We cannot waste our precious children
Not another one, not another day.
It is long past time for us to act on their behalf
Nelson Mandela
Poverty is a complicated issue. The problems caused by childhood experiences of poverty are wide-ranging and interconnected. CPAG experts from many fields work together to understand these problems and their roots in our society. From there, we propose policy solutions and take part in public debate.
CPAG believes our children's wellbeing and contribution to society, both now and in the future, is vitally important but often overlooked in a world driven by adult agendas. Real recognition of children's worth and contribution means government support for children's development that is generous and secure. No child's meals should ever come from a foodbank, for example, due to inadequate income when there are health or employment problems in the family.
In this section we outline the facts about child poverty in several key areas:
We propose a plan for immediate government action to address child poverty in New Zealand and look at long term solutions. We also attempt to get behind the dry statistics to look at the human cost in "The grind."
There are two main kinds of poverty measure which are used in New Zealand. They measure relative income poverty and material hardship (ie instead of measuring money coming in relative to what is normal for a society, they look at people's access to resources more generally).
There are a number of internationally-recognised relative income poverty lines which we use. In 2006-07, 22% of children (230 000 of them) were living below the 60% of median income poverty line. This is the poverty line which CPAG says is best used to judge whether people have enough to take part in our society.
For more in-depth information about child poverty in New Zealand, see CPAG's cornerstone publication 'Left Behind: How social and income inequalities damage New Zealand children', at http://www.cpag.org.nz/resources/publications/
For a summary of the facts about poverty - read the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services summary 2008
For a concise summary of child poverty statistics (2008), see the Children's Commissioner's child poverty webpage
For information about the government's latest Living Standards research see "Why we need to do more" (2006)