The economic recovery has been credited with a reduction in child poverty revealed in a report released today - but nearly one in four children are still living in poverty.
The Child Poverty Monitor produced by the University of Otago shows 24% of children were in poverty, compared with 27% in the first poverty monitor last year.
With the reduction, the rate was nearly equal to that of 2007.
Social agencies spoken to yesterday suggested the improvement might not have trickled down to Dunedin.
A press release with the report said the decrease had come ''as we move on after the global financial crisis''.
The new report uses 2013 data.
Otago University child and youth epidemiology service director Dr Jean Simpson was pleased child poverty had reduced, but warned against complacency.
''Far too many kids'' potentially faced lifelong problems caused by poverty.
''My sense is that New Zealanders are beginning to [say] 'actually, it's not fair'.''
Dr Simpson believed the extent and effects of child poverty were poorly understood.
''I am still not sure that the real impact on a child's health and wellbeing from living in poverty is fully recognised.
''Over 40,000 hospital admissions for conditions that have a social gradient [linked to income] means a lot of children each year are really sick.
''And children living in the most deprived areas are more likely [than] those from wealthy areas to be admitted for these conditions and injuries.''
Diseases included bronchiolitis, acute upper respiratory infections, pneumonia and rheumatic fever, all of which had potentially lifelong implications.
Hospital admissions for infectious and respiratory illnesses were down on the previous year, but over a five-year period had stayed about the same.
''It is too early to know if we are doing better than before. We will need to maintain that reduction in the rates to be confident that there is a real difference,'' Dr Simpson said.
The first poverty monitor last year had to be corrected because it transpired wrong information provided by the Treasury and Statistics New Zealand meant the children in poverty were undercounted. Dr Simpson believed the mistake was unlikely to be repeated.
''When an error occurs as it did last year, the departments themselves are likely to be looking quite closely at their data before they go out.''
Children's Commissioner Dr Russell Wills said child poverty had become one of the most talked about issues in New Zealand.
''Children are not statistics. We know that. But when you want to track progress on child poverty over time, you have to use numbers,'' he said.
The report showed 6.3% of children aged 14 and under in Dunedin lived in crowded households, compared with the national average of 15.8%.
In Auckland, it was more than 22%.
Those on the lowest incomes were hardest hit by New Zealand's high cost of housing, with the lowest 20% of earners the most likely to spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.
Nearly 50% of those receiving an accommodation supplement spent more than half of their income on housing.
Presbyterian Support Otago chief executive Gillian Bremner said virtually all the organisation's clients spent between 30% and 50% of their income on housing.
In the past four weeks, PSO gained more than 300 new clients needing help.
The increase was unusual, and suggested things were not really improving, although she said she did not know for sure.
''There's no evidence in the number of clients coming to our door that would suggest there has been an easing of the difficulties that families find themselves in.
''The number of new clients coming to our door is significant. I think we have to be careful here that we don't just accept that a downward trend is OK when you've still got a very high percentage of children in poverty.''
Anglican Family Care Centre director Nicola Taylor did not think social and economic conditions had improved for Dunedin's low income people.
''We've now got a waiting list, which we've never had before, for some of our home-based social services.
''Our budget services, our counselling services, the pressure on them is huge,'' Mrs Taylor said.
The centre was seeing more highly complex situations, and clients needed help for longer periods.
Methodist Mission director Laura Black said that because Dunedin had predominantly white collar state sector jobs, it was less sensitive to short-term economic changes.
What is the child poverty monitor?
• Collaboration between the Office of the Children's Commissioner, the University of Otago's child and youth epidemiology service, and the J. R. McKenzie Trust.
The facts:
• 260,000 children under 17 in poverty, a reduction from 285,000 the previous year.
• Affects 34% of Maori children, 28% of Pacific children, 16% of European children.
• 17% of children go without basics such as fresh fruit, vegetables, warm house, decent clothing.
• 15.8% of children live in crowded households.
• More than 40,000 hospital admissions of children under 14 for conditions linked to socioeconomic status.
• 10% in severe poverty.
