How child poverty is measured
The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 specifies three primary measures of child poverty for which governments must set long-term (ten-year) and intermediate (three-year) targets.[1] These three primary measures are material hardship, the after-housing-costs (fixed-line) measure and the before-housing-costs (moving-line) measure. Targets for each measure, as set by successive governments, are as follows.
| Primary measure | This measures child poverty by looking at… | Second intermediate targets (2023/24) | Third intermediate target (2026/27) |
Ten-year target (2027/28) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material hardship | …the proportion of children living in households lacking six or more items on the material hardship index | 9.0% | 11.0% | 6.0% |
| 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 (e.g. rent) and adjusting for inflation | 15.0% | 14.0% | 10.0% |
| 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% | 12.0% | 5.0% |
Notes
- [1] More information on each of the measures and targets can be found at www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/child-wellbeing-and-poverty-reduction/child-poverty-reduction-measures-targets.html. A fourth primary measure, persistent poverty, is required from 2025/26 onwards.