IELTS Essays,
Letters, Graphs, Diagrams & Maps
55 2- 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. Family Type
Proportion of people from each
household type living in poverty
Single aged person
Aged couple
Single, no children
Couple, no children
Sole parent
Couple with children
All households 6% (54,000)
4% (48,000)
19% (359,000)
7% (211,000)
21% (232,000)
12% (933,000)
11% (1,837,000) The table gives a breakdown of the different types of family who were living in
poverty in Australia in 1999. As it can be seen from the graph, the rate of
poverty among couples is lower than singles.
On average, 11% of all households, comprising almost two million people,
were in the state of poverty. However, those consisting of only one parent or a
single adult had almost double this proportion of poor people, with 21% and
19% respectively.
Couples generally tended to be better off, with lower poverty levels of couples
without children (7%) than those with children (12%). It is noticeable that for
both types of household with children, a higher than average proportion were
living in poverty at this time.
Older people were generally less likely to be poor, though once again the
trend favoured elderly couples (only 4%) rather than single elderly people
(6%).
Overall the table suggests that households of single adults and those with
children were more likely to be living in poverty than those consisting of
couples.
(174 words)
