General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia methodology

Latest release

Reference period

2025

Released

6/05/2026

Next release Unknown

Release date and time

06/05/2026 11:30am AEST

Overview

Scope

Includes all usual residents in Australia aged 15 and over.

Geography

Data was collected from both urban and rural areas in all states and territories, except for very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Source

Data was collected in the 2025 General Social Survey over a 2 month period from 1st May to 28th June 2025.

Collection method

Households were able to complete the survey online or via a telephone interview. There were 13,302 fully responding households.

Concepts, sources and methods

Not applicable for this release.

History of changes

Full history of changes.

About this survey

The General Social Survey (GSS) provides data on the social characteristics, wellbeing and social experiences of people in Australia. It explores people's opportunities to participate fully in society and asks Australians how they feel about aspects of their lives. Key topics include:

Life satisfaction
Voluntary work
Family and community support
Discrimination and cultural tolerance
Trust
Financial stress.

GSS provides data on a range of important populations of interest, including:

people with a mental health condition
people with a long-term health condition
people with disability
recent migrants and temporary residents, and other migrants
people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual.

GSS can be used to examine change over time for selected data items. Changes in survey design and collection that may impact comparisons over time are described in the history of changes.

Data collection

Scope

The scope of the survey includes:

all usual residents in Australia aged 15 years and over living in private dwellings
both urban and rural areas in all states and territories, except for very remote parts of Australia and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

The survey excluded the following people:

visitors to private dwellings
overseas visitors who have not been working or studying in Australia for 12 months or more, or do not intend to do so
members of non-Australian defence forces stationed in Australia and their dependants
non-Australian diplomats, diplomatic staff and members of their households
people who usually live in non-private dwellings, such as hotels, motels, hostels, hospitals, nursing homes and short-stay caravan park (people in long-stay caravan parks, manufactured home estates and marinas are in scope)
people in very remote areas
discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Sample design

The sample was designed to support national level estimates and some state and territory, and remoteness area estimates.

Reference Period

The survey was conducted over a 2 month period from 1st May to 28th June 2025.

Collection method

Households had the option of either completing the survey online, or via a telephone interview.

All households selected in the sample initially received a letter in the post with instructions for completing the survey online. Three reminder letters were sent to households. Households that were unable to complete the survey online were able to complete the survey with an interviewer over the telephone.

Survey progress was monitored throughout enumeration. Households that started but did not complete the survey online were followed up by telephone.

The GSS survey has two parts:

Household form, which can be completed by any responsible adult in the household who is aged 18 years or over. The household form collects basic demographic information about all usual residents of the household.
Individual questionnaire, which is completed by one randomly selected person in the household aged 15 years or over. The random selection is automatically performed by the survey instrument upon completion of the household form. If the randomly selected person was aged 15 - 17 years old, parental consent was required for the interview to proceed.

Questionnaire

Data files

Download xlsx [4.08 MB]

Processing the data

Estimation methods

As only a sample of people in Australia were surveyed, their results needed to be converted into estimates for the whole population. This was done with a process called weighting.

Each person or household was given a number (known as a weight) to reflect how many people or households they represented in the whole population.
A person or household’s initial weight was based on their probability of being selected in the sample and responding to the survey. For example, if the probability of being selected and responding to the survey was one in 1,500, then the person would have an initial weight of 1,500 (that is, they would represent 1,500 people).

The person and household level weights are then calibrated to align with independent estimates of the in-scope population, referred to as ‘benchmarks’. The benchmarks used additional information about the population to ensure that:

people or households in the sample represented people or households that were similar to them
the survey estimates reflected the distribution of the whole population, not the sample.

Benchmarks align to the Estimated Resident Population (ERP) aged 15 years and over as at June 2025 (after exclusion of people living in non-private dwellings, very remote areas of Australia, and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities).

The majority of estimates shown in this publication are based on benchmarked person weights. The estimates in Tables 18 and 19, however, are based on benchmarked household weights.

Data confrontation and comparability with other ABS surveys

Estimates from GSS 2025 may differ from similar data items produced from other ABS collections for several reasons. Differences in sampling errors, scope, collection methodologies, reference periods, seasonal and non-seasonal events may all impact estimates.

Data release

Release strategy

This release provides estimates on the social characteristics, wellbeing and social experience of people in Australia.

Estimates are presented at a national level, along with selected indicators by state and territory and remoteness area. Commentary presents analysis by age groups, gender and selected population characteristics.

