New Zealand prime minister steps down, citing burnout

Jacinda Ardern, 42, said she’s stepping down as New Zealand’s prime minister by Feb. 7, saying more than 5 years on the job had taken a toll. The New Zealand Labour party will vote on a new leader on Sunday. Ardern was elected in 2017 and, at 37, became the youngest female head of government in the world. She’s widely regarded as the second of only two women to have given birth while in elected office as a world leader. 

What did Ardern do while in office? Ardern led New Zealand through mass shootings and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, a gunman shot 51 people in two mosques. After that, New Zealand banned some types of semi-automatic weapons and started a buyback program. When the pandemic started, Arden employed strict policies that initially kept the virus out of New Zealand. However, her popularity has been declining. Last year, many New Zealanders protested vaccine mandates. Some of her climate policies have seen pushback, including a tax on cow burps protested by farmers.

Dig deeper: From the World archives, read Jill Nelson’s report about how different countries, including New Zealand, approached COVID-19 restrictions.