Band 8+: 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.

The provided table compares and contrasts data on the changes in the number and proportion of poverty-stricken families from various types of Australian households in 1999.

Overall, elder Australians were more economically affluent than other family types, while households of single adults and those with children were more likely to be living in poverty than those consisting of couples.

As can be seen, ‘sole parents’, ‘singles with no children’ and ‘couples with children’ were listed as the high majority of poor family types. They accounted for 21%, 19%, and 12% poor family types respectively in their category in 1999. Almost one million couples with children were poverty-stricken family types, accounting for the highest number.

On the other hand, ‘aged couple’, ‘single aged person’, and ‘couple with no children’ had a low percentage of poverty, accounting for 4%, 6%, and 7% respectively. A striking feature is that couples without children were more economically stable than their counterparts with children.