The state of our health, wellbeing

Headline results from the latest government health survey are out. They show a dramatic decline in smoking, notably among young people. But as a nation we are still getting fatter, our mental health is declining, and one-fifth of adults have a drinking problem.

The Ministry of Health’s annual New Zealand Health Survey, conducted between July 2016 and June 2017, is a big piece of work. It involved face-to-face interviews with 12,000 adults and the parents or caregivers of 4000 children. That scale justifies a high level of confidence that its results represent the population as a whole.

The good news is that smoking rates continue to decline and there has been a dramatic drop in the number of teenagers taking up the habit. Ten years ago, 16 per cent of those in the 15-to-17 age group were smokers. Last year, it was 6.1 per cent. This year, it is down to just 3.9 per cent.

Smoking rates in the 18-to-24 age group have declined over the past decade from 28 per cent to 20 per cent. The fall is significant because research suggests that people who don’t start smoking before the age of 25 generally never take it up.

Overall, smoking rates for all age groups have declined from 20.1 per cent a decade ago to 15.7 per cent this year. The government policy to combat smoking by continually increasing taxes on tobacco seems to working.

But while New Zealanders are doing well at kicking the smoking habit, we keep on getting fatter. A decade ago, 26.5 per cent of New Zealanders were considered obese – that is with a body mass index (BMI) of more than 30. By last year, that had risen to 31.6 per cent. This year, it is up to 32.2 per cent.

It helps to know what a BMI of 30 looks like. It means that a 1.65-metre-tall woman will weigh more than 82 kilograms and a 1.85m-tall man will weigh over 103kg.

In the past decade, the proportion of adult Kiwis tipping the scales at these weights, or heavier, has risen from just over a quarter to just under one-third. In actual numbers, that adds up to 1.2 million people.

Meanwhile, 748,000 people, or 19.5 per cent of the adult population, are considered ‘‘hazardous drinkers’’, according to a World Health Organisation definition, which takes into account a combination of factors including bingedrinking, dependency and the effect alcohol has on people’s lives.

Another indicator headed in the wrong direction is one which measures mental health. This survey found that 7.6 per cent of people suffered from ‘‘psychological distress’’, and a high or very high probability of anxiety or a depressive disorder.

This was up from 6.8 per cent last year and much higher than the low point in the data of 4.5 per cent in 2011-12. In number terms, it indicates that about 290,000 people have mental health difficulties.

But successive surveys have been consistent in one area – since they started, about nine-tenths of the respondents have reported themselves to be in good or excellent health.

Smoking aside, given the worsening problems revealed on the other questions, perhaps this suggests that a good many of us are simply in denial about the true state of our health.

Another indicator headed in the wrong direction is one which measures mental health.