We all know that poverty is rampant in underdeveloped
countries. So, I wanted to find out about children in poverty in an industrialized
country. As a trend in my blog posts I have chosen to focus on early education
in New Zealand. So, I decided to research what UNICEF had to report about child
poverty in this industrialized country. I found a few insights to share with
you here about child poverty in New Zealand.
- According to the UNICEF New Zealand website 1 in 4 children are living in poverty in New Zealand. This was an alarming statistic to me. For some reason I felt the percentage would be much lower. This also caused me to question how many children in other industrialized countries live in poverty. According to the Children's Defense Fund nearly 20% of children in the US are living in poverty- that's 1 in 5 children. A report from Global News reports the same statistic of children living in poverty in Canada. So, the number of New Zealand's children living in poverty is not far off from these other statistics.
- The cost of remediating poverty might be less than the cost of leaving children in poverty on society overall. When children live in poverty they are more likely to drop out of school and to engage in criminal acts later in life. In New Zealand, the cost to the justice system due to this is approximately $2 billion per year.
- The largest impact on child poverty occurs when policy and budget changes occur within the government. Policy changes that affect family income and housing are among the most influential on child poverty along with those that address education and health. " (UNICEF, n.d.). So, advocacy efforts are key to the changes that we want to see in child poverty levels in all countries.
References
Children's
Defense Fund. (2016, Sept. 13). Children’s Defense Fund Child Poverty in
America 2015: National Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/data/child-poverty-in-america-2015.pdf
Global News.
(2015, Nov. 24). Nearly 1 in 5 Canadian children living in poverty: report. Retrieved
from http://globalnews.ca/news/2360311/nearly-1-in-5-canadian-children-living-in-poverty-report/
UNICEF: New Zealand.
(n.d.). Child poverty in New Zealand. Retrieved https://www.unicef.org.nz/learn/our-work-in-new-zealand/Child-Poverty-in-New-Zealand
Hello Wendy,
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad that 28 %of New Zealand children live in poverty.
Where the cold, damp weather and too confined houses which will lead to doing badly at school and no job later and end up falling into a life of crime (Child Poverty in New Zealand," n.d.).
Reference
Child Poverty in New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org.nz/learn/our-work-in-new-zealand/Child-Poverty-in-New-Zealand.
Wendy,
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! You are completely right. When I think of poverty I also think about underdeveloped countries, but poverty is everywhere. We have been looking and researching about different organizations that are trying to remediate poverty, but I have never thought about the cost of it. I found that in Canada, the government spent $19.9 billion on Employment Insurance benefits in 2011 (Canada Without Poverty, n.d.). That’s a lot!
Thank you for sharing and for giving me a new way of looking into poverty!
Reference:
Canada Without Poverty (n.d.) The Cost of Poverty. Retrieved from: http://www.cwp-csp.ca/poverty/the-cost-of-poverty/
Hello Wendy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with us. I also tend to think of poverty as an issue affecting underdeveloped countries; however, poverty affects every corner of the world. The statistics you mentioned were higher than I expected for developed nations. I agree with you that advocacy efforts are the key to battling poverty in all nations.We must continue to raise awareness on the issues of poverty affecting children everywhere.
-Elizabeth Dupin
Hi Wendy,
ReplyDeleteI think you focused on the positive aspect in New Zealand such as early education. The statistics amazed me because I though the numbers would be lower. However, I agree that the largest impact on a child poverty occurs when policy and budget changes. As early childhood educators we need to be mindful who we vote for during election. We should put people in office who care about education . as well as people of poverty. I would encourage all early childhood educators to be a voice for our children of poverty. Angela Davis