Abstract
Children in Aotearoa New Zealand should be supported to live lives in which there are resources available for them to thrive, where they are experiencing wellbeing and opportunities to work towards fulfilling their potential, and where the environment surrounding them is enriching and safe.
Children and young people in Aotearoa want to be accepted, valued and respected and have their place within their whānau and community recognised and supported. We want all children to have the opportunities, choices and support they need to live a life of purpose, securely connected with families, whānau and communities where they can thrive. Each and every child has the right to grow up to be healthy, strong, well-educated and capable of contributing to their community and wider society, as demonstrated in every international agreement to recognise and protect children’s rights. In 1993 Aotearoa ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, recognising, among other things, the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development. Aotearoa is a signatory to the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development that came into effect in January 2016. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) apply to all countries and recognise that ensuring healthy lives and promoting wellbeing at all ages is essential to sustainable development.
Poverty interferes with the capacity of children to enjoy their right to an adequate standard of living. There is strong evidence for negative effects of poverty on a wide range of children’s outcomes, including cognitive development, school attainment, health and social, emotional and behavioural development. For children in high income countries, relative poverty perpetuates cycles of disadvantage and inequity so that some children miss out on the opportunities to be educated, healthy or nourished compared with their peers. In 2018 the New Zealand Government enacted the Child Poverty Reduction Act and Children’s Amendment Act which, together, introduced an enduring commitment to reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing. The Government also convened a Welfare Expert Advisory Group to review Aotearoa’s welfare system.
This Child Poverty Monitor is the seventh consecutive annual report on implications of child poverty in Aotearoa, and updates the progress made toward a society where every child can flourish and achieve their potential. This report uses a variety of data sources to measure child poverty and is the first in the series to use the baseline data source recently developed by Stats NZ. This Child Poverty Monitor is comprised of three clusters of indicators.
The first group of indicators sets the baseline for measuring progress from 2019 toward substantial reduction in the number and proportion of children living in households that experience income poverty and material hardship. This section also includes information about the number of children in households that are eligible for and receive financial assistance.
The second group of indicators tracks progress toward goals to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing, ensuring access to sufficient and nutritious food, promoting nurture and protection within families and wider society as well as equitable, high quality education for all.
The final group of indicators provides information about the context in which the specific child-related issues arise, and is particularly relevant to goals to ensure access to adequate, safe and affordable housing, promote full and productive employment and decent work for all, and to reduce inequality within and between countries.
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 Child Poverty Monitor partners choose indicators each year, taking into consideration the recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty and the indicators previously included in the Children’s Social Health Monitor. These indicators contribute to a broad picture of the scale and impact of poverty on children’s lives in Aotearoa. The Child Poverty Monitor partners collectively hold hope for the future and a vision of Aotearoa as a country where childhood is characterised as a good life with opportunity to thrive and flourish in a safe environment.