Findings explore victimisation and youth harm in New Zealand

Findings explore victimisation and youth harm in New Zealand

New Ministry of Justice research shines a spotlight on the victimisation and harm faced by young people in New Zealand.

The Youth Victimisation and Harm Report further explores data from the findings of the Youth Health and Wellbeing Survey 2025.

“These findings are challenging. It’s difficult to think of harm occurring to young people. These findings will be shared with agencies and groups who are working to improve the wellbeing of young people in New Zealand and will be used to inform current and future decision making”, says Rebecca Parish, Ministry of Justice General Manager Sector Insights.

One in four young people (26%) experienced bullying in the last year. The most common types of bullying were teasing or verbal abuse (64%) and social exclusion (51%) among those who were bullied.

“Nearly one in three young people (29%) who were bullied skipped school at least once”, Ms Parish says.

Although female and male young people experienced similar rates of bullying (27% and 25% respectively), female young people were more likely to experience exclusion (62%) and online bullying, while male young people were more likely to experience physical bullying.

According to the findings, half of young people were yelled or sworn at by an adult in their home in the last year. A third of young people (33%) witnessed adults yelling at one another, and 29% witnessed adults yelling at another child.

In the last year, just over one in ten young people (11%) were exposed to physical harm by an adult in their home. Direct physical harm by an adult was the most common experience (7%) followed by seeing another child harmed (5%) or witnessing physical violence between adults (3%). Almost half of young people (49%) were hit or physically harmed by someone in the last year, with the most common perpetrator being siblings (41%), followed by another young person (23%).