Data cubes (spreadsheets) present tables of estimates and proportions, and their associated measures of error. A data item list is also available.

Microdata will be available for interactive analysis in DataLab and TableBuilder in mid-2026. These products enable users to create, save and download their own tables for analysis.

Custom tables

Customised statistical tables are available upon request on a cost-recovery basis. However, confidentiality requirements and sampling variability may limit what data can be provided.

To inform requests, refer to the Data Item List in the Data downloads section of the General Social Survey publication.

If you would like to request a consultancy, complete the Consultancy request form.

For more general information, get in touch via our Contact us page.

Confidentiality

The Census and Statistics Act 1905 authorises the ABS to collect statistical information and requires that information is not published in a way that could identify a particular person or organisation. The ABS must make sure that information about individual respondents cannot be derived from published data.

To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, a technique called perturbation is used to randomly adjust cell values. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics which have a negligible impact on the underlying pattern. This is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable data while maximising the range of information that can be released. After perturbation, a given published cell value will be consistent across all tables. However, adding up cell values in Data Cubes to derive a total may give a slightly different result to the published totals. The introduction of perturbation in publications ensures that these statistics are consistent with statistics released via services such as TableBuilder.

Gender based statistics from the General Social Survey

The 2025 General Social Survey collected both the 'sex recorded at birth' and 'gender' of respondents using the Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020.

Because the social indictors collected in the GSS relate to social characteristics and experience, data in this publication are presented using the gender variable.

When a small number of responses are recorded in any output category, outputs may be suppressed or combined into other categories due to confidentiality and statistical issues. A small number of people in the survey did not report a gender or reported a term other than man or woman. Estimates for people whose gender is neither man or woman are not able to be output as a separate category, but they are included in the estimates for total persons.

Prior to 2025, the GSS only collected the respondent's 'sex'. Accordingly, the time series tables presented in this publication use 'sex' for the years before 2025 and 'gender' for 2025.

Both 'sex recorded at birth' and 'gender' will be available on the TableBuilder and DataLab for GSS 2025.

Data quality

Questionnaire development

The 2025 GSS questionnaire was largely based on the 2020 version, with minor updates. The survey design also considered user interface improvements to support self-completion online across different devices and to meet accessibility standards.

Sample selection

Data was collected from households across Australia, excluding those in very remote areas. One person aged 15 years and over was randomly selected in each household to complete the GSS questionnaire. The sample was designed specifically for online and telephone collection.

To enhance representativeness and response rates, ABS applied address-level classifications during sample selection, including:

propensity to respond online
propensity for a person with a disability to be a resident at the address
propensity for a person who speaks a language other than English to be a resident at the address
propensity for the address to contain a household under financial stress.

These classifications were chosen to support GSS objectives, particularly in measuring outcomes for people who are more vulnerable to socio-economic disadvantage. The online response propensity was used to assess how effectively the sample design boosted participation from households less likely to respond, thereby improving overall representativeness of the sample.

Enumeration

All selected households received a postal invitation with instructions to complete the survey online. Those unable to do so were offered the option to complete it via telephone. Three reminder letters were sent to non-responding households. No face-to-face follow-up was conducted. Sample selection strategies and follow-up procedures were designed to minimise bias and optimise representativeness.

Follow up

Survey progress was monitored throughout enumeration. Households that started but did not complete the survey online were followed up by telephone. These households were prioritised in accordance with the sample design to optimise coverage in all areas including state and part of state. There was no face-to-face follow-up in the GSS 2025.

Achieved sample

Target responding sample: 10,002 persons
Achieved responding sample: 13,302 persons
Approach sample: 27,129 dwellings

Of the 13,302 fully responding households who completed the survey in 2025, 10,368 were self-completed by the household online. The remaining 2,934 were completed over the phone with an ABS Interviewer.

Surveys with a high non-response may display non-response bias if the respondents who chose to participate in the survey do not adequately represent the entire population. This can result in biased estimates for some data items.

The approach sample may have included dwellings that were out of scope (e.g. unoccupied, non-residential, demolished). As there was no face-to-face follow-up of non-responding households, the exact number of out-of-scope dwellings is unknown.

History of changes

The GSS was previously conducted in 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2019 and 2020. From 2025, the survey will be run annually.

GSS first introduced a computer assisted web interview (or online form) in 2019. Approximately 78% of survey responses in 2025 were completed via the online form.

