The wealthiest 10% of Kiwis now hold close to 60% of all wealth in New Zealand.

Data released by Statistics New Zealand shows that in the past five years that figure has risen by more than 4%.

In contrast, the bottom 40% of New Zealanders only hold around 3% of the country's total wealth.

However the wealth pattern for the top percentage of households in New Zealand is consistent with the OECD average for countries with readily available data.