One-in-six Australian children live in poverty is the finding from Child Social Exclusion, Poverty and Disadvantage Report by Uniting Care Australia, which is calling for significant government investment to improve the prospects of children in the worst-hit areas.
Uniting Care Australia chair Bronwyn Pike says housing stress and labour market changes are leading to the social exclusion of Australian children, with a disturbing one-in-six living in poverty.
The report considered 2016 census data and other information, such as NAPLAN results, to measure where family income falls below the poverty line and the broader measure of child social exclusion, including socioeconomic, education, disconnectedness, housing and health metrics.
The research showed that in 2016, 17.2 per cent of Australian children up to the age of 14 lived in poverty in terms of social exclusion.
University of Canberra policy analysis professor Laurie Brown says misconceptions of where the poverty line actually sits means more Australian families live below it than the public believes.
