Aotearoa’s progress in reducing child poverty has stalled, with tamariki Māori continuing to experience disproportionately high rates of material hardship, according to the Ministry of Social Development’s 2026 Child Poverty Report.
Based on data from the 2024/25 Household Income and Living Survey, the report tracks trends in material hardship and income poverty, while comparing New Zealand’s progress with European countries. It found that gains made between 2011 and 2020 have slowed, with more children now living in hardship.
It found that one in four Māori children (25%) are living in material hardship, compared with the national rate of 14%. Around 12% of Māori children are experiencing severe material hardship (lacking 10 or more essentials), double the national rate of 6%.
Although Māori children make up around 20% of New Zealand’s child population, they account for 32% of children living in material hardship and 36% of those experiencing severe material hardship.
The report also found that 24% of Māori children live in households with incomes below half the national median after housing costs, placing them at greater risk of persistent poverty.
Calls for a Te Tiriti-led approach
In an open letter, the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Claire Achmad, called on political leaders to develop a long-term national child poverty reduction plan by embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi in its approach and working alongside Pou Tangata, the National Iwi Chairs Forum, and iwi.
Achmad pointed to the Child Poverty Reduction Act, passed in Parliament in 2018, saying it laid a strong foundation and that many children benefited from the early progress made.
The pressures are real and New Zealand’s children cannot afford to wait.
— Dr Claire Achmad, Children’s Commissioner
However, she said that with nearly 170,000 children now experiencing material hardship, rates remain unacceptably high, particularly for Māori.
“Children living in poverty tell me how poverty is costing them opportunities – to be healthy, developing and learning, and to have a strong start in life."
Opposition to continue putting the squeeze on the Government
Te Pāti Kākāriki’s MP Kahurangi Carter (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tainui iwi), the party’s spokesperson for children, also raised concerns about the findings and the Children’s Commissioner’s report in Parliament last week.
Carter says she intends to raise the issue again when Parliament resumes on Thursday.
After questioning Social Development Minister Louise Upston in Parliament, Carter said the Government needed to do more than encourage people into work, noting that nearly half of children living in material hardship belong to working families.
Child Poverty Action Group’s Alan Maxwell says the report reflects what his organisation is seeing in communities across the country.
“We know a lot of our families are really struggling. Even if they’re both working parents, in those lower-earning families it’s a huge percentage of what they have available that goes to just keeping the power on and the roof over their heads,” he said.
Maxwell said policy decisions over many years had failed to prioritise children’s wellbeing.
“If you go back to the ’70s we were ranked as one of the top in the world for affordable living and now we are the worst in the OECD. It’s not accidental, it’s choices,” he says.
Minister responds
Minister for Social Development Louise Upston says reducing child material hardship remains a priority for the Government through its Child and Youth Strategy.
She said Budget 2026 includes measures aimed at tackling the long-term drivers of poverty, including helping more parents into work, investing in new social housing, expanding employment support for sole parents and continuing funding for community food programmes, including school breakfasts.
Upston said increases to the Accommodation Supplement, worth between $10 and $30 a week for eligible families, alongside a temporary $50 increase to the In-Work Tax Credit, would help ease cost-of-living pressures.
Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira Deputy CEO Jennie Smeaton (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga) says the iwi has seen more whānau turning to it for support, with many struggling to afford the basic necessities such as housing and food. She says the iwi is helping to ease that burden through services including housing assistance and food banks.
“When nearly one in four tamariki Māori are missing out on the basics, that’s not a statistic, that’s whānau in our own communities going without warm clothes, without enough kai, without a bed of their own.”
She said long-term investment in iwi-led services, greater decision-making for Māori providers and action on housing affordability and incomes were needed to reduce child poverty.
“Iwi are already doing this work well; Government’s job now is to properly resource it and get out of the way of what’s working. We need a bipartisan agreement from Government that commits to reducing these statistics. It’s a national shame.”
