Growing Up in New Zealand

What Growing Up in New Zealand does

Growing Up in New Zealand is Aotearoa's largest contemporary longitudinal study of child health and wellbeing, following more than 6,000 children and their families from before birth in 2008 through at least age 21. Hosted and led by the University of Auckland and funded by the New Zealand Government through the Ministry of Social Development, the study employs a six-domain research design — modelled on the weaving of a kete (traditional Māori basket) — covering health and wellbeing, behaviour and psychology, culture and identity, education, neighbourhood and environment, and societal context, interwoven with four cultural themes reflecting New Zealand's ethnically diverse population. Its core technical assets are the longitudinal cohort platform itself, a proprietary life-course conceptual framework, and the newly launched HOME Participant Portal (developed by Daylight) which directly engages rangatahi (young people) beyond caregiver-mediated channels. Across 17+ years the study has conducted over 90,000 interviews and collected more than 50 million pieces of data.

The study's outputs are distributed through published report series (including the 'Now We Are Twelve' and 'Now We Are Fifteen' snapshot reports), policy briefs, and a formal Data Access Application process that provides approved researchers, government bodies, and NGOs free access to the dataset, with additional linkage capability via Statistics New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The operating model is non-commercial and grant-funded: there is no revenue from data licensing or participant fees, and all disclosed funding flows from direct New Zealand government appropriations, including NZ$1.9 million restored in 2018, NZ$17.1 million from Budget 19 in 2019, and NZ$16.8 million committed in September 2024 to extend operations to February 2028. Primary customer constituencies are Government Policy Makers (Ministry of Social Development, Office of the Children's Commissioner, Oranga Tamariki), academic researchers, NGOs, and the 6,000+ participating families themselves, who are engaged through surveys, the HOME portal, milestone events, and multilingual outreach (te reo Māori, Samoan, Tongan, Hindi, Simplified and Traditional Chinese).

Name

Growing Up in New Zealand

Legal name

Growing Up in New Zealand

Website

https://growingup.co.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Growing Up in New Zealand is a government-funded longitudinal cohort study hosted by the University of Auckland, tracking more than 6,000 children and their families from birth through at least age 21 to inform child health and social policy in Aotearoa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Longitudinal Child Development Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Early Childhood & Child Development Policy Research (EDADADAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations (HLAJAKAN), Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health Program Evaluation (HLAJANAE)

Keywords

• Longitudinal child study
• Cohort research platform
• Child development data
• Public health research
• Policy evidence research

Headquarters

HQ city

Glen Innes

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Research Funding: Growing Up in New Zealand is funded by the Ministry of Social Development and hosted by the University of Auckland. The study received $17.1 million from Government's Budget 19 for the next data collection wave. In September 2024, the Government committed NZ$16.8 million over four years to extend the study until February 2028.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Growing Up in New Zealand is a longitudinal cohort study that has recruited more than 6,000 pregnant women and their partners from the Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato District Health Board regions in 2009-2010, and follows the resulting children and their families from before birth through at least age 21 across six interwoven research domains. The study collects longitudinal data through repeated interview waves (over 90,000 interviews to date) and makes de-identified data available to approved researchers, government organisations, and NGOs via a formal Data Access Application process, while publishing milestone report series such as Now We Are Twelve and Now We Are Fifteen. The study is hosted by the University of Auckland and funded by the Ministry of Social Development, with a new NZ$16.8 million four-year government commitment announced in September 2024 to extend operations until February 2028.

