NZ’s poverty crisis: what it means for young people

New research from the New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS) paints a troubling picture of poverty in Aotearoa, and underlines why the work of services like Waipuna Youth Services matters more than ever. The 2026 report, Kua Mahue | Left Behind, finds that an estimated 473,000 New Zealanders are living in hardship, and that one in ten people are living in poverty.

For children, the figures are stark. One in seven New Zealand children, around 169,300 young people, are now living in material hardship, meaning their families regularly go without daily essentials such as fresh fruit, doctor’s visits, or adequate heating. This represents a significant increase from 2022’s rate of 10.6%, with 47,500 more children now in hardship than three years ago.

Who is most affected

The hardship is not evenly distributed. One in three Pasifika children (31%) are living in material hardship, and one in four tamariki Māori (25.1%). Children living in households where someone has a disability face hardship at a rate of 26.9%. Around 106,000 children (8.6%) are now in consistent poverty, meaning their families experience both low income and material hardship simultaneously, while 71,000 children (6%) are in severe material hardship, with those rates at their highest levels in nearly a decade.

The NZCCSS report also highlights the inadequacy of core benefit levels. Jobseeker support payments are estimated to be up to $111 per week short of covering basic household costs, actively keeping people in poverty rather than providing a genuine floor.

What NZCCSS is calling for

NZCCSS’s Free From Poverty campaign calls on the government to increase core benefit levels and index them to the greater of either wage growth or CPI. The campaign also calls for bolder changes to Working for Families to expand its reach, and for the introduction of a Poverty Reduction Act, which would legislate poverty measurement and set binding reduction targets for all New Zealanders, not just children.

Budget 2026 drew a direct response from NZCCSS, which noted that despite the government’s stated theme of “Securing New Zealand’s Future”, the budget contained no measures that would shift the trajectory on child poverty over the next four years.

Why this matters for Waipuna

The young people Waipuna Youth Services works with are disproportionately represented in these statistics. Poverty does not exist in isolation from the other challenges our young people face: housing insecurity, disconnection from education and employment, and family complexity are all shaped by the economic conditions families find themselves in.

Waipuna’s approach recognises that employment, reintegration, and experiential learning programmes cannot succeed without also addressing the material conditions of young people’s lives. The NZCCSS findings reinforce the importance of services that wrap around young people with practical, relational support, and advocate for systemic change alongside individual transformation.

NZCCSS, the peak body for Christian social service organisations in Aotearoa, represents over 230 social service providers. St John of God Hauora Trust is a member of NZCCSS and shares its commitment to tackling poverty and hardship in our communities.

Source: NZCCSS, Kua Mahue | Left Behind, 2026; NZCCSS Budget 2026 response; Stats NZ Child Poverty Statistics year ended June 2025.