Benefit System Report 2025

This report provides commentary on the current state of the benefit system within the context of longer term (10 year) trend information, as well as shifts in the economy, labour market, and New Zealand population.

Key areas of focus include:

  • Income support through main benefits
  • Longer-term projections for main benefit recipients provided by the Social Outcomes Model 2024
  • Supporting people to find and retain employment
  • Receipt of supplementary and hardship assistance.

Indicators and underlying data are drawn from regularly reported sources using data up to June 2025, where possible.

Read the report

Benefit System report – 2025 (PDF 1.43MB)

For regularly updated information on the benefit system, please see the Statistics page on the MSD website.