The number of children suffering from material hardship has increased by 50,000 over the past three years, according to the government's Child Poverty Report 2026.
Nearly 170,000 children were facing material hardship in 2025, representing 14% of all children. The report shows New Zealand is not on track to meet its 2028 target of reducing child material hardship to 6%.
Material hardship measures the extent to which children are in homes that go without essential items such as nutritious food, adequate footwear, clothing and heating.
Retired Starship Hospital paediatrician Dr Innes Asher said "that's 14% - our national goal is to reduce it down to 6% in 2028 - we're clearly failing to move anywhere towards that".
Asher said more children are in poverty now than there were 10 years ago, adding that "the government's policies over this term have just gradually eaten away at the edges of things that can help children to thrive".
She disputed the idea that economic improvement alone would reduce child poverty, saying "there's a myth that improving the economy will help but that never has, we've had high poverty rates even at times of very good strong economy". Poverty is estimated to cost about 3% to 4% of New Zealand's GDP, while an OECD report showed rising inequality knocked more than 10% off growth in New Zealand.