Real GDP per person during each prime minister's tenure

Every prime minister since 1991, ranked by how real GDP per person changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

#	Prime minister	In office	Total	Per year	Chart
1	Helen Clark	10 Dec 1999 – 19 Nov 2008	+21.3% Q3 1999 → Q3 2008	+2.2%/yr
2	Jacinda Ardern	26 Oct 2017 – 25 Jan 2023	+10.7% Q3 2017 → Q4 2022	+2.0%/yr
3	John Key	19 Nov 2008 – 12 Dec 2016	+9.0% Q3 2008 → Q3 2016	+1.1%/yr
4	Jenny Shipley	8 Dec 1997 – 10 Dec 1999	+3.6% Q3 1997 → Q3 1999	+1.8%/yr
5	Bill English	12 Dec 2016 – 26 Oct 2017	+1.4% Q3 2016 → Q3 2017	+1.4%/yr
6	Christopher Luxon	27 Nov 2023 – now	−0.4% Q3 2023 → Q2 2026	−0.2%/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last quarter complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that period had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in %; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. NZ$ thousand per person, last four quarters, chain-linked volumes · Stats NZ quarterly GDP via the OECD (QNA, B1GQ), chain-linked volumes, summed over the trailing four quarters, over the estimated resident population (Stats NZ via the World Bank) interpolated to the quarter · New Zealand data · as of Jul 2026.