European New Zealanders are financially better off than their Māori, Asian and Pacific counterparts across most age groups, according to Statistics New Zealand.

Data from a study on how Kiwis build up their wealth over their lifetimes shows wealth increases with age for all ethnic groups, but how this occurs as people grow older varies for different ethnic groups.

The study, which was released this week, found ethnicity had no effect on net worth in the youngest age groups and was low for everyone aged 15- 24, as young people generally don't have assets but may have debts like student loans.

But for people aged 15 and over, Europeans had an individual median net worth of $114,000, followed by Asian people with $32,000, Māori people with $23,000, and Pacific people with $12,000.

While Māori individual net worth is lower than Europeans and Asians, Māori may also share in communal and tribal assets, like land and other wealth, which were not included in this study.

Later in life, people start building up assets, but most of their debt is related to housing, which is where the differences between ethnic groups start to emerge, says Statistics NZ well-being and housing statistics manager Litia Tapu.

'Whether a person owns a house or not has the biggest impact on their wealth profile.”

According to a Statistics NZ study carried out this year, home-ownership rates in 2013 for Māori was 35.0 per cent, and for Pacific peoples that rate was 24.4 per cent. In contrast, European home-ownership rate was 54.6 percent.

The median net worth of European people in the 25-44 age group was $62,000, while Asian and Māori people were $42,000 and $20,000 respectively. Pacific people in this age group had a median net worth of $16,000.

In the 45-64 age group, wealth continued to increase, with Māori tripling the net worth of the 25-44 age group with $61,000 compared to $20,000.

The contrast is even greater for European people aged 45-64 with a median net worth of $266,000 – four times more than the net worth of the 25-44 age group.

Over time and across all ethnic groups, people pay off debt and those in the 65+ age group are mostly mortgage-free, owning their own home outright or with retirement savings.

By the time European people reached this age group their net worth was $317,000.

For more information visit the Statistics New Zealand website.