Australians are anxious about money and losing faith that things will get better, according to a major new survey of more than 15,000 Australians. Source: SBS News.
The survey found that cost-of-living pressure isn’t just the nation’s top worry – it’s also bleeding into how hopeful people feel about the future.
The 2026 Wicked Problems Report from Flinders University found 65 per cent of Australians rank cost of living as their biggest concern, ahead of housing affordability (40 per cent), crime and safety (37 per cent) and healthcare access (26 per cent).
At the other end of the scale, education, social connection, and inequities facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ranked as the lowest national concerns – the latter finishing last overall.
For the first time, the survey also measured happiness and optimism nationally – and the gap between the two is stark.
While 69 per cent of Australians say they’re happy, far fewer are confident things are heading in the right direction, with many states recording optimism levels barely above a third of respondents.
Almost three-quarters (76 per cent) of those who said they were unhappy pointed to the same root cause: the cost of living.
Cost pressures were found to be hitting working-age households hardest – particularly Gen X and Gen Y – who are more likely to be balancing mortgages and rent alongside the rising cost of raising a family.
Younger Australians – nearly half (45 per cent) of Gen Z and Gen Y – were concerned about housing affordability, compared with a third of baby boomers, who are instead more worried about healthcare as they age.
The divide shows up geographically, too. Housing pressure is more acute in Western Australia, South Australia and NSW. Crime and safety dominate concerns in the Northern Territory, and are a fast-rising worry in Victoria.
Victoria was a standout in the report – and not for good reasons.
Victorians recorded the lowest happiness of any state or territory – 65.9 per cent, against a national average of 69 per cent.
It also saw one of the lowest optimism scores (26.3 per cent), alongside Tasmania (23.7 per cent) and NT (23.3 per cent), and reported rising concern about crime and safety.
Western Australia saw the opposite. It recorded the second-highest happiness in the country (70.6 per cent) and, by a clear margin, the highest optimism (47 per cent).
FULL STORY
Australia’s happiness divide has been revealed – and one worry stands out (By Alexandra Koster, SBS News)Â
