Kiwis prioritise Family over Physical, Financial wellbeing

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Kiwis prioritise Family over Physical and Financial wellbeing
Cigna 360° Wellbeing Score reveals poor physical and financial wellbeing

Wellington, 19 February 2015 – Cigna Life Insurance NZ announced today the New Zealand results of a major new survey monitoring and tracking motivations, perceptions and attitudes towards overall wellbeing amongst the public in New Zealand, Asia and the United Kingdom.

“The interesting thing about the Cigna 360° Wellbeing Score compared to other health and wellbeing research is that it focuses on perceptions and attitudes rather than on how well people are actually doing in the five categories measured,” says Cigna New Zealand Chief Executive Lance Walker. “It’s common for people to make decisions based on perception rather than reality, and these findings provide a unique lens through which to understand Kiwis’ decision-making behaviors regarding their health and wellbeing.”

The new Cigna 360° Wellbeing Score is designed to take an annual and holistic look at health and wellness across five key indices; physical, social, family, financial and workplace health and wellbeing. This provides an index or score measuring people’s overall perceptions.

Overall New Zealand ranked fifth out of six countries surveyed for overall wellbeing score results. Kiwis perceived themselves as performing poorly in the Physical and Financial health and wellbeing categories compared to other countries, yet scored the highest in the Family category.

More than two thirds of Kiwis are dissatisfied with their physical health and wellbeing, 6% lower than the average of all countries surveyed. And while 81% agree that exercising on a regular basis greatly impacts their own physical health and wellbeing, only 25% think that they perform well in this area. In this case, perception mirrors reality as less than a third of Kiwis exercise for three or more hours each week and 15% never exercise at all. (The Ministry of Health recommends exercising for half an hour or more a day.)

Although financial health and wellbeing isn’t the biggest factor impacting overall wellbeing, Kiwis feel financially insecure with only 18% thinking that they are doing well financially. Worry about finances affects their physical health, and especially the sleep quality of those in their 30s and 40s: over a third say they don’t sleep enough at night, with over half of this group blaming worry about financial issues. (57% for those aged 40-49). “This isn’t a surprising result,” says Lance. “People in this age bracket are often juggling expenses relating to a mortgage, children and some have additional financial pressures related to the care of ageing parents.”

On an upside, nearly half of Kiwis say that family is the most important factor of overall health and wellbeing, compared to a third on average of the other countries surveyed. Kiwis also consider they perform best in the family area compared to the other four factors, with 51% having a positive opinion of their family health and wellbeing. The study found that 91% of Kiwis agree that spending time with family matters to overall wellbeing. More specifically, they highlight the importance of spending time with their children (94%) and with their parents (85%).

“The results indicate that us Kiwis believe strongly in the importance of spending time with our family and that it’s important to do well financially. However this seems to be at a cost to our physical wellbeing. In a time-poor society, this highlights the challenge of juggling family time with exercise. At Cigna we are fully committed to supporting Kiwis to lead healthier lifestyles, which is why we are proud to be the principal sponsor of this year’s Wellington Round the Bays event”, says Lance. “Sporting events like Cigna Round the Bays are a great opportunity to combine spending time with family and physical activity.”

“The survey results provide insightful information that will allow us to better meet the needs of Kiwis with relevant products and service solutions at the various stages of their lives.”

Other key findings from the survey include:

• 94% of Kiwis rank their children’s health as a core component of family health and wellbeing (compared to 90% in other countries).
• 60% of Kiwis say that social media brings them closer to family and friends.
• 18% of Kiwis feel positive about their financial health.
• 77% are worried about the increased cost of living
• 69% of Kiwis consider financial security to be important, but of these only 12% think they perform well in this area.
• Although Kiwis’ personal out of pocket medical expenses in the past 12 months ($723) was in line with the other countries that were surveyed, it peaks to $958 for those between 50-59. At the same time, only 17% of Kiwis feel they are prepared for medical expenses after retirement.
• While many Kiwis think that they don’t exercise enough they actually exercise 6% more than people in other countries.
• Most Kiwis who don’t exercise enough state a lack of time, either because it prevents them from exercising consistently (36%) or because they simply don’t have any time at all (10%).
• 28% of Kiwis think they have a healthy weight, and 31% that they are eating a balanced diet.
• 98% of Kiwis in their 50s prioritise their relationship with their children. Meanwhile those aged 25-29 prioritise their relationship with their spouse (87%).

About the Cigna 360° Wellbeing Score
The Cigna 360° Wellbeing Score has been established as the first of an annual index that will continue to identify and monitor the factors, motivations, perceptions and attitudes that impact an individual person’s, as well the region’s, health, wellness and wellbeing. It is an independent study commissioned by Cigna and conducted by Ipsos that initially covers the APAC markets of Hong Kong, China, Thailand, Korea, New Zealand, and the UK. Data is collected online from a representative random sample of 1,000 people in each country, totaling 6,000 people.

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About Cigna New Zealand
Cigna Life Insurance New Zealand Ltd is the place that New Zealanders go for their health, wellness and sense of security solutions. Cigna has had New Zealander’s backs for over 90 years, and with in-depth local consumer and industry knowledge protects close to 300,000 New Zealanders with insurance policies. Our products and services include life, funeral, income protection, trauma, accidental death, travel and bill protection insurance. We also make our products available to partner companies to retail in their own names. Cigna New Zealand is part of Cigna Corporation, a Fortune 500 company and has an A- (Excellent) financial strength rating which was given by A.M Best Company Inc. Visit www.cigna.co.nz for more information and links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

About Cigna
Cigna Corporation (NYSE: CI) is a global health service company dedicated to helping people improve their health, wellbeing and sense of security. All products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of Cigna Corporation, including Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Life Insurance Company of North America and Cigna Life Insurance Company of New York. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits, and other related products including group life, accident and disability insurance. Cigna maintains sales capability in 30 countries and jurisdictions, and has more than 85 million customer relationships throughout the world. To learn more about Cigna®, including links to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, visit www.cigna.com.

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