Estimation of EU-Comparable Poverty-Related Variables in Australia, 2001-2013

Abstract

This report seeks to compare poverty rates and poverty gaps for the overall population, the elderly population and single-parent headed households in Australia and selected European Union (EU) countries. In order to make sure that our estimates for Australia, which are based on the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne, are directly comparable with EU estimates from Eurostat, we undertook a detailed study of the methodology underpinning Eurostat’s poverty estimates, which are derived from the Survey of Income and Labour Conditions (EU-SILC). The outcomes of this paper are estimates of six poverty-related variables including overall and elderly poverty gaps and poverty rates, as well as single parent headed household poverty gaps and the Gini coefficient. The results suggest that overall poverty, elderly poverty and single-parent headed household poverty is higher in Australia than in many other European countries for the majority of the six poverty-related variables.

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