OUR CHILDREN
An estimated 70,000 New Zealand children— or 7% of the under 17-year-old population— are living in severe material deprivation. This number is down by 20,000 children since 2012, although per-capita GDP has grown by 13% in inflation-adjusted terms since then.
The Child Poverty Monitor comprises a partnership between the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, the New Zealand Child and Youth Epidemiology Service (NZCYES) at the University of Otago, and the J R McKenzie Trust.
The Annual Child Poverty Monitor is a partnership project between the Children’s Commissioner, the JR McKenzie Trust and Otago University measuring and reporting on child poverty rates in New Zealand annually.
The Household Incomes Report provides information on the material wellbeing of New Zealanders as indicated by their household incomes from all sources from 1982 to 2014.
An international report by UNICEF has found that child poverty rates in New Zealand have barely changed since 2008, despite similar sized countries significantly reducing child poverty during the recent recession.
Until last week Auckland siblings Mutu Kapita, 9, and Daetyn Grant, 8, had never been to the beach, despite living just 20 minutes from the coast.
And in South Auckland they are one not the only ones who've never felt sand under their feet.
Food programmes for hungry Kiwi schoolchildren may soon get a boost from the Government to top off an overwhelming public response to recent media appeals.
The charity running the Breakfast in Schools programme says it is thrilled the Government is willing to look at expanding the programme to children still going hungry.