A dog attack in Timaru injured one person today and made national news. Fair enough: dog attacks are frightening, unpredictable, visceral.

But while that story circulated, ACC data released this week shows 400,836 New Zealanders suffered serious non-fatal injuries in 2024. That's 1,098 people every single day. Nearly 46 people every hour. One person seriously injured roughly every 78 seconds.

These aren't minor incidents. ACC defines "serious non-fatal injury" as something significant enough to require substantial medical intervention, time off work, or both. Broken bones. Head injuries. Serious burns. Workplace accidents that change lives. Car crashes that don't kill you but leave permanent damage.

The 2024 figure is the highest in 24 years of records. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)

In 2020, New Zealand recorded 362,685 serious injuries. That felt like a lot at the time. Then in 2021: 369,654. In 2022, we crossed into new territory: 391,428. By 2023: 393,678. Now, in 2024, we've added another 7,000 on top of that, pushing past the 400,000 mark for the first time.

That's a 10.5% increase in just four years. Over the same period, New Zealand's population grew by roughly 3%.

To be clear: this isn't about dog attacks specifically. ACC doesn't break down the data that way, and dog bites would represent a tiny fraction of these numbers. This is about everything else. Falls from ladders. Kitchen accidents. Sports injuries. Workplace incidents. Car crashes. The daily, grinding reality of a country where more than 400,000 people a year get hurt badly enough to need serious medical help.

Some of this is predictable. More people means more injuries. An aging population means more falls, more fragility. But population growth doesn't explain a 10.5% jump in four years when the population grew 3%.

What does? ACC doesn't speculate. The data just shows the curve bending upward, year after year, with no sign of flattening.

One dog attack will dominate the news cycle for a day, maybe two. But 400,836 serious injuries? That's background noise. That's just New Zealand in 2024, getting hurt faster than it's getting safer.