A UNSW Sydney and ACOSS partnership research report shows people in poverty are falling behind the rest of society.
October 14, 2022
A UNSW Sydney and ACOSS partnership research report shows people in poverty are falling behind the rest of society.
One in eight people in Australia, including one in six children, is living in poverty as cost of living pressures continue to put households under strain. New research has been released today, on the eve of Anti-Poverty Week, in the Poverty in Australia 2022 report from the UNSW and the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) Poverty and Inequality Partnership.
Scientia Professor Carla Treloar, Director of the Social Policy Research Center at UNSW Sydney, said the report highlights the unacceptable levels of poverty in our nation.
« Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet we have one in eight people and one in six children living below the poverty line, » she said.
« There are 3.3 million people in Australia desperately struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table. There are 761,000 children who are denied a good start to life. »
Australia can reduce poverty by increasing income supports
As many as 13.4% of the population (or 3.3 million people) and 16.6% of children (or 761,000 kids) were living below the poverty line in the first year of the pandemic (2019–20), according to the report which uses the latest available data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
