Just over a quarter (27%) of New Zealanders say they are satisfied with the country’s national infrastructure. This is significantly lower than the 32-country global average (40%) and places New Zealand in as the sixth least satisfied country in this survey. New housing supply was identified as the poorest quality infrastructure in New Zealand (67% rating it as very/fairly poor) and has been identified as the number one investment priority.

Ipsos, one of the world's leading market research companies, releases the 2024 Global Infrastructure Index, a 32-country survey which tracks peoples’ attitudes and perceptions of infrastructure in their country and local area. More than 23,000 people across 32 countries were surveyed, including 1,001 people aged 18+ in New Zealand.

Key findings include:

• 2 in 3 (67%) New Zealanders believe we are not doing enough to meet our infrastructure needs. This concern has been steadily growing in the last five years (55% in 2019, 61% in 2023).
• New housing supply was identified as the poorest quality infrastructure in New Zealand (67%) followed by flood defences (64%), and the local road network (58%).
• We are also significantly less likely to rate our rail infrastructure (33%, vs 52% global average) and motorway/major road network (50%, vs. 60% global average) as very/fairly good quality compared to others around the world.
• However, around 4 in 5 New Zealanders rate our airports as very/fairly good quality (81%), which is significantly higher than the global average (72%). The quality of our digital infrastructure also rated highly (70%, significantly higher than the global average of 61%).
• 70% of New Zealanders don’t believe that our infrastructure will cope with future changes in the climate.
• 79% of New Zealanders believe that investing in infrastructure will create new jobs and boost the economy. However, only 17% agree that New Zealand has a good record of delivering national infrastructure projects, placing New Zealand as tied last with Hungary, with the fewest residents having confidence in their country to deliver these outcomes. 
• Moving forward, more than half of New Zealanders believe that the key infrastructure investment priority is creating a new housing supply (55%). This is followed by water supply and sewerage (50%) and the motorway/major road networks (50%).

Carin Hercock, Managing Director, Ipsos New Zealand, said: "New Zealanders are clearly looking for better infrastructure delivery and their priorities for infrastructure investment, like housing supply, water and sewerage, and major road networks, are also the areas where they are less likely to highly rate the quality of current delivery."

Amanda Dudding, Research Director, Public Affairs, Ipsos New Zealand, added: “Given the current economic climate and the challenges New Zealanders are facing, it’s interesting to see that a significant majority believe investing in infrastructure could help by creating new jobs and boosting New Zealand's economic performance.”

Technical note

Ipsos interviewed 23,530 adults online in 32 countries between May 24th and Jun 7th, 2024. Quotas were set to ensure representativeness and data have been weighted to the known population profile of each country. The sample consists of approximately 1,000 individuals each in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, and the U.S., and 500 individuals each in Argentina, Belgium, Chile, Colombia, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Thailand, and Türkiye. The sample in India consists of approximately 2,200 individuals, of whom approximately 1,800 were interviewed face-to-face and 400 were interviewed online.

About Ipsos

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing nearly 20,000 people. Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. Our 75 business solutions are based on primary data from our surveys, social media monitoring, and qualitative or observational techniques.

“Game Changers” – our tagline – summarizes our ambition to help our 5,000 clients navigate with confidence our rapidly changing world.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos has been listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and Mid-60 indices and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

© Scoop Media