Australia’s life dissatisfaction levels double as ‘wellbeing poverty’ reaches new highs

The initial surge of Australians reporting dissatisfaction with their lives came during 2020’s Covid lockdowns and has persisted over the intervening years amid soaring cost of living. Photograph: EschCollection/Getty Images View image in fullscreen The initial surge of Australians reporting dissatisfaction with their lives came during 2020’s Covid lockdowns and has persisted over the intervening years amid soaring cost of living. Photograph: EschCollection/Getty Images Australia’s life dissatisfaction levels double as ‘wellbeing poverty’ reaches new highs ABS data show one in 10 people are not satisfied with life – but community cohesion and trust lift happiness scores Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Nearly 2.2 million Australians 15 years and older are living below the wellbeing poverty line, with the share of people reporting very low life satisfaction doubling over the past decade. In 2025, 9.7%, or about one in 10 Australians, rated their general satisfaction with life at four or below out of 10, according to Guardian Australia’s analysis of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’s (ABS) general social survey. That compares with one in 20, or 4.8%, reporting very low overall life satisfaction in 2014. The initial surge of Australians reporting dissatisfaction with their lives came during 2020’s Covid lockdowns and has persisted over the intervening years amid soaring cost of living. Graph showing wellbeing poverty on the rise The ABS data echoes other surveys, such as Westpac’s consumer confidence index, which has languished at around 50-year lows since failing to recover from the pandemic blow. Amid an explosion of support for far-right and populist politics , those reporting life satisfaction scores of four or below are more likely to feel alienated and disempowered in their community, and express lower support for multiculturalism , the ABS figures show. Only 15% of people experiencing wellbeing poverty feel they have a say on important matters affecting their communities, against the average of 32% across all Australians. The proportion of people who feel they have a voice in their community increases to a high of 46% among those reporting overall life satisfaction of nine or above. As One Nation’s leader, Pauline Hanson, makes headlines with her advocacy for a “monocultural” society, the ABS data show just over 60% of people who score in the lowest group on life satisfaction agree that it is a good thing for society to be composed of different cultures. That share is far below the average of 80% among Australians, and the approaching 90% among those reporting the highest life satisfaction. Stagnation and stagflation National living standards, as measured by household disposable income per household adjusted for inflation, are at the same level as in mid-2020. Nor is the outlook encouraging: analysts expect the national economy to drop back into a per capita recession amid a stagflationary backdrop of low growth