Purportedly, 25% of New Zealand's children live in poverty. A new report from across the ditch also found that 'around 30% of Maori and 30% of Pacific children lived in poor households, as compared to 15% of European children'.
The first annual Child Poverty Monitor defines any households with less than 60% of median income as being in poverty, taking housing costs into consideration. This is the same relative poverty line used by the European Union. By this definition, 'income poverty' among children in New Zealand has gone from 14% in 1982 to 25% in 2012 (and down from 30% in 2001):
Much media attention has resulted in New Zealand.
If this definition (60% of median household income, factoring housing costs) is applied to Australia, the figure is 26% (in 2010). But using the relative poverty line adopted by the OECD (50% of median household income, accounting for housing costs), the number of children living in poverty goes down to 17% in both Australia and New Zealand. According to the Australian Council of Social Service, 'many households on social security payments have incomes that lie in between the two poverty lines.'
