Office of the Childrens Commissioner

Explore Photovoice

About Child Poverty

Brief Statistics on Child Poverty in New Zealand

For full details and credits of sources go to the report A Fair Go for all Children, Actions to address child poverty in New Zealand by clicking here.

In 2006/07 230,000, or 22 percent, of New Zealand children were still living in poverty. That is, in households with incomes below the 60 percent median income poverty line, after taking housing costs into account. This is more than the entire population of North Shore City (205,605) or the Manawatu-Wanganui region (222,423) and means one adult and one child were living on $430 a week before housing costs.

Of these children, 170,000, or 16 percent, live in households with incomes below the 50 percent median income poverty line, after taking housing costs into account. This means one adult and one child were living on $355 a week, before housing costs.

Child poverty rates in New Zealand, while declining, are still above the average of other developed countries.

Child poverty is unevenly distributed across society. For children living in sole-parent families, the rate of poverty (49 percent) is five times as high as that for children in couple households (nine percent). Poverty rates are also significantly higher among Maori and Pacifica children than Pakeha children.

The poverty rate for children in households where there is no full-time worker is six times higher than for those where at least one adult is in full-time work.

In New Zealand, a child growing up in a low-income household has on average a 1.4 times higher risk of dying during childhood than a child from a high-income household. Children born into poverty are more likely to be born prematurely, to have a low birthweight and to die before the age of one.

Children are more likely than adult New Zealanders to live in poor areas. Thirty-nine percent of all births in 2006 were in the three poorest areas (lowest NZ Deprivation Index decile areas). In contrast, only 7.7 percent of children were born in areas in the richest areas.

The impact of poverty on children’s cognitive development and subsequent educational outcomes starts even before birth. Because children born into poor households are more likely to be born with low birthweights, they have a higher risk of low IQ and consequently poorer educational outcomes.

In the 2002 National Nutrition Survey about four-fifths of households said they could always afford to eat properly; one in five said they could “sometimes afford to eat properly”. Forty percent of households in the lowest socio-economic areas said they could not always afford to eat properly compared with six percent in the highest socio-economic areas.

Poverty is correlated with higher risks of the physical abuse and neglect of children. The highest rates of partner abuse tend to be found among young cohabiting adults of low socio-economic status, particularly when they have children.

For full details and credits of sources go to the report A Fair Go for all Children, Actions to address child poverty in New Zealand by clicking here.