User:Aorrick/sandbox

The child poverty rate is estimated at 0.13 (under 17 years of age) according to OECD statistics (using the median income) from 2013 - 2017. According to ACOSS, children under the age of 15 have a poverty rate of 17.3%, and young people aged 15 to 24 have a rate of 13.9%. They suggest the high poverty rate is related to the high poverty rate among single adults (estimated 25%). This is high compared to the total national poverty rate of 12.8% according to OECD statistics. National Centre For Social And Economic Modeling (NATSEM) suggests another reason for high child poverty rates could be the unavailability of affordable housing for low income adults. They found that 39% of families with children under the age of 15 were presented with unaffordable mortgages, which suggests rising mortgage prices in Australia may be increasing the child poverty rate.

According to statistics by the OECD (using median household income), the poverty rates of citizens over 66 are more than double the national average at 0.257. To look at Australia’s elderly poverty rate comparatively, it ranks #4 among the OECD nations, 8 times the lowest ranking of 0.031 for France, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The rate is more comparable to that of other liberal economies, with the US at 0.229 and the UK at 0.142. Although these elderly poverty rates are low, some sources indicate this may be because home ownership is high in Australia among the elderly. For example Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2009-10 Survey of Income and Housing indicates that 33% of households own their homes without a mortgage, whereas 36% own a home with a mortgage (that’s 21% of homeowners with a mortgage). This is relevant when compared with the Home-ownership in the United States, where the Washington Post estimates 66% of US homeowners have some type of mortgage. Australia’s high home ownership rates and low mortgage rates may be a factor in determining the wealth of citizens over 66 years of age, not reflected in the elderly poverty rate.