The most common poverty measures, including that used by the OECD, focus on income based approaches. One of the most common measures of income poverty is the proportion of households with income less than half median equivalised disposable household income (which is set as the poverty line); this is a relative income poverty measure as poverty is measured by reference to the income of others rather than in some absolute sense. Australia has one of the highest household disposable incomes in the world, which means that an Australian relative income poverty line is set at a high level of income compared to most other countries.

OECD statistics on Australian poverty 2015-16 (based on ABS Survey of Income and Housing data and applying a poverty line of 50% of median income) determined the Australian poverty rate was over 25% before taxes and transfers, but falls around 12% after taxes and transfers. Though measuring poverty through application of solely an income measure is not considered comprehensive for an Australian context, however, it does demonstrate that the Australian welfare system more than halves the number of Australians that would otherwise be considered as at risk of living in poverty under that measure.
It is important to consider a range of indicators of persistent disadvantage to understand poverty and hardship and its multidimensional nature. Different indicators point to different dimensions of poverty. While transient poverty is a problem, the experience of persistent poverty is of deeper concern, particularly where families experience intergenerational disadvantage and long-term welfare reliance. HILDA data from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research shows the Distribution of number of years in poverty 2001–2015. The figure focuses on the longer term experience of working age adults and shows that while people do fall into poverty, only a small proportion of people are persistently poor.

Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

Australia Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data was reported at 0.000 Person in 2010. Australia Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 Person from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2010, with 1 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.000 Person in 2010 and a record low of 0.000 Person in 2010. Australia Number of People Pushed Below the $3.10: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Number of people pushed below the $3.10 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure; ; Wagstaff et al. Progress on Impoverishing Health Spending: Results for 122 Countries. A Retrospective Observational Study, Lancet Global Health 2017.; Sum;

In 2022, 80 percent of respondents receiving assistance from the Salvation Army and whose main income source was Centrelink payments were living below the poverty line in Australia. Around 22 percent of respondents in full-time employment were living below the poverty line in the same year.

AU: Proportion of Population Pushed Below the $1.90: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % data was reported at 0.000 % in 2015. This stayed constant from the previous number of 0.000 % for 2009. AU: Proportion of Population Pushed Below the $1.90: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 % from Dec 2009 (Median) to 2015, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.000 % in 2015 and a record low of 0.000 % in 2015. AU: Proportion of Population Pushed Below the $1.90: Poverty Line by Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Proportion of population pushed below the $1.90 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure. This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population experiencing out-of-pocket health impoverishing expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the $ 1.90 poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).; ; World Health Organization and World Bank. 2021. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2021.; Weighted Average; This indicator is related to Sustainable Development Goal 3.8.2 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

0,70 (%) in 2018. Population below $3.1 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $3.1 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

0.50 (%) in 2018. Population below $1.9 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $1.9 a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Australia Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % of Poverty Line data was reported at 0.000 % in 2010. Australia Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % of Poverty Line data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 % from Dec 2010 (Median) to 2010, with 1 observations. Australia Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: % of Poverty Line data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Increase in poverty gap at $3.20 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure, as a percentage of the $3.20 poverty line. The poverty gap increase due to out-of-pocket health spending is one way to measure how much out-of-pocket health spending pushes people below or further below the poverty line (the difference in the poverty gap due to out-of-pocket health spending being included or excluded from the measure of household welfare). This difference corresponds to the total out-of-pocket health spending for households that are already below the poverty line, to the amount that exceeds the shortfall between the poverty line and total consumption for households that are impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending and to zero for households whose consumption is above the poverty line after accounting for out-of-pocket health spending.; ; World Health Organization and World Bank. 2019. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2019.; Weighted average;

Using a poverty metric of 2.15 U.S. dollars per day, 37 percent of the women in Sub-Saharan Africa were living in extreme poverty in 2023. This is expected to fall to one third by 2023. On the other hand, less than one percent of the population in Europe and North America as well as Australia and New Zealand were living in extreme poverty. Nevertheless, there are also many people in these regions struggling to make ends meet.

。（停止更新）AU：3.10美元以下的人数：自付医保贫困线：2011年购买力平价数据按年更新，12-01-2010至12-01-2010期间平均值为0.000人，共1份观测结果。CEIC提供的（停止更新）AU：3.10美元以下的人数：自付医保贫困线：2011年购买力平价数据处于定期更新的状态，数据来源于World Bank，数据归类于全球数据库的澳大利亚 – 表 AU.世行.WDI：贫困。

。（停止更新）自付医保中低于50％中位数消费贫困线以下的人数数据按年更新，12-01-2010至12-01-2010期间平均值为191,000.000人，共1份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-2010，达191,000.000人，而历史最低值则出现于12-01-2010，为191,000.000人。CEIC提供的（停止更新）自付医保中低于50％中位数消费贫困线以下的人数数据处于定期更新的状态，数据来源于World Bank，数据归类于全球数据库的澳大利亚 – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality。

A multi-millionaire is defined as someone owning 10 million U.S. dollars or more. It was forecasted that there would be almost 18 thousand individuals in Australia defined as multi-millionaires by 2026. This is in line with the country’s growing economy over the years as well as the growing wealth inequality that was becoming a cause for concern in the island nation.

Distribution of the wealthy

As a rich country with plenty of natural resources and a high Human Development Index, Australia had always had a large number of high net-worth individuals or HNWIs. There were over ten thousand millionaires including a couple dozen of billionaires, with these figures expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

Income inequality

Despite the increase of wealth and economic growth, there was a concern at the level of poverty and homelessness due to the rising wealth inequality nationally. The number of homeless people living in Australia had only been increasing with more than a hundred thousand people currently without shelter. Furthermore, most of the wealth was being pushed from the country to the cities, affecting the livelihood of those living in the countryside or outback.