Salvation Army senior policy analyst Alan Johnson criticized the government's stance on child poverty reduction and prison expansion in his State of the Nation report.

Record rates of prisoners and economy-distorting house prices should cause worry about the state of New Zealand say analysts from the Salvation Army.

Its latest report - Off the Track - also slams the government for our "entrenched" levels of child poverty. Modest reductions have failed to measure up to bold changes promised, the Salvation Army's report says.

The Sallies' state of the nation report were somewhat at odds with Prime Minister Bill English's own state of the nation speech, delivered last week.

CHRIS SKELTON/FAIRFAX NZ New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English gave his State of the Nation speech at the Stamford Plaza in Auckland last Thursday.

English emphasised a need to boost police funding and forces, while numbers from the Salvation Army's report indicated crime rates were much the same as last year and down from five years ago.

READ MORE:

* This is how you fix child poverty in New Zealand

* Labour-Greens carry off State of the Nation double act

* Prime Minister Bill English promises more than 1100 more police staff

The report broke its findings down into five areas: crime and punishment, our children, work and incomes, social hazards, and housing.

123rf.com Numbers of children facing severe material hardship have barely dropped since 2010, according to the report.

Crime and punishment

Recent changes to the ways Statistics NZ and the police record crimes made identifying trends difficult, the report noted. From what Salvation Army analysts managed to gather, there was little change in overall offending since 2015, but a decrease of 83,000 adult prosecutions - just under 30 per cent - since 2011.

The report lambasted the government's incarceration rate and prison muster, which both reached record highs last year.

Michael Bradley Auckland's rocketing house prices have been good for some: those selling.

"On top of this, the taxpayers' bill for these records now exceeds $850 million, with Government pledging a further $1 billion for more of the same," it read.

The most common offence during 2015/16 was theft, with 142,355 offences counted. The acts were carried out by 11,288 individuals - on average 12 thefts per miscreant. The crime category with the most offenders was acts intended to cause injury, with 22,673.

Our children

The report stated that child poverty rates "have become entrenched in New Zealand's economic and social structure". Children facing severe material hardship jumped by 5000 last year. Children in slightly less dire straits appeared to have slightly but steadily decreased since 2011, however.

The numbers of youths committing crimes stagnated in 2016; just under 1900 under 16-year-olds were prosecuted, the same as in 2015.

Teenage pregnancy and infant mortality rates have been falling admirably.

Work and incomes

New Zealand's labour participation rate is the third highest in the OECD, at a record-setting 71 per cent.

Our GDP per capita tipped $55,100 at the end of 2016 which was $1000 more than a year prior. Wage and salary earners saw an on average $10 per week increase between Decembers 2015 and 2016.

The number of people living on a welfare benefit and classified as jobseekers has declined by more than 20 per cent since 2011 and now stands at 69,000.

Despite these positive statistics, wage inequality remained a concern; women have earned only 87 per cent of men's income for the last five years.

Social hazards

Alcohol use and misuse didn't change much overall in the last year, though a "rise in risky or harmful drinking" amongst older Kiwis was noted in the report.

The "rise and rise of methamphetamine [P] use amongst a very small section of New Zealand society" was identified as a long-term problem that needed to be addressed more holistically.

Housing

An unsurprisingly bleak area, with Auckland's 12-year high in housing consents "easily offset" by surging immigration. Average house prices in the City of Sails topped $1 million in 2016, while rent increases outpaced income growth. Affordability, therefore, is not thriving.

Rapid house price inflation hit the northern North Island, Wellington, and Queenstown as well last year, while change in the rest of the country was less expansive.

"This is good or bad news depending on which side of the ownership divide people find themselves," the Salvation Army's report observed.

"[And it has] resulted in a level of homelessness not seen in New Zealand in the lifetime of most Kiwis".