Report – Petition – Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, 11 May 2023

Australians’ subjective wellbeing in 2022: Climate change, mental distress, mood and social connection

The Australian Centre on Quality of Life at Deakin University, in partnership with Australian Unity, has been monitoring the Subjective Wellbeing (SWB1) of Australians aged 18 to 90+ years for the past 21 years.

This latest Wellbeing Index Survey Report measures the subjective wellbeing of over 2,000 Australian adults against a series of personal and national life domains.

Key findings:

  • Satisfaction slides: Australians’ overall life satisfaction has fallen to the lowest score on record.
  • Young Australians are struggling: 18-25 year-olds’ wellbeing has hit an all-time low and they recorded the highest levels of mental distress and climate worry.
  • Multiple crises put pressure on wellbeing: More Australians on average scored below the normal range for personal wellbeing, including those under 56 years of age, on a household income below $60,000 and those in casual work or unemployed.

The new report, detailing survey data collected in May 2022, found Australia’s subjective wellbeing declined across all measures as the country faces a polycrisis of cost-of-living pressures, climate change and global uncertainty, amidst an ongoing health pandemic. This marks the first time in over a decade that such a consistent downtrend has been observed across all wellbeing measures.

Read the full report here: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2023-05/apo-nid322635.pdf.