The legislation underpinning the Strategy ensures real public transparency and political accountability for reporting on child and youth wellbeing, including child poverty reduction.
Recent reports include:
Annual Report
The first statutory Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy Annual Report, for the year ended June 2021, was released on 12 April 2022. A voluntary Annual Report was published in 2021, which established baseline data for the majority of the Strategy’s 36 child and youth wellbeing indicators.
The Annual Report details progress towards achieving the outcomes, as measured against the Strategy's indicators. It includes specific information on outcomes for Māori and Pacific children and young people, and for other population groups where data is available.
It also includes progress updates on key actions in the Strategy's Programme of Action.
Monitoring Report - progress in implementing the Strategy
The third Monitoring Report, outlining progress in implementing the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy was released on 22 June 2022. It details key activity carried out in 2021 (Jan - Dec) to bring the Strategy into effect. This includes progress of the particular policies and initiatives underway across government to help achieve the Strategy’s vision and outcomes, and how agencies and non-government organisations are aligning to the Strategy framework.
- Read the Monitoring Report for the period January - December 2021
- Read the Monitoring Report for the period July-December 2020
- Read the Monitoring Report for the year ended June 2020
Child Poverty Report - Budget 2022
The fourth annual Child Poverty Report was released on 19 May, alongside Budget 2022. It describes what progress has been made in reducing poverty and what the government is doing through Budget 2022 to reduce child poverty.
- Find out more
- Read the Child poverty Report Budget 2022
- Read the Child Poverty Report - Budget 2021
- Child Poverty Report - Budget 2020
- Child Poverty Report - Budget 2019
Child Poverty Statistics
Stats NZ released the official child poverty rates for the year ended June 2021 on 24 February 2022. These statistics track progress towards the Government's child poverty targets against the 2017/18 baseline data. The data shows that, on all the measures, child poverty has continued to trend downwards.
The figures also show that the Government has met the first round of child poverty targets on two of the three primary measures. The data captures the initial impacts of COVID-19 on measured child poverty, and the Government’s preliminary policies in response.
- Read the latest Stats NZ child poverty report (for the year ended June 2021)
- Read the media release
- See the Stats NZ child poverty baseline rates (for the year ended June 2018)
Data time-lags
A challenge with measurement and reporting is that there are time-lags between data collection and reporting timeframes, meaning the impacts of policies are often not visible in the reporting for some time.
The child poverty data used in the child poverty report produced by Stats NZ is drawn from the Household Economic Survey (HES), which surveys adults (aged 15+) in more than 20,000 households. The survey is conducted over a 12-month period, from July to June, and collects annual income information for the 12 months prior to the interview. These collection timelines mean a significant lag in data reporting, of up to two and a half years at the time of the report’s release.
For example, the numbers reflected in the child poverty report for the 2019/20 year, released in February 2022, cover annual incomes from mid-2018 to mid-2020.
Child Poverty Related Indicators Report
The third report on the Child Poverty Related Indicators - focusing on trends up to and including the 2020/21 year - was released on 12 April 2021.
Child Poverty Related Indicators are measures related to the broader causes and consequences of child poverty. Taken together, these indicators help tell a broader story about the lived experience of children living in poverty in New Zealand.
Overtime, they can also tell us more about the impact of policies established to reduce child poverty and mitigate its consequences.