Questionnaire changes from 2019 to 2025

There were no major questionnaire changes from 2019 to 2025.

However, there were a number of questionnaire changes from 2014 to 2019 that should be considered when analysing the data in Tables 19 and 20. The following table summarises these changes.

Questionnaire changes from 2014 to 2025

Data files

Download xlsx [29.78 KB]

Caveat on using and interpreting GSS voluntary work data

GSS 2019, 2020 and 2025 output estimates for informal volunteering, in addition to continuing the time series of unpaid voluntary work through an organisation. While these data items together present a more complete picture of voluntary work undertaken in Australia, care should be taken when using and interpreting these figures, for the reasons shown below.

Different reference periods

Informal volunteering and unpaid voluntary work through an organisation had different reference periods. Informal volunteering was reported for the four weeks preceding the survey, while unpaid voluntary work through an organisation was reported for the 12 months preceding the survey.

GSS 2025 was collected over a 2 month period from 1st May to 28th June.
GSS 2020 was collected over a 3 month period from 15 June to 5 September 2020.
GSS 2019 was collected over a 3 month period from 29 April to 20 July 2019.

It is beyond the scope of this publication to investigate possible seasonal effects on informal volunteering. It is therefore unknown if combining this figure with the annual figure for unpaid voluntary work through an organisation would result in an accurate overall voluntary work figure.

People who undertook both types of voluntary work

The user is advised that combining total estimates or proportions of: (a) people who undertook unpaid voluntary work through an organisation and (b) people who undertook informal volunteering, would result in an overestimate of volunteers. This is because some people undertook both types of voluntary work.

A breakdown of the number of people who did both types of voluntary work is not available in the GSS 2025 publication.

Accuracy

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Reliability of estimates

Two types of error are possible in estimates based on a sample survey:

non-sampling error
sampling error

Non-sampling error

Non-sampling error is caused by factors other than those related to sample selection. It is any factor that results in the data values not accurately reflecting the true value of the population.

It can occur at any stage throughout the survey process. Examples include:

selected people that do not respond (e.g. refusals, non-contact)
questions being misunderstood
responses being incorrectly recorded
errors in coding or processing the survey data.

Sampling error

Sampling error is the expected difference that can occur between the published estimates and the value that would have been produced if the whole population had been surveyed. Sampling error is the result of random variation and can be estimated using measures of variance in the data.

Standard error

One measure of sampling error is the standard error (SE). There are about two chances in three that an estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if the whole population had been included. There are about 19 chances in 20 that an estimate will differ by less than two SEs.

Relative standard error

The relative standard error (RSE) is a useful measure of sampling error. It is the SE expressed as a percentage of the estimate:

$R S E \%=\left(\frac{S E}{e s t i m a t e}\right) \times 100$

Only estimates with RSEs less than 25% are considered reliable for most purposes. Estimates with larger RSEs, between 25% and less than 50% have been included in the publication, but are flagged to indicate they are subject to high SEs. These should be used with caution. Estimates with RSEs of 50% or more have also been flagged and are considered unreliable for most purposes. RSEs for these estimates are not published.

Margin of error for proportions

Another measure of sampling error is the Margin of Error (MOE). This describes the distance from the population value that the sample estimate is likely to be within and is particularly useful to understand the accuracy of proportion estimates. It is specified at a given level of confidence. Confidence levels typically used are 90%, 95% and 99%.

For example, at the 95% confidence level, the MOE indicates that there are about 19 chances in 20 that the estimate will differ by less than the specified MOE from the population value (the figure obtained if the whole population had been enumerated). The 95% MOE is calculated as 1.96 multiplied by the SE:

${MOE} = S E \times 1.96$

The RSE can also be used to directly calculate a 95% MOE by:

${MOE}(y) \approx \frac{R S E(y) \times y}{100} \times 1.96$

The MOEs in this publication are calculated at the 95% confidence level. This can easily be converted to a 90% confidence level by multiplying the MOE by:

$ {1.645\over 1.96}$

or to a 99% confidence level by multiplying the MOE by:

$ {2.576\over 1.96}$

Depending on how the estimate is to be used, a MOE of greater than 10% may be considered too large to inform decisions. For example, a proportion of 15% with a MOE of plus or minus 11% would mean the estimate could be anything from 4% to 26%. It is important to consider this range when using the estimates to make assertions about the population.

