The table below shows the proportion of different categories of families living in poverty in Australia in 1999.
Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
» You should write at least 150 words.
Family Type | Proportion of people from each household type living in poverty |
Single aged person
Aged couple Single, no children Couple, no children Sole parent Couple with children All households |
6% (54,000)
4% (48,000) 19% (359,000) 7% (211,000) 21% (232,000) 12% (933,000) 11% (1, 837, 000) |
Model Answer 1:
The presented table lists the proportion of poverty-stricken families on various types of Australian households in 1999. In general, most of the families who lived alone in 1999 suffered from poverty compared to the most families who lived with the couple.
Looking at the detail, ‘sole parent’, ‘single with no children’ and ‘couples with children’ were listed as the high majority of proportion for family type among the Australian households living in poverty. They accounted 21%, 19%, and 12% respectively in 1999.
On the other hand, ‘aged couple’, ‘single aged person’, and ‘couple with no children’ were true as having a low proportion of family type experiencing poverty in Australia in this year. Aged-couple was about a fifth, 4%, of the proportion of sole parents. Meanwhile, the proportion of single aged person and couple with no children was about a third lower, 6% and 7% respectively, than sole parent which accounted for the highest proportion of family types among all Australian households living in poverty.
[ Written by – Linda ]
Model Answer 2:
The supplied table data presents the ration of poor families in Australia in the year 1999. As can be clearly seen from the given table data, 11% Australian family lived in poverty in 1999 and parents with children made the highest number of destitute families which was 933,000.
As is given in the table, 6% aged people who were single lived in poverty in 1999. This proportion for the aged couple was 4%. Again, 19% single with no children type family lived in poverty in this year and their total number was 359,000 compared to only 7% couple with no children. Furthermore, sole parents who were poor in this year were 232,000 in number and their poverty ratio was 21%. Finally, 12% couple with children lived in the destitute situation in 1999 in Australia and their percentage was 12% and their total number was 933,000. This type of family had the largest number of poverty-stricken families though their percentage was lower than that of sole parent and single with no children.
Sample Answer 3:
The given table presents data regarding the poor families of different types in Australia for the year 1999. As is observed from the information, 11% of all households lived in poverty in 1999 in Australia and among them, sole parents and single people with no 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 hardship in 1999 that formed 11% of the total households. Among them, around 50 thousand poor families came from the Single aged person and aged couple type families who formed 6% and 4% of the total of that family types. Sole parents and single person 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.
In conclusion, the family type with aged people suffered less from poverty than the sole parents and single persons with no child.
(Approximately 190 words)
( This model answer can be followed as an example of a very good answer. However, please note that this is just one example out of many possible approaches.)