We are continuing to work towards reducing child poverty
The reduction in child poverty to date has been a significant achievement by the Government. We remain committed to meeting our intermediate and 10-year child poverty targets, while recognising that this is a particularly challenging time, with a global economy that is volatile and still recovering from the impacts of COVID-19, high global inflation and the economic impacts of recent extreme weather events. We know that continuing to make progress towards the targets will be challenging in this environment.
However, our strong economic and financial management has ensured that the Government books are in solid shape. We are therefore well positioned to keep a strong focus on children and low-income families and whānau, and to provide assistance that will help take the pressure off households’ budgets and support New Zealanders with cost of living pressures.
We have set the following second intermediate targets and ten-year targets:
After-housing-costs, fixed-line measure How many households have very low incomes relative to previous years, after considering housing costs and increases in the cost of living? |
Before-housing-costs, moving-line measure How many households have much lower incomes than other households? |
Material hardship How many households do not have access to the essential items for living? |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Second three-year target for 2023/24 | 15% | 10% | 9% |
| The ten-year target by 2027/28 | 10% | 5% | 6% |