How child poverty is measured
The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 specifies three primary measures of child poverty. Governments must set long-term (ten-year) and intermediate (three-year) targets for each primary measure.[1] The primary measures and current targets (as set by the previous Government) are as follows.
| Primary measure | This measures child poverty by looking at… | Intermediate target (2023/24) |
Ten-year target (2027/28) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Material hardship | …households' living standards based on their access to the basics | 9.0 per cent | 6.0 per cent |
| The after-housing-costs fixed-line measure (AHC50) | …the proportion of children living in households with incomes that are less than half the median income in 2017/18, after paying for housing costs (eg, rent) and adjusting for inflation | 15.0 per cent | 10.0 per cent |
| The before-housing-costs moving-line measure (BHC50) | …the proportion of children living in households with incomes before housing costs that are less than half the median income for the financial year | 10.0 per cent | 5.0 per cent |
Notes
- [1] More information on the measures and targets can be found on the Child and Youth Wellbeing website (www.childyouthwellbeing.govt.nz).