The latest child poverty statistics show we are failing to achieve previously agreed targets, and none of the Government’s three child poverty reduction targets have been met.

Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad is calling for urgent action.

“Let’s make ending child poverty a project of the very highest national significance. New Zealand’s children can’t wait any longer,” she says.

Released today, Stats NZ’s annual figures show that in the year ending June 2024, 12.7% of children lived under the key ‘before housing cost’ poverty measure.

The ‘after housing costs’ measure was 17.7%, or 208,000 children, nearly the population of our capital city. None of the nine child poverty measures showed any improvement from the previous year.

Poverty affects some groups worse than others, with mokopuna Māori, Pacific and disabled children affected the most. Almost a quarter of mokopuna Māori (23.%) live in material hardship, as do 28.7% of Pacific children, compared with 10.1% of Pākehā children.

Disabled children are almost twice as likely as non-disabled children to experience material hardship.

Children can’t afford to wait for improvements in the economy for the problem to be fixed, says Dr Achmad.

“These statistics show we’ve stopped making progress on reducing child poverty. The need to shift the dial has now become even more urgent. Poverty is harming our country’s children and they are our future, she says.

“Children only get one chance at childhood. The continuing failure to act boldly today means thousands of children are continuing to go without the absolute basics. It’s not too late to lift the burden of poverty off children. Poverty can be reduced and ultimately eliminated, and the Government can choose to be brave and bold. Right now, it’s still not doing enough.

In 2018 when the Child Poverty Reduction Act passed, there was cross-party commitment to halve child poverty by 2028. Dr Achmad says the public wants to see this happen, but it will require vision and action.

”There is a strong economic case to invest strategically in the wellbeing of children today and future generations, helping to break the cycle of poverty and create lasting change. It’s the sensible thing to do, so that children, families and our country can thrive. Right now, children are invisible in the Government’s Budget Policy Statement. That’s got to change,” she says.

“The Budget needs to bring practical support into the homes of children in poverty, by lifting basic incomes, urgently addressing food insecurity and housing affordability - particularly for families who are renting - and other measures that reduce material hardship.

“Evidence shows the powerful effect that Working for Families and other tax transfers, minimum wage and benefit increases have made to reduce poverty in previous years.

“The Government’s own growth strategy is dependent on maximising skilled labour, education and workforce participation, which will be hard to achieve without addressing childhood poverty. Other targets, across things like education and youth justice, are also at risk.

"Childhood represents the hugest opportunity, and ambitious Government leadership and sustained cross-party commitment is urgently needed to maximise this.”

Notes:

Find the report here: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/

The 2023 Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child praised New Zealand’s Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 and child poverty measures and targets, noted by the United Nations as world-leading and very important to addressing child poverty. By continuing to have so many children living in poverty, New Zealand is failing to fulfil its duties and obligations as a States Party to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including the right of all children to an adequate standard of living.

More than half of children in material hardship live in households where most income is from working parents, rather than benefits. (Perry, Brian: Child Poverty in New Zealand, August 2024).

© Scoop Media