overty in Australia
What is poverty?
Everybody should have enough money or resources for the basic needs of life – enough food for oneself and for one’s family; a roof over one’s head; and resources to cover clothing, education and health expenses.
Poverty is a relative concept used to describe the people in a society that cannot participate in the activities that most people take for granted. While many Australians juggle payments of bills, people living in poverty have to make difficult choices – such as skipping a meal to pay for a child’s textbooks.
How is poverty defined?
Poverty can be defined in different ways. ACOSS and UNSW use two international poverty lines to measure poverty in Australia. These lines are set as a proportion of median income, and define a level of income, below which people are regarded as living in poverty. We use two poverty lines – 50% of median income and 60% of median income, whereby people living below these incomes are regarded as living in poverty.
We also take into account the costs of housing when calculating income – referring to income before or after housing costs are taken into account. We mostly use ‘after housing costs’, because housing is the largest fixed costs for most households. Those households with lower housing costs are able to afford a higher standard of living than those on the same income with higher housing costs. Find out more here.
Is there poverty in Australia?
Australia is a signatory to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The first of these goals is “No poverty”. However, Australia has the 16th highest poverty rate out of the 34 wealthiest countries in the OECD – higher than the average for the OECD; higher than the UK, Germany and New Zealand. People living in poverty in Australia often miss out on essentials such as food or a roof over their heads. Children living in poverty often miss out on items such as school excursions.
Our 2020 report Poverty in Australia 2020: Part 1, Overview found that there are 3.24 million people (13.6%) living below the poverty line of 50% of median income – including 774,000 children (17.7%) and 424,800 young people (13.9%). In dollar figures, this poverty line works out to $457 a week for a single adult living alone; or $960 a week for a couple with 2 children.
The report further found that:
More than one in eight adults and more than one in six children are living in poverty.
Many of those affected are living in deep poverty – the average ‘poverty gap’ (the difference between the incomes of people in poverty in various types of families and the poverty line) is $282pw.
Who is affected most by poverty?
Most people living below the poverty line in Australia rely on social security for their income. The type of housing in which people live – rental or owner-occupied – also impacts poverty rates. Our second 2020 report: Poverty in Australia 2020: Part 2 – Who is affected? found that the majority (56%) of people below the poverty line are renting, while only 17% of people in poverty are home-owners who don’t have a mortgage. In fact, the main factor determining the poverty status of older people is their housing status: 41% of renters aged 65 and over are in poverty, compared with just 10% of all people aged 65 and over.
Among different family types, sole parent families have the highest poverty rates, at 35%. Children in sole parent families, with a poverty rate of 44%, are more than three time as likely to live in poverty as children in couple families, who have a poverty rate of 13%.
People with paid employment are also living in poverty in Australia. Among people in households where the main income is wages, 7% are in poverty. This 7% is made up of families with children, those reliant on only part-time earnings, and those with high housing costs. Since most people live in wage-earning households, this group is a substantial part (38%) of all people in poverty.
Forum
Pages: 1 
