Stats NZ

Child poverty statistics for households with disabled people released for the first time – corrected

The statistics show that disabled children and children in households where someone is disabled are more likely to be in poverty according to the nine child poverty measures, Stats NZ said today.

New data from the household economic survey reports statistics about disabled children and children in households where one or more people are disabled.

“This is an important improvement to be able to provide statistics for disabled people and their households for the first time,” income and poverty manager Chris Pooch said.

The statistics were separated into two categories – firstly by the number of disabled children and then by the number of children who live in households with at least one disabled person.

In the year ended June 2020, disabled children were more likely than non-disabled children to be in low income households, and 1 in 5 disabled children lived in material hardship (20.4 percent), which was more than double the rate of non-disabled children who lived in material hardship (10.1 percent).

Material hardship is indicated by the number of households missing out on more than 6 of the 17 basic things most people would regard as essentials. Examples of essential items lacked include: the household respondent reporting serious restriction on eating fresh fruit or vegetables, putting off a visit to the doctor because of a lack of money, or not being able to pay the gas or electricity bill on time.

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14MeasurePercentSee metadata tab for notes about this graph.Primary child poverty measures by disabled children, year ended June 2020 (corrected)Disabled childrenNon-disabled childrenMeasure (a): BHC 50Measure (b): AHC 50 fixedMeasure (c): material hardship0102030Stats NZ

Primary child poverty measures by disabled children, year ended June 2020 (corrected)

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14PercentPrimary child poverty measures by disabled children, year ended June 2020 (corrected)Disabled childrenNon-disabled childrenMeasure (a): BHC 50Measure (b): AHC 50 fixedMeasure (c): material hardship3Measure (b): AHC 500102030Stats NZ
MeasureDisabled childrenError (' low ')Error (' high ')Non-disabled childrenError (' low ')Error (' high ')
Measure (a): BHC 5012.618.612.314.9
Measure (a): BHC 5015.613.6
Measure (b): AHC 50 fixed18.926.116.319.1
Measure (b): AHC 50 fixed22.5
Measure (c): material hardship1723.89.111.1
Measure (c): material hardship20.410.1
Measure (b): AHC 5017.7

Primary child poverty measures by disabled children, year ended June 2020 (corrected)

Measure (a) Percentage of children living in households with less than 50 percent of the median equivalised disposable household income before deducting housing costs.

Measure (b) Percentage of children living in households with less than 50 percent of the median equivalised disposable household income after deducting housing costs (for the 2017/18 base financial year).

Measure (c) Percentage of children living in households in material hardship (having a DEP-17 score of six or more items).

Error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals, between which we are confident the true value lies.

Similarly, children who lived in a household where at least one person was disabled were more likely to live in households with low income and material hardship than children whose household had no disabled individuals.

1 in 5 children (20.4 percent) who lived in a household where at least one person was disabled lived in material hardship. This is more than two-and-a-half times the rate for children who did not live in a household with at least one disabled person (7.5 percent).

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14MeasurePercentSee metadata tab for notes about this graph.Primary child poverty measures by children in households where at least one person is disabled, year ended June 2020 (corrected)Children in households where at least one person is disabledHouseholds with no disabled individualsMeasure (a): BHC 50Measure (b): AHC 50 fixedMeasure (c): material hardship0102030Stats NZ

Primary child poverty measures by children in households where at least one person is disabled, year ended June 2020 (corrected)

Created with Highcharts 5.0.14PercentPrimary child poverty measures by children in households where at least one person is disabled, year ended June 2020 (corrected)Children in households where at least one person is disabledHouseholds with no disabled individualsMeasure (a): BHC 50Measure (b): AHC 50 fixedMeasure (c): material hardship3Measure (b): AHC 500102030Stats NZ
MeasureChildren in households where at least one person is disabledError (' low ')Error (' high ')Households with no disabled individualsError (' low ')Error (' high ')
Measure (a): BHC 5014.719.31113.8
Measure (a): BHC 501712.4
Measure (b): AHC 50 fixed18.624.215.618.6
Measure (b): AHC 50 fixed21.4
Measure (c): material hardship17.8236.58.5
Measure (c): material hardship20.47.5
Measure (b): AHC 5017.1

Primary child poverty measures by children in households where at least one person is disabled, year ended June 2020 (corrected)

Measure (a) Percentage of children living in households with less than 50 percent of the median equivalised disposable household income before deducting housing costs.

Measure (b) Percentage of children living in households with less than 50 percent of the median equivalised disposable household income after deducting housing costs (for the 2017/18 base financial year).

Measure (c) Percentage of children living in households in material hardship (having a DEP-17 score of six or more items).

Error bars show 95 percent confidence intervals, between which we are confident the true value lies.

Interpreting child poverty statistics

The household economic survey for the year ended June 2020 has included Washington Group questions on activity limitations. These questions identify people with functional difficulties that may impact how they participate in everyday life. Examples include difficulties with seeing (even with glasses), hearing (even with hearing aids), and for children, controlling their own behaviour.

Questions on activity limitations were asked of both adults and children. This means Stats NZ was able to produce estimates of all nine child poverty measures by disability status for the first time.

The COVID-19 lockdown in late March 2020 affected Stats NZ’s ability to collect data from households for child poverty statistics. Therefore, data in this release only covers nine months, to March 2020, meaning this release gives a clear picture of child poverty pre-COVID-19.

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