Road deaths

Ethnic differences

Note: Due to small numbers, ethnicity data for road deaths is collated for all children and young people aged under 25 years.

In 2005, Māori children and young people aged under 25 years were much more likely than those in other ethnic groups to die in motor vehicle accident.

The death rate for Māori children and young people aged under 25 years was 19 per 100,000, compared with 9 per 100,000 for Pacific children and young people, and 11 per 100,000 for children and young people from European and other ethnic groups.

Annual road death rates (per 100,000 population) for children and young people under 25 years, by ethnic group, 2001–2005
Year Ethnic group Total
Māori Pacific peoples European and other
2002 11.4 11.4 12.1 11.9
2002 11.7 11.8 10.2 10.7
2003 17.7 9.2 10.3 11.9
2005 17.4 11.5 10.4 12.1
2005 19.2 8.9 10.7 12.5

Source: Ministry of Health, New Zealand Health Information Service, Ministry of Health.
Note: 2005 data is provisional; 2004 data for European and other and Total has been revised.

Note

We encourage you to be cautious about drawing conclusions from comparisons between ethnic groups.  Apparent differences (in unadjusted data) between ethnic groups can often be explained by factors other than ethnicity per se, such as the different age, sex, geographical and socioeconomic distributions of different ethnic populations.  In addition, datasets vary in the way that they collect and record ethnicity data.