Growing up poor raises adult poverty risk more than fivefold
Growing up in poverty increases adult poverty risk to 27%, compared to 5% for other children, new research shows.
About 757,000 Australian children under 15 live in poverty, according to new data from ACOSS and UNSW Sydney. A study published in The Economic Record examined which children stayed trapped in hardship as adults.
Children who grew up in poverty faced a 22.4 percentage points higher risk of adult poverty than those earning 150, 200 per cent of the poverty line. Children in single-parent families faced the steepest odds: 37 per cent lived in poverty.
That disadvantage persisted more strongly into adulthood than for children in partnered families. The researchers found the pattern held even after accounting for education, employment, health and partnering outcomes.
- 757,000
- Children in poverty
- A$72,000
- Poverty line for couple with 2 children
- 27%
- Adult poverty risk if raised poor
- 22.4 percentage points
- Risk increase from growing up poor
Why it mattersPoverty in childhood is not temporary. It affects people's earning power into adulthood. That's why early support for poor families matters.
AustraliaAustralia has 1.2 million single-parent families, and children in those households face the highest poverty rates and the slowest escape from them, flagging a policy challenge.
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