Confidence Intervals

A confidence interval expresses the sampling error as a range in which the population value is expected to lie at a given level of confidence. A confidence interval is calculated by taking the estimate plus or minus the MOE of that estimate. In other terms, the 95% confidence interval is the estimate +/- MOE.

Calculating measures of error

Proportions or percentages formed from the ratio of two estimates are also subject to sampling errors. The size of the error depends on the accuracy of both the numerator and the denominator. A formula to approximate the RSE of a proportion is given below. This formula is only valid when the numerator (x) is a subset of the denominator (y):

${RSE}\left(\frac{x}{y}\right) \approx\sqrt{[R S E(x)]^{2}-[R S E(y)]^{2}}$

When calculating measures of error, it may be useful to convert RSE or MOE to SE. This allows the use of standard formulas involving the SE. The SE can be obtained from RSE or MOE using the following formulas:

$SE = \frac{{RSE\% \times estimate}}{{100}}$

$SE = \frac{{MOE}}{{1.96}}$

Comparison of estimates

The difference between two survey estimates (counts or percentages) can also be calculated from published estimates. Such an estimate is also subject to sampling error. The sampling error of the difference between two estimates depends on their SEs and the relationship (correlation) between them. An approximate SE of the difference between two estimates (x - y) may be calculated by the following formula:

$S E(x-y) \approx \sqrt{[S E(x)]^{2}+[S E(y)]^{2}}$

While this formula will only be exact for differences between unrelated characteristics or sub-populations, it provides a reasonable approximation for the differences likely to be of interest in this publication.

Significance testing

When comparing estimates between surveys or between populations within a survey, it is useful to determine whether apparent differences are 'real' differences or simply the product of differences between the survey samples.

One way to examine this is to determine whether the difference between the estimates is statistically significant. This is done by calculating the standard error of the difference between two estimates (x and y) and using that to calculate the test statistic using the formula below:

$\left(\frac{|x-y|}{S E(x-y)}\right)$

where

$S E(y)\approx\ \frac{R S E(y) \times y}{100}$

If the value of the statistic is greater than 1.96, we can say there is good evidence of a statistically significant difference at 95% confidence levels between the two populations with respect to that characteristic. Otherwise, it cannot be stated with confidence that there is a real difference between the populations.

Glossary

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Able to have a say within the community on important issues

The person's assessment of how often they feel they are able to have a say within the general community on issues that are important to them.

Able to raise $2,000 within a week for something important

A person's perception of whether they or other members of the household could obtain $2,000 for something important within a week.

Access to motor vehicle(s) to drive

Access that a person has to any motor vehicle to drive. Such motor vehicles include vehicle(s) which they wholly or jointly own, vehicle(s) belonging to another member of the household, and company or government vehicle(s) which they have access to for personal use.

The data presented in this publication for persons who do not have access to a motor vehicle to drive excludes those without a licence.

Agrees it is a good thing for society to be comprised of different cultures

Designed to gauge community acceptance of diverse cultures. The question asks the respondent the extent to which they agree or disagree with the statement that 'It is a good thing for a society to be made up of people from different cultures.' The following five options were provided:

Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree.

The data presented in this publication includes people who said they either 'Strongly agree' or 'Agree'.

Cash flow problem

Includes households experiencing one or more of the following due to a shortage of money:

could not pay electricity, gas, telephone or internet bills on time
could not pay mortgage or rent payments on time
could not pay for car registration or insurance on time
could not pay home and/or contents insurance on time
could not make minimum payment on credit card
pawned or sold something because of a shortage of money
went without meals
went without dental treatment when needed
were unable to heat or cool your home
sought financial assistance from friends or family
sought assistance from welfare or community organisations.

Civic and political groups

Whether the person has been actively involved in a civic or political group in the last 12 months.

Examples of civic or political groups include:

trade union, professional or technical association
political party
civic group or organisation
environmental or animal welfare group
human and civil rights group
body corporate or tenants' association
consumer organisation
other civic or political organisation.

Community support groups

Whether the person has been actively involved in a community support group in the last 12 months.

Examples of community support groups include:

service clubs
welfare organisations
education and training
parenting, children or youth
health promotion and support
emergency services
international aid and development
other community support groups.

Couple

Two people in a registered or de facto marriage, who usually live in the same household.

Cultural attendance

Whether the person has been to any of the following culture or leisure venues in the past 12 months:

libraries
public art galleries
museums
cinema or outdoor cinema
live music concerts or performances
operas or musicals
theatre performances
dance performances
any other performing arts event, such as pageants, parades, the circus or comedy acts.

