Region

The Household Expenditure Survey sample design has five broad regions. The Wellington and Canterbury regional council areas, the Auckland Council area, and the remaining regional council areas, which are grouped as: Rest of North Island: Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, and Manawatu-Wanganui Rest of South Island: Nelson, Marlborough, Tasman, West Coast, Otago, and Southland.

With an expanded sample size of 20,000 households, HES sample design now provides data on 12 regions. These are: Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of plenty, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui, Wellington, West coast- Tasman- Nelson – Marlborough, Canterbury, Otago, and Southland.