Asthma prevalence remains stable but hospitalisation among children rise in 2024

Posted 9 hours ago by Helene Marsters Less than a minute to read

We have published our surveillance report on "Asthma prevalence and hospitalisations in children (0–14 years)".

Here are the key findings:

In 2024/25, around 94,000 children aged 2–14 years were diagnosed with asthma and were currently taking asthma medication.
There were 8706 hospitalisations in children aged 0–14 years in 2024, up from 7537 in 2023.
Children under five years old continued to have lower asthma prevalence rates but higher hospitalisation rates compared to other age groups. In 2024, 1-year-olds had the highest asthma hospitalisation rates (3783.1 per 100,000) within the 0–4 year age bracket.
In 2024/25, Māori children aged 2–14 years had a higher prevalence of asthma compared to non- Māori children. In addition, since 2005, Pacific children aged 0–14 years have consistently experienced the highest asthma hospitalisation rates than other children.
Asthma hospitalisation rates were higher for children living in the most deprived areas (NZDep2023 quintile 5) than for children living in the least deprived areas.
Children living in major urban areas had higher hospitalisation rates than children living in rural areas in 2024.
The Auckland district had the highest asthma hospitalisation rates in 2023 and 2024.