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Children's Commissioner not surprised by damning child wellbeing report

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 3 Sep 2020, 6:02PM
(Photo / File)
(Photo / File)

Children's Commissioner not surprised by damning child wellbeing report

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Thu, 3 Sep 2020, 6:02PM

The Children's Commissioner says he's sad and depressed, but not surprised, by UNICEF's latest report

New Zealand ranks 35th in child wellbeing outcomes out of 41 EU and OECD countries.

UNICEF is calling for Government investment and policy changes to deal with staggering child wellbeing issues.

More than one in three New Zealand children are obese or overweight. Meanwhile, only 64.6 per cent of 15-year-olds have basic proficiency in reading and maths.

Alarming results also show New Zealand has the second worst rate of youth suicide in the OECD.

Commissioner Andrew Becroft told Heather du Plessis-Allan generations of Government and New Zealanders have accepted poverty.

"I think we woke up at the last election for the first time. I think now we're on to it, but we must never normalise it, and 30 per cent of our kids need to be helped."

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