As research tells us more about the critical role of early development in creating outcomes through the life course, it becomes increasingly clear that poverty diminishes those life-long opportunities. This analysis reinforces our understanding of significant impacts living in poverty has on child development and wellbeing, and for how long these impacts endure over the course of young people’s lives. The report’s findings also demonstrate the scale of the economic return from targeted strategies to reduce poverty, as well as the positive social, psychological and health benefits from doing so.

Rates of child poverty have risen sharply post COVID, with 823,000 children (or 14.5 per cent) living under a standard (50 per cent) poverty line in 2022. An additional 102,000 children fell below the poverty line between 2021 and 2022, while the evidence of rising living costs and falling household incomes suggest this number will have grown even further through 2023 and into 2024.

Projecting child poverty rates forward, based on the impact of rising rental costs over the past two years, this report estimates the child poverty rate in Western Australia (WA) to increase from 11.8 per cent in 2022 to 15.2 per cent in 2024. This will put nearly 21,000 more children into poverty in WA, including 13,600 more children in single parent families, and 7,000 in couple families. Children living in single parent households are at the greatest risk of poverty, with one in three single parent families living below a standard (50 per cent) poverty line, and over one in ten living in extreme poverty (below a 30 per cent poverty line).