1 in 4 Kindy-aged Kiwis lag behind in their development

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-07-07 03:00

New Zealand

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The large Growing Up in New Zealand long-term study has classed a quarter of 4.5 year-olds as having “suboptimal” developmental health. Children at social and economic disadvantage were much more likely to wind up in the suboptimal health category, and Māori and Pacific kids were also at higher risk of this. According to the authors, these findings can be applied to the whole population of kids nearing school-age, and they say it's crucial to deal with these early inequities, as they strongly influence health and education throughout life.