National remains the highest-rated party when it comes to tackling the top five concerns on New Zealanders' minds, but Labour has been regaining lost ground, a survey shows.

The Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor found most of the top five concerns of New Zealanders remained fairly steady, although fuel costs are becoming more of a concern.

The top five issues currently concerning New Zealanders in September 2023 were:

-Inflation / cost of living at 62 per cent, steady

-Crime / law & order at 37 per cent, up 1 point from last month

-Healthcare / hospitals at 32 per cent, up 1 point

-Housing / price of housing 31 per cent, down 1 point

-The economy at 24 per cent, steady

-Rising to fifth equal, petrol prices / fuel at 24 per cent, up 3 percentage points

Most of those five have stayed relatively steady since May, with minor adjustments, with the exception of fuel which rose dramatically from 11 per cent in May to 21 per cent in August.

Climate change was sixth at 19 per cent. Concern about it has decreased steadily since it peaked at 27 per cent in February after the cyclone and flooding events, but it remains above the level from before the 2020 election.

However, asked about concerns facing New Zealand over the next five years, climate change was significantly more of a concern at 26 per cent, while inflation/cost of living was considered less of a long-term concern at 53 per cent compared to the 62 per cent immediate concern.

The Greens were considered most capable of tackling climate change, and Labour the most capable of tackling poverty/inequality (which ranked 8th), but National maintained its dominance in taxation and education.

National gained a point in New Zealanders' confidence about its ability to tackle the cost of living, although Labour gained six points - up to 27 per cent.

National also gained four points to 38 per cent on crime / law and order, while Labour gained two points to 20 per cent.

National gained two points to 30 per cent on health, while Labour gained three points to 29 per cent; National gained one point to 32 per cent on housing while Labour was up four points to 24 per cent.

On economy, National remained well ahead - rising two points to 41 per cent - but Labour lifted by four points to 26; and National was up one point to 31 per cent on fuel costs while Labour rose five points to 23 per cent.

New Zealanders' overall rating of the government's performance increased slightly - up to 4.7 out of 10 from the low of 4.5 out of 10 in August, following a steady decline from the high of 7.6 in 2020.

The survey was conducted between September 25 and October 2 with a total of 1000 New Zealanders aged 18 and over, weighted for age, gender and religion, with a credibility interval of +/- 3.5 percentage points.

Multiple responses, "don't know" and "not stated" responses were not included.

-RNZ.