Cultural participation

Whether the person has participated in any of the following creative activities in the past 12 months which were not done for secondary or tertiary studies:

performing in a drama, comedy, musical or variety act
singing or playing a musical instrument as a soloist, or as part of a band, choir or orchestra
dancing, including rehearsals and classes
writing song lyrics, mixing or composing music, including digital composition
writing any fiction or non-fiction, such as stories, poetry, scripts or blogs
visual art activities, such as painting, drawing or sculpting
craft activities
photography, excluding recording personal events
film-making or editing, excluding recording personal events
designed websites, computer games or interactive software
fashion, interior or graphic design.

Current weekly household equivalised gross income

Gross household income adjusted using an equivalence scale to facilitate comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition. For a lone person household it is equal to gross household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the gross household income that would be needed by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic well-being as the household in question.

The data in this publication are presented in quintiles. These are groupings that result from ranking all households in ascending order according to their equivalised gross household income, and then dividing into five equal groups, each comprising 20% of the total population.

Dependent children

All persons aged under 15 years; and people aged 15-24 years who are full-time students, have a parent in the household and do not have a partner or child of their own in the household.

Difficulties getting to the places needed

The person's assessment of their overall transport situation for all the places they needed to go, by car or other transport. Four options were provided:

can easily get to the places needed
sometimes have difficulty getting to the places needed
often have difficulty getting to the places needed
can't get to the places needed.

A response option was also provided if they indicated that they never go out or are housebound.

The data presented in this publication refers to people who reported they 'often have difficulty getting to the places needed' and 'can't get to the places needed'.

Disability

A disability exists if a limitation, restriction, impairment, disease or disorder, has lasted or was likely to last for at least six months and restricted everyday activities.

Discrimination

Discrimination may happen when people are treated unfairly because they are seen as being different from others. People who had experienced discrimination were asked whether they thought it was because of any of the following:

their ethnic/cultural background or appearance
their gender
their sexual orientation
their age
a disability or health issue
their marital or family status
their political or religious beliefs
their occupation.

Dissaving action

Any action where spending is greater than income, thereby reducing already accumulated savings or leading to borrowing to finance the expenditure. Examples of dissaving actions include any of the following actions because money was needed for basic living expenses:

reducing home loan repayments
drawing on accumulated savings or term deposits
increasing balance owed on credit cards by $1,000 or more
entering into a loan agreement with family or friends
taking out a personal loan
selling household goods or jewellery
selling shares, stocks or bonds
selling other assets.

Employed

Persons aged 15 years and over who, during the week before the interview:

worked one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (includes employees, employers and own account workers)
worked one hour or more, without pay, in a family business or on a family farm
had a job, business or farm but was not at work because of holidays, sickness or other reason.

Employed full-time

Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and those who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.

Employed part-time

Employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week, or were not at work in the reference week.

Face to face contact with family or friends

Face to face contact with family or friends who they do not live with in the last three months. 'At least once a week' includes people who reported seeing their family or friends 'Everyday' or 'At least once a week' over the last three months.

Family

Two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering, and who usually live in the same household. The basis of a family is formed by identifying the presence of a couple relationship, lone parent-child relationship or other blood relationship. Some households will, therefore, contain more than one family.

Financial exclusion

The extent to which a person is excluded from mainstream banking and financial services, for example being denied an application for a credit card.

Financial resilience

Actions taken to improve a person's ability to control their current financial situation or manage in a situation involving a major loss of income including:

following a budget
saving regularly
paying off more than the minimum required by credit card company or loan provider
making more than the minimum home loan repayments
making voluntary contributions to superannuation
receiving financial information, counselling or advice from a professional.

Fully engaged in employment or study

Includes persons engaged in full-time study, full-time employment and those undertaking a combination of full-time study and full-time employment or part-time study and part-time employment.

Gender

Gender is a social and cultural concept. It is about social and cultural differences in identity, expression and experience as a man, woman or non-binary person. Non-binary is an umbrella term describing gender identities that are not exclusively male or female.

Government support

Cash support from the government in the form of pensions, benefits or allowances.

Household

One or more persons, at least one of whom is at least 15 years of age, usually resident in the same private dwelling.

Informal volunteering

The provision of unpaid work/support to non-household members, excluding that provided only to family members living outside the household. See Unpaid work/support to non-household members for inclusions. The reference period was the four weeks preceding the survey.

