There's been no improvement to child poverty rates, despite it being a keystone of the Labour government's manifesto.

The latest Stats NZ data shows 12 percent of children lived in households earning less than half the median income, and more than 10 percent are in material hardship.

Compared to the baseline year of 2018, there have been significant decreases in eight of the nine measures of child poverty, but none between June 2021 and June 2022.

Associate Professor Michael O'Brien is a social policy academic at the University of Auckland.

He spoke to Māni Dunlop.