This paper reports on the health and wellbeing status of Māori secondary school students in NZ compared to European students, in this analysis of anonymised data obtained from representative health surveys of NZ secondary school students conducted in 2001, 2007 and 2012 (total n=27,306 including 5,747 Māori). In age- and sex-adjusted analyses, Māori students experienced small but significant improvements between 2001 and 2012 in health, family and school connections. Notwithstanding, Māori students reported poorer health, greater exposure to violence and socioeconomic adversity over this period compared to European students. In analyses that controlled for socioeconomic deprivation, there was a marked reduction in inequity, although Māori continued to have worse health outcomes for general health, mental health, contraceptive use, healthy weight, substance use, access to healthcare and exposure to violence. There was some evidence of convergence between Māori and European students, with gaps narrowing over time on some indicators – not all.
