952. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18083952

Project reports on the 2013 Social Vulnerability Indicators can be found here. These documents include a research report, a toolkit for users, and a report on rationale, indicators and potential uses of the indicators.

Where to find out more

These indicators were developed by Environmental Health Intelligence NZ (EHINZ) at Massey University (Wellington campus).

For more information about the 2013 Social Vulnerability Indicators, see the EHI webpage: Social vulnerability indicators project

For further questions and information about these indicators, contact Kylie Mason (k.mason@massey.ac.nz) or the EHI team (ehinz@massey.ac.nz).

References

1. Mason KM, Lindberg K, Haenfling C, Schori A, Thomas KL, Popovich B, Faulkner R, Beban JG, Gunnell S, Marsters H, Read D, Borman B. 2019. Social vulnerability indicators for flooding in Aotearoa New Zealand: Research Report. Wellington: Environmental Health Indicators Programme, Massey University. Available from: https://www.ehinz.ac.nz/our-projects/social-vulnerability-indicators/

2. Birkmann J, Cardona OD, Carreno ML, Barbat AH, Pelling M, et al. 2013 Framing vulnerability, risk and societal responses: the MOVE framework. Natural Hazards 67: 193-211.

3. Wisner B, Gaillard J, Kelman I. 2012. Framing disaster: Theories and stories seeking to understand hazards, vulnerability and risk. In Handbook of Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction, ed. B Wisner, J Gaillard, I Kelman. London: Routledge.

4. Durie M. 1985. A Māori perspective of health. Social Science & Medicine 20: 483-86.

5. Atkinson J, Salmond C, Crampton P. 2019. NZDep2018 Index of Deprivation: Interim Research Report, December 2019. Wellington: University of Otago.

6. DIA. 2019. 2019 Local Authority Elections Statistics. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. URL: https://www.dia.govt.nz/Services-Local-Elections-Local-Authority-Election-Statistics-2019 (accessed May 2020).

7. MBIE. 2020. Monthly Regional Tourism Estimates (MRTEs) (Year to March). Wellington: Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. URL: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/immigration-and-tourism/tourism-research-and-data/tourism-data-releases/monthly-regional-tourism-estimates/ (accessed May 2020).