As New Zealand heads toward a general election, political parties are setting out their priorities and candidates are making their pitches, all hoping to focus on the issues they believe will resonate the most.

But there’s another way to approach the question of what matters to New Zealanders – ask them directly.

The Gallup polling and analytics company did just that in its 2025 World Poll, giving people the opportunity to answer this one simple question:

According to you, what is the most important problem your country is facing currently?

According to you, what is the most important problem your country is facing currently?

The result is a useful international snapshot of public concerns at that time. While it wasn’t specifically about New Zealand’s 2026 election, and the world is always changing, the survey still presents an interesting global comparison.

As Gallup headlined its poll report, the findings represent “what people need leaders to hear in 2026”.

New Zealanders’ concerns are strikingly concentrated

In the survey of 1,000 New Zealanders, the economy (which Gallup defined as living standards, high prices or low wages) was the most common concern. Almost three in ten respondents (29.4%) identified it as the country’s most important problem.

Given the cost-of-living pressures, that is not particularly surprising. But respondents’ other most pressing concerns were more revealing.

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