Product overview

Growing Up in New Zealand is a longitudinal cohort study platform operated by the University of Auckland and funded by the Ministry of Social Development. The core offering is the ongoing longitudinal study following more than 6,000 children from before birth in 2008 until at least age 21. The study has recently launched a new 'Home' Participant Portal (developed by Daylight) as its primary digital engagement tool for participants. The portfolio includes research data access services for approved researchers, published reports including 'Now We Are Twelve' and 'Now We Are Fifteen' snapshot series, and StatsNZ data sharing integration. The study collects data across six domains (health and wellbeing, behaviour and psychology, culture and identity, education, societal context, neighbourhood and environment) interwoven with four cultural themes reflecting New Zealand's ethnically diverse population.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Home Participant Portal A digital participant portal at home.growingup.co.nz built by Daylight that lets rangatahi (young people in the study) directly access surveys, study updates and vouchers, replacing caregiver-mediated communication with a dedicated online space for participants who joined the study at birth in 2008-2010.
• Growing Up in New Zealand Longitudinal Study Aotearoa's largest contemporary longitudinal cohort study following more than 6,000 children and their families from before birth in 2008-2010 through at least age 21, collecting multidisciplinary data across six interwoven domains (health and wellbeing, behaviour and psychology, culture and identity, education, societal context, neighbourhood and environment) and four cultural themes reflecting New Zealand's ethnically diverse population.
• Growing Up Data Access Service
• Now We Are Twelve Report Series A series of nine snapshot reports examining the development and wellbeing of twelve-year-old study participants in New Zealand, covering ethnic and gender identity, material hardship, food security, housing, COVID-19 impact, mental health, school engagement, disability and relationships.
• Now We Are Fifteen Report Series Three snapshot reports focused on education, mental health and wellbeing, and experiences of self-harm and thoughts of suicide in 15-year-old study participants, launched in February 2026.
• StatsNZ Data Sharing (IDI Linkage) A data linkage service that combines Growing Up in New Zealand study data with Statistics New Zealand's Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), enabling researchers to connect study variables with administrative records for richer longitudinal and population-level analyses.
• Extreme Weather Survey A targeted survey launched in August 2023 for study participants and caregivers in regions severely affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Day floods, collecting data on the impact of extreme weather events on wellbeing, housing, education and access to services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Study data has informed government policy development and service delivery planning across health, education, and social services
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of AucklandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost and lead institution for Growing Up in New Zealand. Provides research infrastructure, academic oversight, and institutional support for the study conducted by researchers including Dr Susan Morton (founder) and Dr Sarah-Jane Paine (current Research Director).
• DaylightcoreTechnology or IntegrationCreative and technology studio that developed the 'HOME' participant portal - a new digital platform to directly engage rangatahi (young people) who have participated in the study since birth, moving from caregiver-mediated communication to a dedicated digital space.
• VansminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with the study to design custom sneakers that reflected young people's lifestyles, preferences, and hobbies based on collected data, as part of the '6000's Project' launched in September 2023.
• Steering GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic oversight body made up of representatives from University of Auckland, Ministry of Social Development, Office of the Children's Commissioner and Oranga Tamariki to ensure sustainability and value of the study.
• Kaitiaki GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group ensuring the study's approach is consistent with Kaitiaki principles, and that collection, storage, analysis and use of Māori knowledge aligns with Māori goals and aspirations.
• Pacific Advisory GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory group ensuring the study's approach aligns with Pasifika Research Principles and that collection, storage and use of Pasifika knowledge is compatible with Pasifika development goals and aspirations.
• Expert Scientific Advisory PanelcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPanel of New Zealand and international experts in child development, health and longitudinal research providing strategic advice on longitudinal study design and execution.
• Data Access CommitteecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommittee providing appropriate data access to approved researchers under the terms and conditions of the Data Access Protocol, managing the research data access application process.
• Policy ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerForum of senior representatives from key Government departments and agencies providing advice on policy priorities to enable collection of relevant information for policy development and evaluation.
• StatsNZ (IDI Linkage)coreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership enabling StatsNZ Data Sharing through IDI (Integrated Data Infrastructure) linkage, allowing connection of study data with administrative data for enhanced research insights.
• AUT (NZ Work Research Institute)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAUT researchers examined fathers' involvement in childcare using Growing Up in New Zealand data, producing the report 'Fathers' household and childcare involvement in New Zealand' commissioned by the Ministry of Social Development.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study: New Zealand's other landmark longitudinal cohort study, following ~1,000 Dunedin-born participants from age 3 to mid-life; directly comparable as a NZ-based, government/research funded cohort following participants across the life course.
• Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Growing Up in Australia / LSAC): Australia's flagship longitudinal study of children and families run by the Australian Institute of Family Studies - directly comparable by design, scale (~10k children) and policy-informing mission.
• Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC): UK birth cohort study of ~14,000 children (the 'Children of the 90s'); same genre of population-based longitudinal research tracking participants from birth to inform health and developmental research.
• Growing Up in Ireland: National longitudinal cohort study of children in Ireland; near-identical mandate (track children's development to inform policy), cohort-based design and government funding model.
• Christchurch Health and Development Study: NZ longitudinal study following a Christchurch birth cohort for over 40 years; comparable in subject (child health and development), data scale, and host institution (University of Otago).
• Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study: UK longitudinal study of ~2,000 twins tracking child development from birth; comparable birth-cohort methodology, environmental risk focus and data-access workflow for researchers.
• Millennium Cohort Study (UK): UK national birth cohort study tracking ~19,000 children born around 2000; highly comparable as a large, nationally-representative, government-funded birth cohort study informing child policy.
• Pacific Islands Families Study: Auckland-based longitudinal study of Pacific children and families in NZ; comparable NZ context, ethnically-focused cohort design, government-funded operation and policy-informing outputs.
• Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study: US longitudinal cohort following ~5,000 children born in large US cities; comparable in scale, birth-cohort design and focus on family/child wellbeing, with extensive researcher and policy data access.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@growingupinnewzealand4012
• Instagraminstagram.com/growingupnz
• Xx.com/GrowingUpinNZ
• Facebookfacebook.com/growingupnz
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/growing-up-in-new-zealand

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Growing Up in New Zealand