How Australians Use Their Time

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Key findings on how people use their time in Australia

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Reference period
2020-21 financial year

Key statistics

  • Females who participated in unpaid work activities spent on average 4 hours 31 minutes a day, while males spent 3 hours 12 minutes.
  • Of those who participated in employment related activities, males spent an hour more a day than females (8 hours 13 minutes compared to 7 hours 12 minutes).
  • Female parents who participated in child care, spent 3 hours 34 minutes while male parents spent 2 hours 19 minutes.

The Time Use Survey (TUS), conducted from November 2020 through to July 2021, measured the daily activities of people aged 15 years and over in Australia to provide insights into how people spent their time.

Participants completed a diary of their activities over two days. Participants were asked to report their main activity, referred to as primary activity and, one other activity done at the same time, referred to as secondary activity. The activity information was then coded to the Activity Classification.

The results represent, on average, how people spent their time in a day.  The data discussed below reflects the primary activity.

The 2020-21 TUS was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic and has undergone multiple changes. Data should be used for point-in-time analysis only and should not be compared to previous years. See Methodology for more information.

For more information about the survey design including weighting, relative standard error and margin of error refer to the Methodology.

COVID-19 context

The Time Use Survey (TUS) 2020-2021 was collected between November 2020 and July 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, initiatives were in place to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 including border control measures for some states and territories, stay at home orders, remote learning, shutting down non-essential services, limits on gatherings and social distancing rules.

Four types of time

The activities on which people aged 15 years and over spent their time can be divided into four types of time use.

Necessary activities – An average of 10 hours 35 minutes a day was spent on activities such as sleeping, eating, personal care, health and hygiene.

Contracted activities – An average of 3 hours 40 minutes a day was spent on activities such as paid work and education.

Committed activities – An average of 3 hours 30 minutes a day was spent on unpaid domestic work, child care, adult care and voluntary work.

Free time activities – An average of 5 hours 13 minutes a day was spent on free time activities such as social interactions, going out and watching TV.

On average, males spent more time on contracted and free time, while females spent longer on committed time:

  • Males spent 4 hours 18 minutes on contracted time compared to females who spent 3 hours 4 minutes
  • Males spent 5 hours 28 minutes on free time compared to 5 hours for females 
  • Females spent 4 hours 13 minutes on committed time compared to 2 hours 44 minutes for males.

Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of total population
Source: Table 1.1

Unpaid work

Unpaid work includes domestic, child care, adult care and voluntary work activities.

Most females (94%) and males (86%) participated in unpaid work activities. Of those who reported participating in unpaid work activities, females spent on average 4 hours 31 minutes a day, while males spent 3 hours 12 minutes.

Domestic activities

Domestic activities are all activities done to maintain and manage the household.

Most females (93%) and males (82%) reported participating in domestic activities.

Females were more likely than males to participate in most types of domestic activities:

  • Housework (70% of females compared to 42% of males)
  • Food and drink preparation/service (75% compared to 55%)
  • Shopping (38% compared to 31%).
     

More males (10%) reported participating in home and vehicle maintenance then females (4%).

Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated in activity
Source: Table 1.1

Overall, of those who participated in domestic activities, females spent on average 3 hours 23 minutes compared to 2 hours 38 minutes by males.

Females who participated in housework spent 1 hour 27 minutes compared to males (58 minutes).

Of those who participated in home and vehicle maintenance, on average males spent more time (1 hour 49 minutes) than females (44 minutes).

Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day of persons who participated in activity
Source: Table 1.1

Child care activities

The survey collected information on participation in a range of child care activities, including physical and emotional care, teaching, helping, playing, talking, minding and feeding children.

More female parents of children under 15 years participated in child care activities than male parents (89% compared to 73%).

Female parents who participated in child care, spent 3 hours 34 minutes while male parents spent 2 hours 19 minutes.

Of the different types of child care participated in by parents of children under 15 years:

  • 70% of females engaged in the physical and emotional care of children compared to 42% of males
  • 51% of females spent time playing, reading or talking with a child compared to 38% of males
  • 40% of females participated in feeding and food preparation for children compared to 17% of males.

Parents of children under 15 years
Proportion who participated in activity
Source: Table 11.1

Paid work

Paid work consists of all employment related activities including working, job searching and travelling to and from work.

More males reported participating in employment related activities than females (48% compared with 37%).

Of those who participated in employment related activities, males spent on average, an hour more in a day doing these activities than females (8 hours 13 minutes compared to 7 hours 12 minutes).

The difference of average time spent in employment related activities between males and females is largest between ages of 25 to 44 years.

Persons aged 15 years and over
Average time spent per day, of persons who participated in activity
Source: Table 4.3

Free time

Free time consists of social and community interaction and recreation and leisure activities.

Most people (96%) participated in free time activities and spent on average 5 hours 27 minutes of their day on these activities.

People on average spent 1 hour 29 minutes interacting socially and 1 hour 12 minutes eating and drinking out.

Most people participated in recreation and leisure activities (93%) and spent on average 4 hour 23 minutes of their day on these activities:

  • 75% watched TV and video, for an average of 2 hours 55 minutes
  • 36% engaged in general internet and device use, for an average of 1 hour 1 minute
  • 30% did exercise, sport or outdoor activity, for an average of 1 hour 29 minutes
  • 22% were reading for an average of 1 hour 26 minutes.
     

Males and females reported similar levels of participation in most recreation and leisure activities, apart from:

  • 39% of females participated in general internet and device use compared to 33% of males
  • 25% of females participated in reading compared to 18% of males
  • 13% of males participated in digital games compared to 6% of females.

Persons aged 15 years and over
Proportion who participated in activity
Source: Table 1.1

Time stress

Participants were asked how often they felt rushed or pressed for time.

More females (38%) reported always or often feeling rushed or pressed for time than males (32%). Females aged 35 to 44 years (55%) were the group most likely to report always or often feeling rushed for time.

People in couple families with children under 15 years (52%) were more likely to report feeling rushed or pressed for time than couple families with no children (29%).

Persons aged 15 years and over
Source: Table 3.1

Data downloads

Table 1: Time spent

Data files
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Table 2: Time spent by weekday or weekend

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Table 3: Feels rushed or has spare time by selected demographics

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Table 4: Time spent by selected demographics

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Table 5: Time spent by persons aged 15 to 24 years

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Table 6: Time spent by persons aged 15 to 64 years

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Table 7: Time spent by persons aged 65 years and over

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Table 8: Time spent by disability status

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Table 9: Time spent by carer status

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Table 10: Time spent by volunteer status

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Table 11: Time spent by parents, by age of youngest child in household

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Table 12: Time spent by parents, by labour force status

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Tables 13 - 17: Time spent by time of day

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Table 18: Time spent by location

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Data item list

Data files
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Methodology

How Australians Use Their Time methodology, 2020-21 financial year

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