The conservative Maxim Institute think-tank has joined the call for official targets to reduce child poverty.

Popular pet food brands sold in New Zealand have been caught up in disturbing claims of slavery on the high seas.

An 8-year-old Manurewa boy is one of 11,000 disabled children to lose a welfare benefit, even though his asthma is so bad that he missed one in every four school days.

With more children coming to school hungry, a scientific study will for the first time guage the impact nutrition — or lack of it — has on learning.

There's growing economic segregation across the USA - wealth is concentrating in areas just as poverty does.

The Salvation Army has delivered a report on the state of the nation, revealing housing is a major issue that needs to be addressed.

Thirty years ago, NZ was a much more equal society. It could be so again. But it will take a huge shift in the mindset of the majority. Changing this state of affairs is a moral challenge to us all.

A new year means a wealth of resolutions. Most of us want to make life better, challenge ourselves or realise some of our ambitions

Isis' vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control.

A French mayor has been accused of a shameful lack of Christmas spirit after banishing homeless people from the city centre by putting cages over public benches.

As I turned on to the corner of Hobson St, I froze. About 200 people were standing on the pavement. It was the queue to get into the City Mission.

The latest figures show nearly one quarter of our 1.1 million children under 18 live in households with very low incomes after housing costs.

Asian youngsters are now more likely to suffer overcrowding and poverty-related illnesses than European children, a report has found.

As a Melburnian born in NZ, I cannot leave readers misinformed after Dita de Boni's article "The yawning rich-poor Oz divide" (Nov 13).

A trip to the beach is among treasured items Barnados New Zealand wants to provide needy kids with this summer.

The Prime Minister recently made two announcements which appear worlds away but are intrinsically linked: making child poverty his priority this term, and attracting skilled people to New Zealand to enable continued economic growth.

The number of billionaires has doubled since the start of the financial crisis, according to a report from anti-poverty campaigners.

Child poverty rates in New Zealand are "stagnating", having barely changed since 2008, an international report by UNICEF says.

Rarely does an economist's work capture the attention that Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century has.

The most notable item in the Government's third term agenda outlined to Parliament yesterday is an intention to hold "job fairs" in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane aimed at New Zealand....

Paul Brown wanted to be an architect but I wasn't artistic enough. I've rebelled against that (King's College stereotype) a bit. I'm a maverick I suppose.

Catriona MacLennan writes: Low family incomes and high rents are the two key sources of poverty for my legal clients. The third is huge debt associated with car purchases.

Five days of tinned vegetables, lean meals and no snacks are over for Petra Bagust's family who joined thousands of Kiwis voluntarily living below the poverty line this week.

New figures show 9 per cent of solo parents in Auckland had their benefits cut for travelling overseas, but advocates say they had good reasons to travel.

We are already paying for the offspring of poverty, writes Lucy Lawless. Hungry kids are sick kids - so feeding them in schools is a smart strategy.