November 9, 2026 9:21am by David Farrar

The breakdown of the 55th Parliament of New Zealand

There are provisionally 131 MPs, a record high, in the 55th Parliament of New Zealand. There are 71 electorate MPs and 60 list MPs.

On Patreon, I have done a detailed analysis of the breakdown of not just Parliament as a whole, but for each party. This answers questions like:

  • Which party is only 29% male?
  • Which party is 58% Māori and Pacific?
  • Which party is 43% under 40?
  • Which two parties have no MPs from rural or small town NZ?
  • Which party has 31% of its MPs Rainbow?
  • Who is now the Father of the House? (It’s Chris Hipkins)

So the full data is paywalled, but the toppling summary data is below.

57% of MPs are male and 43% female. This compares to 49% and 51% respectively of the adult population.

The proportion of MPs who are female in recent Parliaments is:

  • 2014 31%
  • 2017 38%
  • 2020 48%
  • 2023 44%
  • 2026 43%

A massive 35 MPs are Māori, which is 27% of Parliament. This is much much higher than the 15% of the adult population. 8% are Asian compared to 17% of the population., 5% are Pacific vs 7% of the population.

The age breakdown is:

  • 20s: 4%
  • 30s: 13%
  • 40s: 38%
  • 50s: 28%
  • 60s: 16%
  • 70s: 0%
  • 80s: 1%

The breakdown by area is:

  • Auckland 33%
  • Wellington 10%
  • Christchurch 10%
  • Provincial Cities 24%
  • Towns/Rural 24%

77% are in the North Island and 23% in the South Island.

9% of MPs are Rainbow, compared to 4% of the adult population.