One in six Australian children now live in poverty, as new data shows the national poverty rate is increasing.
An ACOSS and UNSW report, released today (October 13) shows the number of people living in poverty in Australia had increased to 1 in 7.
Senior Research Fellow at UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre Dr Yuvisthi Naidoo said the most recent figures revealed 3.7 million people, or 14.2 percent of the population, were living in poverty in 2022–23.
Dr Naidoo said that marked an increase from 12.4 percent of the population, or 1 in 8 people, in 2020-21.
She said the study found the poverty rate for children was 1 in 6, equalling 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.
“The number of people living in poverty decreased in 2020 due to the temporary effective doubling of JobSeeker through the Covid supplement – but has since sharply risen to be now above pre-pandemic levels, with the removal of the Covid payments and dramatic rising housing costs.”
Dr Naidoo said the steep increase in rents in recent years had a particularly severe impact on people with the lowest incomes.
She said the report found that from June 2021 to June 2023, the median advertised rent for units rose 40 percent in Sydney, 34 percent in Melbourne and 41 percent in Brisbane.
ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said the findings showed much greater action was needed to tackle poverty.
“The Government must fix woefully inadequate income support payments, set targets and boost social housing and commit to full employment.” Dr Goldie said.
“It should also adopt time-linked targets for poverty reduction to hold us all to account.”
She said the report used the latest available data from the HILDA survey.
Dr Goldie said the research found the poverty line, based on 50 percent of median household after-tax income, was $584 a week for a single adult and $1226 a week for a couple with two children.
She said people in households below the poverty line had household incomes averaging $390 per week below the line.
Read the full report: Poverty In Australia 2025: Overview.
