The New Zealand government launched the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy in August 2019. The Children’s Act 2014 requires an annual report on the progress of the strategy’s six outcomes. This report covers the progress made during the first ten months of the strategy’s implementation, from September 2019 to June 2020.

Key findings:

• 83.0% of young people rated their family wellbeing as high.
• 90% of 15-24-year olds reported good, very good or excellent health
• 36% of households with children spent more than 30% of their disposable income on housing, a slight increase from 35% in 2018/19
• 7% of children lived in households with a major problem with dampness or mould, a drop from 8% in 2018/19
• 20% of children reported living in households where food runs out sometimes or often. The rates for Māori were 30% and the rates for Pacific were 46, however these have been trending downward
• 11 % of children and young people reported experiencing psychological or mental distress in 2019/2020
• The rate of potentially avoidable hospitalisations in 0-15 year olds was 49 per 1,000. This is a notable drop compared to previous years, which could partly be explained by COVID-19.