StatsNZ has put up its year-end accounts for the government, split out across functional areas.
Their data goes back to 2009 in the main table; I’m sure earlier data’s available somewhere in Infoshare.
But sticking with the Excel sheet they’ve provided, we can lob in June-year population statistics and June quarter consumer price index values to get per capita real measures on operating expenditures net of finance cost and on spend in different functional areas.
Here’s per capita real central government operating expenditure net of interest expenses. Netting out interest expenditures is helpful if you want a handle on core government operating expenditure. Government can decide to take on less debt; it cannot decide to stop making its interest payments.
Throughout the 2010s (barring #eqnz), per capita real operating expenditure net of interest expenses ranged from $17,143 to $18,653 – with 2019’s jump to $18,653 being well out of line with the prior track. Labour substantially increased spending under its wellbeing focus – as was its prerogative.
Per capita real operating expenditure net of finance cost has been above $21,000 since then; the provisional figure for 2025 is $21,648.
Here’s the breakdown by functional categories. Let’s start with the bigger-ticket items.
The largest-spend category here by far is social protection: benefits and superannuation.
Spending on those has risen over the period and is now close to the peak that they hit during the GFC and Christchurch Earthquake. There was always going to be a slow rise in these with an aging population in the absence of reform to NZ Superannuation.
But remember that this is per capita, not per capita under the age of 25. And the proportion of under-25s has been dropping at the same time as the proportion of over-65s has been increasing.
The austerity really stands out in this picture. Can’t you see it too?
The category’s spend, pre-Covid, peaked in 2019 at just over $1,200 per capita. Now it’s just over $1,700 per capita.
Recreation, culture, and religion rose and has retrenched somewhat. I wonder what the heck is in the ‘religion’ category. But the apparently arts and culture hating National-led coalition is spending more in this category, in per capita real dollars, than Ardern ever did pre-Covid.
Environmental protection has been maintained at a slightly higher level than pre-Covid. Under the Key government environmental protection was around $160 per capita; pre-Covid Ardern had it around $175. Just look at that slash and burn from the environment-haters. It’s right there. Can’t you see it? That little downward tick in 2025?
We continue to be in substantial structural deficit.
