Australians are reporting the highest levels of financial stress in more than a decade, according to a new report on the nation’s welfare. Source: SBS News.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s latest Australia’s Welfare report, released yesterday, found 21 per cent of people aged over 15 felt some level of financial stress in 2023 – the highest since 2012.
In April 2025, 35 per cent of adults found it “difficult or very difficult” to get by on their current income, an increase on both pre-pandemic and early-pandemic levels.
One expert warns the data is a sign people are “doing it tough”, while another says the picture isn’t quite as “dire” as it seems.
Those who reported financial stress most often included single parents (43 per cent), renters (37 per cent) and people who have had a serious personal injury or illness in the past year (31 per cent).
Those living in disadvantaged areas and people experiencing severe psychological stress were also more likely to be financially stressed.
Grant Dusting, social researcher at McCrindle, said the report was in line with data he’d seen and highlighted the importance of looking beyond the big picture, which can “mask” how tough people are finding things.
“It’s clear that a lot of people are doing it tough,” he said. “In particular, renters, single parents and 35- to 49-year-olds in terms of the high risk of financial stress.
“People from the mid-twenties to under forties have made the biggest reductions in spending.”
But Ben Phillips, associate professor at the Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research and Methods, said this isn’t anything new – and he can’t see it changing anytime soon.
“As much as we talk about cost-of-living pressures, it’s the same groups that are really the ones in trouble – and they’re not that much different to the past,” he said.
He said those on welfare payments, including JobSeeker, disability support and the pension, “are the people who are facing serious stress”.
It comes as the University of New South Wales’ Poverty in Australia 2025 report found one in seven Australians – or 3.7 million people – are living below the poverty line, up from one in eight in 2020-21.
FULL STORY
The great divide: Australians reach a ‘difficult’ new high (By Alexandra Koster, SBS News)
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