Guardian article February 2025
The share of wealth held by Australia’s bottom 40% has declined sharply in the last two decades while 3.3 million live below the poverty line, a damning report into Australia’s track record on quality of life has revealed …
More than 3 million Australians, or 12.7%, lived below the poverty line, according to 2020 data, putting Australia above the OECD average of 12.1% and peer countries, such as Canada (8.6%) and the UK (11.2%).
Australia’s ratings worsened in both wealth and income inequality. The share of the country’s wealth held by the bottom 40% of society declined from 7.8% in 2004 to about 5.5% in 2020.
The report’s analysis showed almost 24% of Australia’s wealth was held by the top 1% of income-earners, while the top 10% had 57% of the country’s wealth.