Source: Radio New Zealand
One in seven children are living in hardship in the latest recorded year, according to new data from Stats New Zealand.
The national statistics agency released the data for the year between July 2024 and June 2025 on Wednesday morning.
Around 17,900 households were interviewed for the research.
The number of children that were recorded as living in material hardship was 14.3 percent – one in seven.
There was no significant change in that from the year recorded prior or since 2018.
In the latest statistics, a child recorded as facing material hardship was recorded as being in a household going without seven or more of 18 necessities.
Those included being unable to pay for utilities on time, having to put up with feeling cold and putting off doctors visits.
That was a change to the year prior where the threshold for material hardship was six or more.
14.9 percent of Māori children were recorded in material hardship which was not statistically different to the year prior.
For Pacific children, that figure was 18.7 percent five points higher than in 2024.
17.8 percent of children lived in households with less than half of the 2018 year’s median equivalised disposable household income after housing costs were deducted.
That was not different to the year prior.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
