Quantifying Māori spend on tobacco, alcohol & gambling

Abstract

Māori as a population have disproportionately high current smoking rates (McLachlan 2019), alcohol consumption rates (Alcohol Healthwatch n.d.) and gambling rates (Stewart 2018) compared to non-Māori. The over-representation of Māori in these three consumables have social costs such as lost productivity, violence, sexual assault and serious road crashes where alcohol consumption is involved (‘Alcohol Harm: Impact on Māori Taken to Tribunal’ 2019). Understanding the level of expenditure on these three consumables by Māori should be of interest to Māori leaders focused on economic development of iwi (tribes) and all Māori. Reducing smoking, drinking alcohol and gambling prevalence rates among Māori represents significant opportunity if spending on these behaviours was positively redirected.