Hon Louise Upston
Minister for Child Poverty Reduction

No significant change to child poverty rates under successive governments reinforces that lifting children out of material hardship will be an ongoing challenge, Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston says.

Figures released by Stats NZ today show no change in child poverty rates for the year ended June 2024, reflecting the impact of a prolonged cost of living crisis.

Stats NZ data for the three primary measures show that in 2023/24:

• 13.4 per cent of all children (156,600) were in material hardship – with no statistically significant change compared to 2022/23
• 17.7 per cent of children (208,000) were in poverty, based on household income after housing costs have been paid – with no statistically significant change compared to 2022/23
• 12.7 per cent of children (149,900) were in poverty, based on household income before housing costs have been paid – with no statistically significant change compared to 2022/23.

“It’s encouraging that there has been no significant increase year-on-year, however if we look at what has happened over the previous two years we can see that rates are trending upwards,” Louise Upston says.

“Todays’ figures do reflect the challenges of a prolonged cost of living crisis which began under the previous administration and which we are tackling head-on.

“We know there are some Kiwi families and their kids still doing it tough. Our Government is working to fix that.

“We are committed to changing the circumstances which trap people in poverty, and to addressing the long-term drivers of child poverty.

“Our Government has lifted the incomes of working households experiencing hardship by providing tax relief, reducing inflation and making childcare more affordable by introducing the FamilyBoost childcare tax rebate.

“We’re also providing lunches to around 242,000 learners every day so Kiwi kids have access to food.

“Reducing material hardship is a priority in our Child and Youth Strategy which is why we have a target to lift 17,000 more children out of material hardship by 2027, compared to 2023.

“We recognise that child poverty is a long term issue and our strategy of tackling the deeper causes of poverty, including reducing long-term benefit dependency and lifting education and skills, will make a big difference in driving down child poverty rates.

“It’s encouraging that inflation has continued a downward trend and pressure on families is starting to ease but there is still more to do,” Louise Upston says.

Notes:

• Today’s figures mean that the second intermediate, three-year (2022-2024) child poverty targets were not met for any of the three primary measures. The second intermediate targets were set by the previous Government and covered the period from 2021/2022 to 2023/2024. The previous Government was in office for most of this target period.
• The full release by Stats NZ is availablehere: https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/no-movement-in-child-poverty-rates-for-year-ended-june-2024/

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