Sample answer

The table gives information about levels of poverty in six different family types in Australia in the year 1999.

Overall, 11% of the population, or over 1.8 million people, were in poverty in 1999. Single people with or without children were the most likely to be poor, while the elderly were the least likely.

As far as single people are concerned, in percentage terms, they had the highest poverty levels, at around 20%, which amounted to almost a quarter of a million one-parent families, while the figure of single people without children was about 350,000.

With regard to couples, 12% of couples with children, or nearly a million households, and only 7% of childless couples (just over 200,000 households) lived below the poverty line. Finally, senior citizens, both single elders and couples, showed relatively low poverty levels, at 6% and 4% respectively, with both groups comprising around 50,000 households overall.

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