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Australians’ satisfaction with life is at its lowest level in two decades

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-lycett-500671">Kate Lycett</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/georgie-frykberg-1422532">Georgie Frykberg</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mallery-crowe-1347393">Mallery Crowe</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tanja-capic-1351103">Tanja Capic</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p>Australians’ satisfaction with life as a whole is at its lowest level in 21 years, according to the latest <a href="https://www.acqol.com.au/uploads/surveys/survey-039-report.pdf">Australian Unity Wellbeing Index survey</a>, a collaboration between Deakin University and mutual company Australian Unity.</p> <p>Each year since 2001, we survey a geographically representative sample of 2,000 Australians about how satisfied they are with their lives as a whole, along with their satisfaction with seven key life areas to compile an overall measure: the Personal Wellbeing Index.</p> <p>Our survey was conducted in May and June of 2022, by which time inflation was <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australia/jun-2022">exceeding 6%</a> and the Reserve Bank of Australia had delivered the <a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/cash-rate/">first two</a> of ten consecutive interest rate rises. There have <a href="https://theconversation.com/inflation-has-fallen-but-one-or-two-more-interest-rate-rises-are-still-likely-204269">now been 11</a> since May 2022.</p> <p>In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, we actually saw an improvement in satisfaction with life as a whole. The decline since likely reflects pressures like cost of living but also conforms with a longer-term trend since 2010.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="iOQDs" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iOQDs/6/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Measuring personal wellbeing</h2> <p>Our composite measure, the Personal Wellbeing Index, incorporates seven life areas: standard of living, relationships, purpose in life, community connectedness, safety, health and future security. We combine these <a href="https://www.acqol.com.au/uploads/pwi-a/pwi-a-english.pdf">using an internationally regarded method</a> to generate an index score out of 100.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="Sq8My" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Sq8My/3/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <p>This composite has been pretty stable over the survey’s 21 years, with average scores ranging between 74 and 77.</p> <p>But small shifts are significant because we do not expect to ever see big ones. This is due, principally, to a type of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-charts-on-australian-well-being-and-the-surprising-effects-of-the-pandemic-183537">psychological homeostasis</a>” whereby most people will ride out the highs and lows of their lives and maintain a relatively positive outlook regardless of the circumstances.</p> <p>Also, as an average, different factors can counterbalance each other. You can get a better sense of this from the following graph, which shows the constituent elements of the Personal Wellbeing Index.</p> <p>This shows a long-term increase in feelings of personal safety but long-term declines in the average measures of health and purpose in life, with relatively steep declines since 2021 in standard of living, future security and community connectedness.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="eoaI2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/eoaI2/6/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Wellbeing and low incomes</h2> <p>For Australia’s poor, 2020 unexpectedly had a silver lining when the federal government temporarily doubled JobSeeker payments. This likely explains the jump in wellbeing scores recorded in 2020 for those with household incomes of less than $30,000. But with those extra payments ending (in March 2021) and the increases in living costs since, the average wellbeing score for poor people has plummeted.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="iS0Z7" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iS0Z7/6/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Differences by age</h2> <p>Those aged 76 and older reported the highest average wellbeing (78.7 out of 100), and those aged 18-25 the lowest – though not by much, with their score (72.5) being just below those aged 46-55 years (73.2).</p> <p>The average wellbeing score for 18- to 25-year-olds was the lowest in 21 years. It likely reflects higher feelings of anxiety, stress, depression and climate worry (also measured in our survey) among this age group.</p> <hr /> <p><iframe id="1KSao" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1KSao/2/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <hr /> <h2>Creating a wellbeing economy</h2> <p>Given the ongoing uncertainties and cost-of-living pressures that we now face, there’s every reason to expect Australians’ wellbeing to now be even lower than when our survey was conducted.</p> <p>It underscores the importance of considering wellbeing in policy decisions, particularly for groups that are struggling the most.</p> <p>As Treasurer Jim Chalmers noted in his lengthy essay in The Monthly in February, we must “build something better” in the face of ongoing crises.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205008/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kate-lycett-500671">Kate Lycett</a>, NHMRC Early Career Fellow, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/georgie-frykberg-1422532">Georgie Frykberg</a>, Project Coordinator, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mallery-crowe-1347393">Mallery Crowe</a>, Epidemiologist &amp; Project Officer, Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a>, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/tanja-capic-1351103">Tanja Capic</a>, PhD candidate, Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-satisfaction-with-life-is-at-its-lowest-level-in-two-decades-205008">original article</a>.</em></p>

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The thing that annoys Aussie supermarket shoppers the most

<p>Even the easiest going shopper would agree there are elements of your weekly visit to Coles, Woolies, IGA or ALDI that at times can be a little bit unpleasant. </p> <p>From ridiculous lines to misleading advertising and useless staff, there are times when a trip to the supermarket can feel like an unnecessarily daunting experience.</p> <p>But what annoys Australians most about visiting the supermarket?</p> <p>Customer satisfaction research and ratings business Canstar Blue has investigated the leading causes of customer consternation in Australia’s supermarkets.</p> <p>Canstar Blue asked 3,000 Aussie shoppers to outlines their least favourite element of grocery shopping (not including price of goods). The results are as follows:</p> <ul> <li>Queues at the checkout – 24 per cent</li> <li>Items being sold out – 22 per cent</li> <li>Other customers (includes blocked aisles, misbehaving children) – 13 per cent</li> <li>Self-service machine errors – 10 per cent</li> <li>Trying to find a parking space – 9 per cent</li> <li>Store layout (not being able to find what you want) – 7 per cent</li> <li>Not being able to find a staff member to assist – 6 per cent</li> <li>Store opening/closing times – 2 per cent</li> <li>Other reasons – 6 per cent</li> </ul> <p><em>Source: <a href="http://www.canstarblue.com.au/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Canstar Blue</span></strong></a></em></p> <p>So the things annoying customers most at supermarkets around Australia are the queues at the checkout. And anyone standing at the delicatessen in peak hour waiting for the number on their ticket to get called out would certainly agree!</p> <p>Aside from this, the survey also made some interesting findings regarding the causes of complaints at different supermarkets. For example, the survey found ALDI shoppers were most likely to complain about other customers and not being able to find a store assistant, while shoppers at Coles and IGA were most likely to complain about parking.</p> <p>Head of Canstar Blue, Megan Doyle, said: “Ultimately we’d all love to have a supermarket all to ourselves, but it’s never going to happen. The best thing you can do to try and avoid the stress is to pick a quiet time to shop. But again, life is not that simple. That’s why we all seem to end up there at the same time!”</p> <p>“I’m sure most shoppers can tolerate the occasional problem with items being sold out, or having to queue at the checkouts, but it’s when these issues become the norm rather than the exception that people will really get fed-up.”</p> <p>What part of visiting a supermarket annoys you the most? And, but the same token, what do you think is the most important element to a good supermarket experience?</p> <p>Share your thoughts in the comments.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/06/aussies-are-leaving-coles-and-woolies-for-this-supermarket/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Aussies are leaving Coles and Woolies for this supermarket</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/07/mitsubishi-and-toyota-recall-nearly-one-million-australian-cars/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Mitsubishi and Toyota recall nearly a million Australian cars</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/finance/money-banking/2016/06/10-foods-you-must-stop-buying-at-the-supermarket/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>10 foods you must stop buying at the supermarket</strong></em></span></a></p>

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