Youth Victimisation & Harm Report

What is the Youth Victimisation & Harm Report?

The first four sections in this report covers young people aged 13–19 and their experiences with bullying, verbal harm, physical harm, and sexual harm.

The final two sections investigate victimisation and harm relating first to screen and social media use, and second to state care, referencing against existing literature and legislation. 

Where can I see the findings?

The Youth Victimisation & Harm Report can be found here: Youth Victimisation & Harm Report [PDF, 3.2 MB]

The following five Excel spreadsheets provide data estimates for overall victimisation rates. Table 1 provides one-way demographic breakdowns for victimisation rates. Tables 2-4 provide two-way breakdowns between selected demographic factors and socioeconomic status, protective factors, and state care involvement. Table 5 provides a breakdown for wellbeing impacts, by selected demographic factors and victimisation type. All tables provide breakdowns by demographic groups, and different types of harm. 

1. Victimisation rate [ZIP, 188 KB] – overall victimisation estimates 
2. Socioeconomic status [ZIP, 2.5 MB] – includes contextual breakdowns for caregiving, employment, family wellbeing, financial insecurity, and sleeping location
3. Protective factors [ZIP, 1 MB] – includes contextual breakdowns for future aspirations, personal skills, suicide risk, and technology use
4. State involvement [ZIP, 793 KB] – includes contextual breakdowns for whether a parent/caregiver has been in prison, and whether a young person has been involved with Oranga Tamariki or Police
5. Victim impact [ZIP, 5.1 MB] – includes contextual breakdowns for bullying, digital engagement, discrimination, emotional impact, neighbourhood safety, online safety, sleep quality, state involvement, and treatment by teachers, by whether the young person was a victim or not

Where does the data come from?

The Youth Victimisation & Harm Report explores data specific to youth victimisation and harm from the findings of the Youth Health & Wellbeing Survey (YHWS) 2025.

The Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey is run by the Ministry of Social Development. The YHWS is the largest survey capturing youth voices in New Zealand. Around 9,400 young people across New Zealand aged 13–19 completed the digital survey on tablets at their education provider (eg secondary school, kura), between March and September 2025.

The Youth Health & Wellbeing Survey results are here, along with the analysis report and technical summary: Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey - Ministry of Social Development(external link)