Graph Writing # 38 - Proportion of families living in poverty in Australia

Details: Written by IELTS Mentor

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1/ Graph Writing - Table:

» You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

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.

» You should write at least 150 words.

Model Answer 1:
The table data presents information about the types of Australian families who were poverty-stricken in 1999. It also shows the number and proportion of such impoverished families for the same year.

Overall, more than 1.83 million Australian families were poor in 1999 and it comprised just over one-tenth of the total Australian households. Furthermore, poverty was more prevalent among soles parents and singles without any children.

As the data suggest, one out of five sole parents in Australia was destitute and it was the highest percentage of poverty among the given family types in 1999. The higher number of poor family, however, were the couples with children accounting for approximately one million households. 7% couples without children, on the other hand, were not affluent. 19% Single Australians without any child were needy while this rate among the elder citizens was fewer - 6% single ages person and 4% aged couple were poor and the total number of such families were 54,000 and 48,000 respectively.

Model Answer 2:
The table data outlines the ratio and number of impoverished families in Australia in the year 1999.

It is evident that more than one-tenth of Australian families, approximately 1.8 million in total, lived in poverty in 1999, and couples with children made the highest number of destitute families.

According to the table data, only 6% aged singles and 4% aged couple lived in poverty in 1999. It is evident that elder Australians were economically stronger than their younger counterparts. Again, 19% singles without any child were not affluent and their total number was just over 0.35 million. Compared to that, only 7% couples with no children suffered from poverty. Furthermore, sole-parents who were poor in 1999 were 232,000 in number and their poverty ratio was 21%, the highest. Finally, 12% couple with children lived in the destitute situation in 1999 and their percentage was 12% and the total number was 933,000. This type of family had the largest number of poverty-stricken households, though, their percentage was lower than that of poor sole parents and singles with no children.

Sample Answer 3:
The table presents data regarding the poor families of different household types in Australia in 1999.

Generally speaking, 11% of all Australian households lived in poverty in 1999, and among them, sole parents and singles without any child were the highest in percentages that lived in hardship.

According to the given data, more than 1.8 million families in Australia lived in economic misfortune in 1999 that formed 11% of the total households. Among them, around 50 thousand poor families came from both the single aged person and aged couple type families who formed 6% and 4% of the total of that family types. Sole parents and singles without children formed the largest percentage of poor families and their percentages were consecutively 21% and 19% of their family types. The highest percentage of poor families was from sole parents and the highest number of the needy family was from couples with children type. Comparatively, couple with no child had less poverty percentage than the single with no children family types. It is obvious that senior Austrlains suffered less from poverty than the sole parents and single persons with no child.

Sample Answer 4:
The table lists the number and proportion of poverty-stricken families from various types of Australian households in 1999.

In general, more than 1.83 million Australian households were impoverished and elder Australians were more economically affluent than other family types.

Looking at the detail, '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, the highest, and single Australian had a similar condition in this year.

On the other hand, 'aged couple', 'single aged person', and 'couple with no children' had a low proportion of poverty accounting for 4%, 6% and 7% poor family types respectively in their family category. Interestingly, couples without children were more economically stable than their counterparts with children.

[ Written by - Linda ]

Rating 4.11 (32 Votes)

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Oksana 2 years 1 month

It looks like as if some figures were confused. How can it be that 21% is 232,000 and 12% is 933,000?

IELTS Mentor Admin 2 years

The table data shows the percentage of poor people from different categories and the total number of such people. So -

A) if there are 200 aged couples and 100 of them are poor, the percentage would be 50%. B) if there are 1000 sole parents and 300 of them are poor, the percentage would be 30%.

Therefore, even if 50% is higher than 40% (in terms of percentage), their total number would be 100 (for 50%) and 300 (for 30%). This is because the percentages are not measuring the same units.

I hope it solves your doubt to some extent.

Fariha Yasmin 6 years

The table delineates the percentages of different level of households which faced poverty in Australia in 1999. The data shows both the percentages of such families and their total number in respect to different family types.Overall, 1.8 million households in Australia had a scarcity of resource in 1999 and that constituted just over one-tenth of all Australian family. Sole parents and single Australian comparatively were more destitute than other family types. As the data suggests, one in every five sole parents in Australia in 1999 were poverty-stricken, the highest poverty estimation in Australia in 1999. The next high rate for low income could be noticed in the couples without any child, in which case, 19% of such families were poor. On the contrary, aged couples had minimum poverty rate, only 4%, this year and this was prevalent for senior single citizens as well. Finally, 12% of couples with children were impoverished in this same year which was 5% higher than that of couples without children.

Claudia 7 years 6 months

I have a question - may I use the add of some information? For example, " about the 40% of single people live in poverty".40% due to the addition of some percentage given. Thank you in advance.

Shob 8 years 5 months

The table shows information about the prevalence of poverty among different categories of families in Australia in the year 1999. It can clearly be seen that there was a lot of variations in the proportion of people lived in poverty for different categories of the Australian family.Families which comprised of senior people had the least percentage of poverty. Only 4 % aged people who lived as a couple, lived in poverty in 1999. Also, people belonging to the families where there was a single aged person, poverty was very less prevalent in that group (only 6% of these people lived in poverty). Poverty level was comparatively less in the families consisting of couples with no children (7%) and couples with children (12%). In contrast, there is a huge spike in poverty level among single (no children) and sole parents. The percentage of people in these types of families was well above the national poverty level (11 %).In summary, poverty was less in the families consisting of aged people and the married couple, whereas it was more prevalent in the families, where people were living as a single individual and sole parent.

Aman Jaura 8 years 8 months

The table shows the percentage of the poverty stricken family types in Australia in 1999.Overall, it is obvious that comparatively fewer percentages of aged people were living in poverty than the percentages of poor people in Australia in this year. Additionally, in 1999, the highest percentage of Australian who lived in poverty were sole parent and single adults who did not have children.The percentage of households of sole parents who lived under the poverty line was 21% - considerably higher than aged people and couple, followed by single adults. Poor single adults were 19% in this period. The couple with children lived in better condition; however, the ratio was still over one out of ten.In contrast, the old was less likely to be poor, there was only 4% of them living in poverty. The percentage of single aged people and couples with children who lived in meager condition were also low, 4% and 7% respectively.