Infant mortality inequities for Māori in New Zealand: a tale of three policies

Table 1 Differences between Māori and non-Māori populations in major public health and demographic criteria

Health and demographic criteria	Māori	Non-Māori	Difference
Life expectancy (years), 2012–2014	73.0 (male) 77.1 (female)	80.3 (male) 83.9 (female)	7.3 (male) 6.8 (female)
Amenable mortality^{Footnote 2} (rate ratios Māori: Non-Māori), 2015	~ 2 (male) 2.39 (female)	~ 1 (male) 1.00 (female)	2: 1 2.39: 1
Infant mortality (deaths per 1000 live births per year), 2012–2014	5.8	4.6	1.2
Total fertility rate (live births per 1000 women of reproductive age per year), 2014	2.34	1.92 (total NZ population)	0.42
Percent aged < 15 years, 2013	33.7%	18.0%	15.7%
Percent school completion (level 2 +, 15+ years), 2013	45.1%	64.3%	19.2%
Percent unemployed (15+ years), 2013	10.4%	4.0%	6.4%
Percent total personal income < $10,000 (15+ years), 2013	24.1%	18.4%	5.7%
Percent receiving income support (15+ years), 2013	30.4%	13.8%	16.6%
Percent household crowding, 2013	18.6%	7.7%	10.9%

Values derived from the New Zealand Ministry of Health and Stats NZ, which had the most recent publicly available data as of 2019 [9,10,11]Footnote
According to Stats NZ, Pacific Islander life expectancies were similar to Māori rates. Male life expectancy was 78.7 years for females and 74.5 years for males in 2012-2014 [11].