Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia
Australia: Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day was 11.5% in 2020. ▼ Falling
Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia, 1981–2020
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2020, poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia stood at 11.5%. That is the lowest value across all 13 years on record.
The figure is down 9.4% on the previous year and down 21.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia peaked at 41.9% in 1995 and was at its lowest, 11.5%, in 2020.
That places Australia 107th out of 120 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 13 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 37.4% | 36.5% | 38.1% | 3 |
| 1990s | 41.9% | 41.9% | 41.9% | 1 |
| 2000s | 26.3% | 15.9% | 33.4% | 4 |
| 2010s | 12.9% | 11.7% | 14.7% | 4 |
| 2020s | 11.5% | 11.5% | 11.5% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More poverty & inequality data for Australia
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 3 surveys (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.64 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 2,690 kg per hectare (2024)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 30.4% (2022)
- Gender Inequality Index 0.056 (2023)
- Share of government consumption in GDP vs. share of population living in extreme poverty 21.6% (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in women 0.0712 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient by sex 0.0712 (2023)
- Lifespan inequality: Gini coefficient in men 0.0807 (2023)
- Income inequality: Atkinson index 0.1849 (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia?
- Poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day in Australia was 11.5% in 2020, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 41.9% in 1995.
- What is the lowest poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 11.5% in 2020.
- How does Australia rank for poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day?
- Australia ranks 107th out of 120 countries with data for 2020.
- Is poverty: share of population living on less than $30 a day rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 21.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Poverty: Share of population living on less than $30 a day. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 13 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of population living in households with an income or consumption below $30 per day.