The 2024 Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, in collaboration with Deakin University, has reported overall life satisfaction in Australia has reached its lowest point in the survey’s 24-year history. The survey, conducted in June 2024 with over 2,000 participants, reveals deep financial and emotional challenges, particularly among younger adults, as the cost-of-living crisis weighs heavily on personal wellbeing.

Key findings from the report include:

  • Low Life Satisfaction: Australians’ satisfaction with their personal lives remained close to its lowest level recorded, while satisfaction with life in Australia reached its lowest level in the survey’s 24-year history.
  • Mental Distress in Young Adults: Australians aged 18-34 are reporting the highest levels of mental distress, loneliness, and some of the lowest personal wellbeing scores of any age across the adult lifespan.
  • Generational Financial Divide: Half of adults under 55 years report going without essentials due to financial pressures and felt financially worse off than their parents at the same age.
  • Financial Hardship impacts personal wellbeing: Once again, those facing financial hardship, such as insecure housing, low incomes, or unemployment, reported some of the lowest levels of personal wellbeing.

The 2024 survey was conducted during a month marked by particularly high cost-of-living, mortgage and rental strain in the housing market, intensifying wealth inequalities, and globally destabilising armed conflict.

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index’s lead researcher is Dr. Kate Lycett from SEED Lifespan. Dr Lycett emphasized persisting income and age inequalities: ‘These findings go against our expectations of social progress, where each generation will be better off than the next, and point to an urgent need to tackle growing national inequities.’

Young adults were doing it particularly tough. As well as having the lowest personal wellbeing scores,18-34-year-olds reported the highest feelings of mental distress and loneliness. Millennials (aged 25-44 years old) also recorded the lowest financial satisfaction, particularly with their ability to afford the things they needed and to save money.

The findings also highlight the importance of secure housing. Renters reported much lower levels of wellbeing than homeowners and felt especially low satisfaction with their financial security.

For Australians with moderate financial satisfaction, having access to support from people they knew was the key differentiator for higher wellbeing. Dr. Lycett concluded, “Our relationships and social support networks play a pivotal role in wellbeing. It’s crucial we invest in both our personal connections and the wider social policies that support those in need.”

Read more about the Wellbeing Index on the Australian Unity website.

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