Rural Dwellers Most Happy Where They Live

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday 23 March 2009

Rural Dwellers Most Happy Where They Live
Central City Dwellers Least Happy

Almost all rural folk are happy where they live, but one in three central city dwellers would like to live somewhere else.

These findings are from a UMR Research survey of a nationally representative sample of 750 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over .

“We asked New Zealanders where they live now and then where they would most like to live. We found 90% of those living in rural areas said they would like to live there, but only 64% of those living in the central city wanted to live there,” a UMR director, Tim Grafton said.

“Those living in the suburbs and small towns were a little happier with 75% and 76% respectively saying they were happy to live where they were. And interestingly, the most popular place to live for those who are not happy where they are living is a rural area,” he said.

Christchurch people (24%) are more inclined to want to live in a rural area than Aucklanders (19%) and Wellingtonians (14%). Wellingtonians (23%) are more inclined to live in a small town than Christchurch people (18%) or Aucklanders (10%). But Aucklanders (56%) are more inclined to want to live in the suburbs than Wellingtonians (46%) or those from Christchurch (44%).

More middle aged people (45-59 years) plump for the rural life than other age groups as do more blue collar workers than white collar ones. Also, more Maori (37%) opt for the rural life than other ethnicities.

More younger people (18-30 years) opt for the central city than other age groups.

New Zealanders are also happier living where they were than Americans. When a similar study was carried out in the US , it showed that only 24% of Kiwis would rather live somewhere different compared to 46% of Americans.

1 - UMR’s fortnightly telephone poll randomly samples n=750 New Zealanders aged 18 years and over. It has a margin of error of + 3.6%. The survey on places to live was conducted between 5-13 March 2009.

2 - The US data was conducted by PEW Research Centre between 3-19 October 2008.

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