Committed To Becoming More Age-Friendly
Government of New Zealand New Zealand
The Office for Seniors in Aotearoa New Zealand provides information to the public, the Government, and other stakeholders about the issues and concerns of older people. We support the Minister for Seniors’ advocacy across key government portfolios, work with other central government agencies, local government, and community organisations.
We want a country where older people lead valued, connected, and fulfilling lives, as described in the national strategy for our ageing population, Better Later Life – He Oranga Kaumātua 2019 -2024, and the second Action Plan. We will work with communities to develop resources and processes that reflect New Zealand’s multi-cultural status.
New Zealand’s involvement with the Age-friendly Cities and Communities movement began with Tauranga City Council’s launch of its Age friendly City Strategy in 2012. In 2018, Hamilton became the first New Zealand city and 600th member of the Global Network – since then Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland, Gore District, Ahuriri / Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, and the Wairarapa Region have joined the Global Network. Several more communities have indicated their intention to join.
We are building a national Age-friendly Aotearoa New Zealand Network to support cities and communities to become more age-friendly, disseminate information, share best practice, and learn from academics and experts on age-friendly subjects. Over half of our city and district councils have joined the Age-friendly Network, representing approximately 80% of people aged 65+ years in New Zealand.
The Office has established relationships with academics working on age-friendly related research both in New Zealand and overseas and has contracted research to be undertaken where there is an identified gap.
In 2024, the Age friendly Cities and Communities Questionnaire (AFCCQ) was piloted and validated in Napier City. We have developed and validated a New Zealand version of the questionnaire. Councils and communities that have recently run the AFCCQ have added open-ended comment boxes to the questionnaire to collect qualitative data.
The Office has led pilot projects that relate to the priorities in the Better Later Life Action Plan to progress learning on options and best practice in the areas of employment, housing, elder abuse, and digital inclusion. See more about our work on our website Office for Seniors | Te Tari Kaumātua.
Read about our progress in our annual update reports:
2023/2024
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Summary 2024
2022/2023
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Report 2023
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Summary 2023
2021/2022
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Report 2022
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Summary 2022
2020/2021
Age friendly Aotearoa New Zealand WHO Annual Update Report 2021
2019/2020