Labour force status

Classifies all people aged 15 years and over into one of the following categories:

employed - had a job or business, or undertook work without pay in a family business in the week prior to the survey, including being absent from their job or business
employed full-time - persons who usually work 35 hours or more per week
employed part-time - persons who usually work at least one hour, but less than 35 hours, per week
unemployed - not employed and actively looked for work in the four weeks prior to the survey and available to start work in the week prior to the survey
not in the labour force - people who were not in the categories employed or unemployed.

Level of highest non-school qualification

A person's level of highest non-school qualification is the highest qualification a person has attained in any area of formal study other than school study. It is categorised according to the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 Level of education classification.

Long-term health condition

A long-term health condition is a current disease or disorder that has been diagnosed by a doctor, nurse or other health professional and has lasted, or is likely to last, for six months or more. Includes conditions controlled by medication. Data are self-reported by the respondent.

Main source of household income

The source from which a household receives the greatest amount of income, both monetary and in-kind. If total income is nil or negative the main source is undefined. As there are several possible sources, the main source may account for less than 50% of total income. The household's main source of income may come from:

Employee income - a person's total remuneration, whether monetary or in kind, received in return for labour from an employer or from a person's own incorporated business. It comprises wages and salaries, bonuses, amounts salary sacrificed, non-cash benefits such as the use of motor vehicles and subsidised housing, and termination payments.
Unincorporated business income - The profit or loss that accrues to persons as owners of, or partners in, unincorporated businesses. Profit or loss consists of the value of gross output of the business after the deduction of operating expenses and depreciation. It excludes profits from capital investments of partners who do not work in these enterprises, that is, silent partners. Losses occur when operating expenses are greater than gross receipts and are treated as negative income.
Government pensions and allowances - Income support payments from government to persons under social security and related government programs. This includes pensions and allowances received by aged, disabled, unemployed and sick persons, families and children, veterans or their survivors, and study allowances for students. Also includes overseas pensions and benefits, although some may not be paid by overseas governments.
Other income - income other than wages and salaries, own unincorporated business income and government pensions and allowances. This includes income received as a result of ownership of financial assets (interest, dividends), and of non-financial assets (rent, royalties) and other current receipts from sources such as superannuation, child support, workers' compensation and scholarships.

Management of household income

Refers to the respondent's perception of their household's financial situation over the last 12 months.

Mental health condition

Includes people who reported they had a 'Mental health condition (including depression or anxiety)' from the list of long-term health conditions.

Non-dependent children

All persons aged 15 years or over (except those aged 15-24 years who are full-time students) who have a parent in the household and do not have a partner or child of their own in the household.

Non-household members

People living outside the selected person's household.

Not in the labour force

Persons not in the categories employed or unemployed as defined.

Organisation or group

An organisation or group is any body with a formal structure. It may be as large as a national charity or as small as a local book club. Purely ad hoc, informal and temporary gatherings of people do not constitute an organisation.

Other forms of contact with family or friends

Non face-to-face contact with family or friends who they do not live with in the last three months. Includes contact by phone, voice or video calls, text or instant messaging, social media, email or post. 'At least once a week' includes people who reported using these other types of contact 'Everyday' or 'At least once a week'.

Other migrant

Those born overseas who arrived in Australia more than ten years ago. NZ citizens are also classified as 'Other migrants', irrespective of when they arrived in Australia.

Overall life satisfaction

Overall life satisfaction is a summary measure of subjective wellbeing against a scale ranging from 0 to 10, where 0 means 'not at all satisfied' and 10 means 'completely satisfied'. It measures a person's perceived level of life satisfaction in general and does not take into account specific illnesses or problems the person may have.

Partially engaged in employment or study

People who were employed part-time and not studying, or in part-time study and not employed.

Personal stressors

Any of the following events or circumstances which the person considers have been a problem for themselves or someone close to them in the last 12 months:

serious illness
serious accident
death of family member or close friend
mental illness
serious disability
loss of job or unable to get a job
discrimination
bullying / harassment
witness to violence
abuse or violent crime
trouble with the police
divorce or separation
alcohol or drug related problems
gambling problem
removal of children.

Psychological distress

Psychological distress is an indicator of a person’s mental health and wellbeing and is measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The K10 is a widely used measure of non‑specific psychological distress associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. It is not a diagnostic tool but indicates the level of psychological distress experienced by a person.

