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IELTS Academic Reading Level: B2

⏱️ Target time: 18 minutes

Counting the Vulnerable: Official Data on Poverty and Homelessness

An analytical look at official counts published in 2024 across the European Union, the United States, and Finland.

For Teachers

Set a strict 18-minute timer for students to read the four short paragraphs and answer all ten questions independently. Project the evidence statements on the board during feedback to demonstrate why skim-reading distractors fail.

For Learners

First, read paragraphs A to D once with care before looking at any of the test questions. Next, verify your choice by finding the exact sentence in the text that supports it before typing or selecting an answer.

Reading Passage Paragraphs A – D

Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, says that in 2024 about 93.3 million people in the EU, which is 21.0% of the population, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. A person counts if their household has at least one of three problems: low income, not being able to pay for many basic things, or very little paid work. In 2023 the share was 21.3%.

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) reports a national count of 771,480 people who were homeless on one night in January 2024. HUD released the report on 27 December 2024. The number was 18% higher than in 2023.

In Finland, the Housing Finance and Development Centre (Ara) collected data from towns and cities and counted 3,806 homeless people living alone in 2024. That was 377 more than in 2023 and the first rise since 2012. Since 2008 Finland's homeless policy has followed the Housing First model: the first help a person gets is a home of their own.

These facts seem to show that poverty and homelessness are measured in different ways in different places, and I think the Finnish numbers suggest that even a country with a long-term plan can see homelessness rise. The facts here do not show why the numbers went up or down.

Questions 1–3

Yes / No / Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the claims or information in the Reading Passage?

YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

1. In 2024, the proportion of the population at risk of poverty or exclusion in the European Union was smaller than in 2023.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

2. The count of homeless people living alone in Finland increased in every single year between 2012 and 2023.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

3. HUD predicted that national homelessness figures in the United States would rise further during 2025.

____ YES ____ NO ____ NOT GIVEN

Questions 4–5

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.

4. According to Paragraph A, under what condition is a person in the EU counted as being at risk of poverty or social exclusion?

____ A. If their household experiences all three conditions of low income, inability to pay, and minimal work simultaneously. ____ B. If their household meets any single one of the three specified economic hardships. ____ C. If their household consists of individuals who live entirely without any form of employment. ____ D. If their household was registered as vulnerable in both 2023 and 2024.

5. What is the writer's view regarding the recent homelessness figures recorded in Finland?

____ A. They prove that the Housing First model has become ineffective across European cities. ____ B. They indicate that Finnish municipal authorities failed to count their homeless populations accurately. ____ C. They demonstrate that having a sustained strategy in place does not prevent an increase in numbers. ____ D. They clearly explain the direct social causes behind fluctuating counts of people living alone.

Questions 6–8

Matching Information to Paragraphs

The Reading Passage has four paragraphs, A–D. Which paragraph contains the following information? You may use any letter more than once.

6. a reference to a social policy in which independent accommodation is provided as the primary step of support

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

7. an observation that the reported statistics leave the underlying reasons for numerical variations unexplained

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

8. the calendar date when a governmental agency released its count from a single evening survey

____ Paragraph A ____ Paragraph B ____ Paragraph C ____ Paragraph D

Questions 9–10

Summary Completion

Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Differences in Identifying Vulnerable Groups

Official agencies define deprivation using differing parameters across jurisdictions. In the European Union, Eurostat counts people whose households face inadequate income, severe material hardship, or having very little ____ ((9)) . In contrast, municipal data gathered by Ara in Finland focuses on individuals experiencing homelessness who are ____ ((10)) .

💡 Completed all 10 questions? Compare your choices with the passage evidence to confirm that each answer relies on explicit facts rather than inferred assumptions.

IELTS Reading: Poverty and Homelessness Statistics

Counting the Vulnerable: Official Data on Poverty and Homelessness

Yes / No / Not Given

Multiple Choice

Matching Information to Paragraphs

Summary Completion

Differences in Identifying Vulnerable Groups

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