Proportion of families living in poverty in Australia

» You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The table below shows the proportion of different categories of families living in poverty in Australia in 1999.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

» You should write at least 150 words.

Model Answer 1:

The table data presents information about the types of Australian families who were poverty-stricken in 1999. It also shows the number and proportion of such impoverished families for the same year.

Overall, more than 1.83 million Australian families were poor in 1999 and it comprised just over one-tenth of the total Australian households. Furthermore, poverty was more prevalent among soles parents and singles without any children.

As the data suggest, one out of five sole parents in Australia was destitute and it was the highest percentage of poverty among the given family types in 1999. The higher number of poor family, however, were the couples with children accounting for approximately one million households. 7% couples without children, on the other hand, were not affluent. 19% Single Australians without any child were needy while this rate among the elder citizens was fewer – 6% single ages person and 4% aged couple were poor and the total number of such families were 54,000 and 48,000 respectively.  

Model Answer 2:

The table data outlines the ratio and number of impoverished families in Australia in the year 1999.

It is evident that more than one-tenth of Australian families, approximately 1.8 million in total, lived in poverty in 1999, and couples with children made the highest number of destitute families.

According to the table data, only 6% aged singles and 4% aged couple lived in poverty in 1999. It is evident that elder Australians were economically stronger than their younger counterparts. Again, 19% singles without any child were not affluent and their total number was just over 0.35 million. Compared to that, only 7% couples with no children suffered from poverty. Furthermore, sole-parents who were poor in 1999 were 232,000 in number and their poverty ratio was 21%, the highest. Finally, 12% couple with children lived in the destitute situation in 1999 and their percentage was 12% and the total number was 933,000. This type of family had the largest number of poverty-stricken households, though, their percentage was lower than that of poor sole parents and singles with no children.

Sample Answer 3:

The table presents data regarding the poor families of different household types in Australia in 1999.

Generally speaking, 11% of all Australian households lived in poverty in 1999, and among them, sole parents and singles without any child were the highest in percentages that lived in hardship. 

According to the given data, more than 1.8 million families in Australia lived in economic misfortune in 1999 that formed 11% of the total households. Among them, around 50 thousand poor families came from both the single aged person and aged couple type families who formed 6% and 4% of the total of that family types. Sole parents and singles without children formed the largest percentage of poor families and their percentages were consecutively 21% and 19% of their family types. The highest percentage of poor families was from sole parents and the highest number of the needy family was from couples with children type. Comparatively, couple with no child had less poverty percentage than the single with no children family types. It is obvious that senior Austrlains suffered less from poverty than the sole parents and single persons with no child.

Sample Answer 4:.

The table lists the number and proportion of poverty-stricken families from various types of Australian households in 1999.

In general, more than 1.83 million Australian households were impoverished and elder Australians were more economically affluent than other family types.

Looking at the detail, ‘sole parents’,  ‘singles with no children’ and ‘couples with children’ were listed as the high majority of poor family types. They accounted for 21%, 19%, and 12% poor family types respectively in their category in 1999. Almost one million couples with children were poverty-stricken family types, the highest, and single Australian had a similar condition in this year.

On the other hand, ‘aged couple’, ‘single aged person’, and ‘couple with no children’ had a low proportion of poverty accounting for 4%, 6% and 7% poor family types respectively in their family category.  Interestingly, couples without children were more economically stable than their counterparts with children.

[ Written by – Linda ]