Psychosocial disability in Australia, 2022: key findings in plain language

This fact sheet includes data about people with psychosocial disability in Australia. The data is from the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC). The Australian Bureau of Statistics carried out the survey.

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In the SDAC, psychosocial disability is when someone is restricted in their everyday activities because of a condition that affects their thinking, emotions or behaviour.

These conditions include: 

• nervous or emotional conditions
• mental health concerns
• memory problems or periods of confusion
• social or behavioural challenges.

In 2022, we found that:

• 1.7 million (6.5%) Australians had psychosocial disability. This is up from 1.1 million (4.6%) in 2018
• the rate of psychosocial disability was about the same for males (6.5%) and females (6.4%).

In the survey, we defined a disability as any condition that:

• limits, restricts or affects everyday activities

and

• lasts, or is likely to last, for at least 6 months.

We found that 61.0% of people with psychosocial disability needed help with communication, moving around or self-care. 

For different age groups with psychosocial disability, we found that:

• 96.3% of people who were 85 years or older needed help with communication, moving around or self-care
• 80.4% of people who were under 15 years old needed help with communication, moving around or self-care.

We also found that 87.2% of people with psychosocial disability had other types of disability, including: 

• 63.4% with a physical disability
• 40.9% with a learning or understanding disability.

We found that of people with psychosocial disability who were living in households:

• 59.9% who were 15 years or older had completed year 12 or higher. This is up from 53.4% in 2018
• 39.0% who were 15 to 64 years old had a job. This is up from 25.7% in 2018
• 18.0% who were 15 to 64 years old were working full time. This is up from 10.9% in 2018.