A viral online trend depicting what it’s like to ‘grow up poor in Australia’ has taken off

People all over the world have dismissed Australia’s depiction of “what growing up poor looks like” as evidence that the country is better off than we assume.

Australians have joined the TikTok craze of “what growing up poor looks like” and submitted photographs of what they imagine poverty looks like in their country.

Wearing Kmart shoes, living in an overgrown home, attending to school in demountable classrooms, having a non-Apple phone, and driving a Holden Commodore are all characteristics of ‘growing up poor’ in Australia, according to one Australian.

Other videos in the trend include living on two-minute noodles, shopping at Vinnies or Aldi, and only spending $5 on gas at a time.

International commenters, on the other hand, were eager to dismiss Australia’s troubles by comparing the standard of living in their own countries.

‘In my country this is somehow upper class,’ one person wrote.

‘That’s poor in Australia dang, in Philippines I think that’s mid class,’ another commented.

‘You can’t be poor in Australia,’ another said.

‘In the Philippines we have no car and motorcycle and our house is made from bamboo but we are not poor,’ another wrote.