The number of KiwiSaver members aged under 35 shrank by more than 27,000 over the 12 months to June 30 in a demographic shift likely linked to emigration.
According to Inland Revenue Department (IRD) statistics, the sub-18 KiwiSaver population fell more than 20,000 during the 12-month period to June 30 this year to close at 169,409.
But while the annual decline in members aged zero to 17 has been largely constant since the removal of the $1,000 ‘kickstart’ payment in 2015 when the group peaked at more than 368,000, the 2024/25 year also saw the under-35s go backwards for the first time.
The IRD figures show the 18-to-24 cohort drop by about 3,350 for the 12-month period while members aged 25-to-34 reduced almost 3,700 year-on-year: these KiwiSaver member age groups have grown ever year from at least 2012 (and almost certainly from inception of the scheme in 2007), bar a small drop in the 18-to-24 age-band in the 2023/24 period.
During the 12 months to the end of July this year, Statistics NZ reported a net loss of NZ citizens via migration of about 47,600 – 73,400 out and 25,800 in – with the balance likely tipped to younger people.
Membership in all other KiwiSaver age groups rose in the IRD reporting year to June 30 as the overall scheme population increased about 45,000 to close at just over 3.4 million.
Regardless, the latest annual KiwiSaver member-growth was the slowest on record, as seen in the individual scheme reports analysed in the Investment News NZ 2025 sector study.
The IRD data also confirms competition between schemes hit a new high in the 12-month period with almost 165,000 members moving to new providers in the year. Excluding the default provider rejig year ending June 30, 2022, only the 2017/18 period came close to the latest transfer readings when about 163,000 members transferred schemes.
Both financial hardship and first-home withdrawals also spiked higher year-on-year to new annual peaks, the IRD figures show.
Some 45,870 members withdrew a collective $471 million on financial hardship grounds in the latest 12-month period compared to 32,480 and $300 million or so over the previous year: first-home drawdowns clocked-in at $1.8 billion and 43,600 members in the 2024/25 year, up from under $1.4 billion and 36,960, respectively, in the prior annual period.