In the year 2000, New Zealand made 3.6 million superannuation payments. Last year, that number hit seven million.

That's not a typo. In 24 years, the count of super payments nearly doubled. But this isn't just about ageing demographics. It's about what happened along the way, and what it means for everyone paying tax today.

Start with 2008. The global financial crisis hit, KiwiSaver launched, and suddenly retirement planning became something Kiwis talked about at dinner tables. Super payments were sitting at 4.5 million that year. Not remarkable yet.

Then came the 2010s. Baby boomers began turning 65 in serious numbers. By 2015, we'd crossed five million payments. By 2018: six million. The pace was accelerating.

COVID changed nothing about this trajectory. While the pandemic upended employment, housing, and health systems, superannuation kept climbing. 2020: 6.3 million. 2021: 6.4 million. 2022: 6.6 million. No pause. No slowdown.

Last year, 2023, we hit 6.8 million. This year: 6.99 million, close enough to seven million that the milestone is already here.

Here's what that means in plain terms. Every fortnight, the government deposits money into hundreds of thousands of bank accounts. Those deposits add up to one of the largest single line items in the national budget. And the line only goes one direction.

The maths gets uncomfortable fast. New Zealand has roughly five million people. Not all of them work. Not all of them pay income tax. But all of them will eventually qualify for super if they stay here long enough. The ratio between people paying in and people drawing out is shifting, and it's not shifting in favour of younger workers.

This isn't a crisis story. Super payments are meant to grow as the population ages. That's the system working as designed. But the speed matters. Doubling in 24 years means the next doubling could happen faster, depending on birth rates, immigration, and how long people live.

What changed between 2000 and now? Medicine got better. People live longer. The generation born in the post-war boom all turned 65 within a compressed timeframe. Immigration brought people who eventually aged into the system. And New Zealand, unlike many countries, kept super universal: no means testing, no income thresholds.

The number will keep climbing. By 2030, it could easily be eight million. By 2040, who knows. The point isn't to sound alarms. The point is to recognize what's already happened. We crossed seven million super payments this year, and nobody rang a bell. (Source: Stats NZ, taxable-income-sources)