SYDNEY, Oct 13 (NNN-AAP) – The number of people living in poverty in Australia has increased to 3.7 million, in 2022-2023, according to a report published today.
The report, which was compiled by a national advocate, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), found that, 14.2 percent of the Australian population, 3.7 million people, was living in poverty in 2022-23.
The report, Poverty In Australia 2025: Overview, marks an increase from 2020-21, when 12.4 percent of the population, the equivalent of one in eight people, was living in poverty.
Yuvisthi Naidoo, senior research fellow at UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre, said that, a steep increase in rents has had a particularly severe impact on Australians with the lowest incomes.
The report found that from June, 2021 to June, 2023, the median advertised rent for units increased by 41 percent in Brisbane, 40 percent in Sydney and by 34 percent in Melbourne.
According to today’s report, the poverty rate for Australian children in 2022-23, was one in every six, equating to 757,000 children living in poverty.
ACOSS Chief Executive Officer, Cassandra Goldie, said that, the federal government has taken some steps to reduce poverty, but that, much more needs to be done to turn around the current trend.
“The government must fix woefully inadequate income support payments, set targets, boost social housing and commit to full employment. It should also adopt time-linked targets for poverty reduction to hold us all to account,” she said in a media release.– NNN-AAP
