What happens when an entire age group suddenly becomes half as likely to suffer a fatal or serious workplace injury?

In 2020, New Zealanders aged 90 and over logged 28,491 fatal and serious injuries through ACC. By 2024, that number had fallen to 12,225. That's a 57% drop in four years, with the steepest decline happening between 2021 and 2022, when injuries fell from 29,499 to 12,597.

The 2024 figure is the lowest in 19 years. You have to go back to 2005 to find a comparable number.

This isn't about fewer people in this age group. New Zealand's population of over-90s has been steadily growing. So something else shifted.

The most obvious candidate: COVID. Between 2020 and 2022, workplaces emptied out. Offices closed. Construction sites shut down. Older workers, already at higher risk, likely stepped back from physical work or stopped working entirely. The pandemic didn't just change where people worked; it changed whether they worked at all.

But here's what's strange: the numbers haven't bounced back. In 2023 and 2024, as workplaces reopened and restrictions lifted, injuries among over-90s stayed low. That suggests this isn't just a temporary COVID effect. Something more permanent might have changed about how, or whether, New Zealand's oldest citizens engage with work.

It's worth noting what these numbers actually capture. ACC's fatal and serious injury data includes workplace accidents, but it also covers injuries that happen during work-related activities. For people over 90, that could mean a fall on a farm they still help run, an injury at a business they still own, or an accident while doing volunteer work that counts as employment.

The consistency of the lower numbers since 2022 suggests three possibilities. First, more over-90s have genuinely stopped working, either by choice or necessity. Second, workplaces have become safer for older people through better design, equipment, or policies. Third, the way injuries are reported or categorised might have shifted.

What we know for certain: right now, New Zealand's over-90s are experiencing workplace injuries at roughly half the rate they were four years ago. Whether that's because they're working less, working safer, or something else entirely, it's a trend that's held steady for three years running. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)