Almost 4500 people in Dubbo city are living in poverty according to new data released on Thursday.
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The report, collated by the University of Canberra and the NSW Council of social service, revealed 11.5 per cent of the Dubbo city population, about 4400, live with significant economic disadvantage.
The data also revealed some of these people were working full time jobs and still living with significant financial strain. In fact between three and four per cent of people living in poverty work in a full-time job.
The numbers in the Dubbo region, which includes the city, and spans out into Ballimore, Wongarbon, Toongi and Rawsonville, are more positive with a lower 7.4 per cent of people live with significant economic disadvantage. Comparatively, the Bathurst region has 8.8 per cent of the population living in poverty and Orange has 7.6 per cent of people.
Compared to the rest of the country, 13.2 per cent of people are living in poverty in Australia, so are 13.3 per cent of people in NSW, 12.16 per cent of people in Sydney and 14.6 per cent of people in regional NSW.
Economic disadvantage is estimated based on the Australian Council of Social Services household income adequacy measure.
The life expectancy for a person living in Dubbo and surrounding towns is 78.9
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One organisation who has seen the poverty in Dubbo and the Central West is St Vincent de Paul (Vinnies).
"In the past financial year Vinnies has provided more than $2.2 million in assistance throughout the Central West," said Phil Donnan, Vinnies Acting North West Regional Director.
"Two-thirds of those people sought assistance due to a lack of food (across the whole state 51 per cent of people sought assistance for food), while pressure with energy bills and the impact of drought has also seen a demand for our support."
Vinnies has reached out to people who are struggling with economic disadvantage. There are 41 membership groups and 18 shops located throughout the Central West.
"If people are struggling I urge them to get in contact with Vinnies by calling 13 18 12 or visiting one of our shops," Mr Donnan said.
"We offer a range of services such as providing food parcels, finding accommodation for people at risk of homelessness and energy assistance through the NSW Government's Energy Accounts Payments Assistance (EAPA) scheme."
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