Poverty in Australia Increases to 1 in 7 People, According to Report

janrinok writes:

Poverty in Australia increases to 1 in 7 people, according to report

The number of people living in poverty in Australia has increased to 1 in 7, according to a new report released today-at the start of Anti-Poverty Week.

As many as 14.2% of the population-or 3.7 million Australians-were living below the poverty line in 2022-23, according to the "Poverty in Australia 2025: Overview" report released today.

The report, from the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and UNSW Sydney-led Poverty and Inequality Partnership, uses the latest available data from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.

These latest data mark an increase from 12.4% of the population-or 1 in 8 people-living below the poverty line in 2020-21.

The study also found the poverty rate for children is 1 in 6, equaling 757,000 children.

"This research shows that 1 in 7 people are now living in poverty. This is unacceptable in one of the wealthiest countries in the world," says Dr. Yuvisthi Naidoo, Senior Research Fellow at UNSW's Social Policy Research Center.

"The rate of people living in poverty decreased in 2020 due to the temporary doubling of JobSeeker during COVID," Dr. Naidoo says.

"But that has sharply risen above pre-pandemic levels due to the removal of COVID payments and rising housing costs," she says.

"The steep increase in rents in recent years has had a particularly severe impact on people with the lowest incomes."

The report found from June 2021 to June 2023, the median advertised rent for units rose from $486 per week to $680 in Sydney (40%), from $395 to $528 in Melbourne (34%) and from $394 to $554 in Brisbane (41%).

The proportion of low-income renters (the lowest 20% of earners) spending more than 30% of their income on rent-known as rental stress-increased from 52% in 2020-21 to 57% in 2022-23.

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