Aussie growth still leaves 1 in 7 below poverty line

Sydney

ONE in seven Australians lives below the poverty line, even after more than two decades of economic growth, an Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) report showed.

The poverty rate in Australia climbed to 14 per cent in 2012, or 2.55 million people, from 13 per cent in 2010, the council said in a report on Sunday. This included 603,000 children, or 17.7 per cent of the total.