Appendix Three: Unknown ethnicity data

When ethnicity is recorded as ‘unknown’ in Oranga Tamariki or NZ Police data, we exclude these records when making comparisons between Māori and non-Māori in this report.

When the proportion of unknown ethnicity is above 10 percent and is therefore likely to affect the quality of data analysis, we have drawn attention to this in the report.

The data below shows the number and proportion of tamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary
and rangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary
with an unknown ethnicity, by level of system involvement.

Number and proportion of tamariki and rangatahi with an unknown ethnicity by level of system involvement in 2024/25
  Māori Non-Māori Unknown ethnicity
Tamariki and rangatahi in Aotearoa
New ZealandView the full glossary
338,000 (27%) 918,000 (73%)  
Had a report of concern about their safety or wellbeing 30,600 (49%) 22,900 (36%) 9,150 (15%)
Had a report of concern that
progressed to a core assessment
17,700 (55%) 11,900 (37%) 2,770 (8%)
Had a police proceeding 2,960 (40%) 2,070 (28%) 2,400 (32%)
Were in care 3,440 (68%) 1,590 (31%) 45 (1%)
Were in youth justice custody 490 (80%) 120 (20%)