June 27, 2017
Whanau struggling with multiple disadvantages
Almost one in five New Zealand families experience disadvantage in three or more areas such as health, income and employment.
Superu's fifth annual Families and Whanau Status Report released today measures eight life areas.
It says 82 percent of New Zealanders lead lives relatively free of disadvantage.
Families experience different types of disadvantage across the course of their life, with older couples are more likely to experience disadvantage in education and health, while for younger families disadvantage in housing and material wellbeing life areas was more common.
Single parents with young children were much more likely to experience disadvantage in three or more of eight life areas.
Superu deputy chief executive Vasantha Krishnan says those designing social services need to to take into account that people can have multiple issues that can be interconnected.
For example, half of those with a housing disadvantage also had two or more other issues they need support with.
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