A new report says children from New Zealand’s poorest home are twice as likely to die as those from wealthy houses, with the country ranked 28 th out of 175 countries for the overall quality of Kiwi childhoods.
The End of Childhood Report ranks 175 countries on how a child’s life is threatened by extreme violence, poor health, malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, early pregnancy and exclusion from education.
New Zealand came in behind Australia (17), and the United Kingdom (22) but ahead of the United States, which came in 36th.
Save the Children NZ chief executive Heidi Coetzee said NZ’s child mortality statistics were appalling.
“The report says that children from the poorest households are, on average twice as likely to die before the age of five as children from the richest households. In New Zealand children living in the most deprived areas are three times more likely to die than those living in the least deprived areas,” she said
“Our Government has an obligation to ensure the survival and development of every child and that children are protected from all forms of abuse.”
“While it’s good that the Government has promised a funding boost of $76.2 million over four years for family violence services, more needs to be done to prevent family violence happening in the first place with the aim of reducing the number of children harmed each year. All children have the right to have a safe, happy and fulfilled childhood.”
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