New year's resolutions: Kiwis think big - or not at all

New year's resolutions reflect plenty of regional, personal and gender-linked variety in New Zealand, a 2013 New Year survey suggests.

Colmar Brunton chief executive Jacqueline Ireland says New Zealanders have some big goals for this year, but fewer than half of us are likely to have made new year's resolutions.

The top five goals of Kiwis in this year's Colmar Brunton survey were increasing exercise, increasing savings, losing weight, eating healthier and reducing debt.

People had ''different goals and priorities, depending on their gender, where they live and their age'', she said.

Aucklanders were the most likely to want to buy a house, Christchurch residents wanted less stress and women were more likely to seek health-related goals, the national survey, involving 1024 people, showed.

Just 44% of New Zealanders made new year's resolutions for 2012, and people in households with school-aged children were least likely to make such resolutions - 68% of them not making them, Ms Ireland said.

However, many of the people who did bother to make earlier new year's resolutions felt they were worthwhile, a third saying they had achieved their resolutions and two-thirds saying they had ''kind of'' achieved them.