Results On the above definition, 9.3 per cent of all Australians are living in poverty. The state with the highest poverty rate is Tasmania (12.7 per cent) followed by South Australia and Queensland with 11.1 and 9.9 per cent of their respective populations in poverty.
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.
Australians most likely to be living in poverty are older people who are renting, sole-parent families or families with children reliant on part-time earnings. For people aged 65 and older, renting in the private market increases their risk of poverty and homelessness.
The 13.4 per cent poverty rate and 16.6 per cent child poverty rate are the yearly averages. The poverty line is defined as 50 per cent of median after-tax household income, adjusted for household size.
On a mean wealth basis, Australia was the fourth-richest country in 2021 behind Switzerland, the US and Hong Kong. The average Australian adult was worth $US550,110 at the end of last year, after enjoying a $US66,350 annual increase in wealth.
Five causes of poverty
Some of the main causes of this inequality and poverty are access to work and income, education, housing, health and services.
Older women are the fastest growing group to experience homelessness in Australia. On any given night, around 18,600 people aged 55 and above are homeless. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people make up eight percent of older people experiencing homelessness.
Most of Australia's 19 million people live near the coast, because the inner parts are made up of deserts. 80% of the country's population live in the south-eastern part of the country. Here you can also find the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne, or the capital Canberra.
Coober Pedy, South Australia
A popular tourist stop between Adelaide and Alice Springs, this town is one of the cheapest places to live in the entire country—if not the cheapest.
The majority of the poorest now live in Sub-Saharan Africa, where weaker economic growth and high population growth in many countries has led to a rising number of people living in extreme poverty.
Poverty rates were highest in the states of Mississippi (19.58%), Louisiana (18.65%), New Mexico (18.55%), West Virginia (17.10%), Kentucky (16.61%), and Arkansas (16.08%), and they were lowest in the states of New Hampshire (7.42%), Maryland (9.02%), Utah (9.13%), Hawaii (9.26%), and Minnesota (9.33%).
In 2021, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the city with the highest poverty rate of the United States' most populated cities. In this statistic, the cities are sorted by poverty rate, not population. The most populated city in 2021 according to the source was New York city - which had a poverty rate of 18 percent.
A majority of people experiencing homelessness long-term in Australia are found in the large cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. It is estimated that on any given night approximately 116,000 people will be homeless and many more are living in insecure housing, "one step away from being homeless".
Part of: Australia's welfare 2021
Governments across Australia fund services to support people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness.
Domestic and family violence was the most commonly reported main reason that Indigenous people sought assistance from specialist homelessness services (22%), as it was for non-Indigenous clients (21%). Agencies were able to support some Indigenous clients into more stable housing.
At present, 13% of Australians live in income poverty: a family income less than 50% of the median household income.
1 million Australians are living in severe poverty, with women most affected.
It then goes on to describe those middle income Australians as individuals earning between $120,000 and $160,000 a year.
reports India's total wealth is more than Australia, France, Canada and Italy while the US and China top the list of the wealthiest countries in the world, according to a report by New World Wealth.
The worst performing states are Tasmania, with incomes 26% below the national income and wealth average, as well as South Australia which is 19% below the average household income and 20% below the national net wealth.
Australia's average wealth is just 1.8 times our median wealth; by contrast the UK's is 2.2 times greater, while the US is second worst out of the top 50, at 6.7 times. Russia is the most inequitable, with its average wealth 12.6 times that of the median wealth.