Child Poverty Rates Steady as of June 2025

No statistically significant movements occurred in child poverty rates in the year ended June 2025, compared with the year ended June 2024, according to figures released by Stats NZ today.

"While child poverty rates haven't changed compared to the previous year, there have been decreases in two of the primary measures of child poverty since the year ended June 2018," social and environment spokesperson Abby Johnston said.

In the year ended June 2025, the percentage of children who lived in low-income households before deducting housing costs for the financial year (measure (a)) was:

• 12.6 percent for all children
• 14.9 percent for tamariki Māori
• 18.7 percent for Pacific children
• 13.3 percent for disabled children.

Over the same period, the percentage of children who lived in low-income households after deducting housing costs for the base financial year (measure (b)) was:

• 17.8 percent for all children
• 18.9 percent for tamariki Māori
• 20.2 percent for Pacific children
• 19.9 percent for disabled children.

The percentage of children who lived in households experiencing material hardship (measure (c)) was:

• 14.3 percent for all children
• 25.1 percent for tamariki Māori
• 31.0 percent for Pacific children
• 26.9 percent for disabled children.

Material hardship is a non-income based measure of poverty. Non-income measures provide a direct indication of the actual day-to-day living conditions of households, such as access to the basics of food, clothing, accommodation, heating, and transport, and their ability to afford other items that most people would regard as essential or near-essential.

"Nationally, approximately 1 in 7 children were living in households experiencing material hardship in the year ended June 2025," Johnston said.

"This rate was higher for tamariki Māori (approximately 1 in 4), Pacific children (approximately 1 in 3), and disabled children (approximately 1 in 4)."

Long-term movements in primary measures by demographic group

Child poverty data for ethnic groups was first published for the year ended June 2019. While child poverty rates for measures (a) and (b) of the Act were lower for tamariki Māori in the year ended June 2025 than in the year ended June 2019, there were no statistically significant changes in any of the primary child poverty measures for Pacific children.

For tamariki Māori in the year ended June 2025, compared with the year ended June 2019:

• the percentage of children living in low-income households before deducting housing costs for the financial year (measure (a)) decreased to 14.9 percent (down 3.0 percentage points)
• the percentage of children living in low-income households after deducting housing costs for the base financial year (measure (b)) decreased to 18.9 percent (down 4.0 percentage points).

Child poverty data for disabled children was first published in the year ended June 2020. In the year ended June 2025, compared with the year ended June 2020, there was no statistically significant change in child poverty rates for disabled children for measure (a) or measure (b) of the Act.

Material hardship rates by disability status for children should not be compared between the Household Economic Survey and Housing Income and Living Survey, due to the combination of changes to the disability questions and the measurement of material hardship. A new time series will begin from the year ended June 2025.

About the transition from the Household Economic Survey to the Household Income and Living Survey has more information about these changes.

A change between two years is considered statistically significant if the difference between the estimates is larger than the sample error on the change.