The K10 is based on a person’s emotional state during the four weeks prior to the survey interview. Respondents are asked how often they felt:

tired for no good reason
nervous
so nervous nothing could calm them down
hopeless
restless or fidgety
so restless that they could not sit still
depressed
that everything was an effort
so sad that nothing could cheer them up
worthless.

Self assessed health status

The selected person's general assessment of their own health, against a five point scale from excellent through to poor.

Service providers

Banks or financial institutions
Centrelink
Hospitals
Medicare
Telecommunication services
Motor Vehicle Registry
Housing / utility services
Health related services
Other services.

Sex recorded at birth

Sex recorded at birth refers to what was initially determined by sex characteristics observed at birth or infancy.

Sexual orientation

Refers to how a person thinks of their own sexuality and the term they identify with such as straight (heterosexual); gay or lesbian; bisexual; or other sexual orientation. For the purpose of this publication, data for people who described themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or another sexual orientation is combined into 'gay, lesbian or bisexual'.

Social groups

Whether the person has been actively involved in a social group in the last 12 months.

Examples of social groups include:

sport or physical recreation group
arts or heritage group
religious or spiritual group or organisation
craft or practical hobby group
adult education, other recreation or special interest group
ethnic or multicultural club
social clubs providing restaurants or bars
other social groups.

Support in a time of crisis

Refers to whether there is someone outside the person's household who could be asked for support in a time of crisis. Support could be in the form of emotional, physical or financial help. Potential sources of support could be family members, friends, neighbours, work colleagues and various community, government and professional organisations.

Trust

To ascertain people's feelings of trust in others, and in some major institutions, they were asked how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the following statements:

most people can be trusted?
the healthcare system can be trusted?
police can be trusted?
the justice system can be trusted?

The response categories were:

Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree.

The phrase 'most people' is based on the respondent's interpretation - there is no specific definition. The idea is whether people can go about their affairs confidently, expecting that others will generally deal fairly with them and act in the ways normally expected in our society.

Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the week before the interview and:

had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or
were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Unpaid voluntary work through an organisation

The provision of unpaid help willingly given in the form of time, service or skills, to an organisation, club, or association. The reference period was the 12 months preceding the survey.

The GSS excludes unpaid voluntary work through an organisation if undertaken overseas.

The following forms of unpaid work are not strictly 'willingly given' and have been excluded:

taking part in Community Work under Mutual Obligation
work experience or an unpaid work trial
a community service order
a student placement.

Prior to GSS 2019, this item was labelled 'Voluntary work' as it was the only kind of voluntary work included in the GSS. This new label was adopted for the 2019 and 2020 release to accommodate the addition of Informal volunteering within the broader category of Voluntary work. The majority of GSS voluntary work data is still only collected for Unpaid voluntary work through an organisation.

Unpaid work/support to non-household members

The provision of unpaid work, support, or help to people or the community directly, not through an organisation, club, or association. The reference period was the four weeks preceding the survey.

Types of unpaid work/support included:

domestic work, home maintenance or gardening
providing transport or running errands
any unpaid child care
any teaching, coaching or practical advice
providing any emotional support
personal care or assistance
lobbying or advocacy
community assistance
environmental protection or animal welfare
any other help.

This item concerns unpaid work/support provided to people living outside the selected person's household. The GSS does not collect any data about unpaid domestic work or any other unpaid work undertaken for the sole benefit of the person's own household (including related and unrelated household members).

Voluntary work

The provision of unpaid help willingly given in the form of time, service or skills. Voluntary work must benefit the volunteer's community beyond their own family and household.

Voluntary work includes both Unpaid voluntary work through an organisation and Informal volunteering. The key difference between the two is whether the unpaid work is undertaken through an organisation. See related definitions.

See history of changes for a caveat on using and interpreting GSS Voluntary work data.

APA

General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia methodology

APA

Overview

Scope

Geography

Source

Collection method

Concepts, sources and methods

History of changes

About this survey

Data collection

Scope

Sample design

Reference Period

Collection method

Questionnaire

Processing the data

Estimation methods

Data confrontation and comparability with other ABS surveys

Data release

Release strategy

Custom tables

Confidentiality

Gender based statistics from the General Social Survey

Data quality

Questionnaire development

Sample selection

Enumeration

Follow up

Achieved sample

History of changes

Questionnaire changes from 2019 to 2025

Questionnaire changes from 2014 to 2025

Caveat on using and interpreting GSS voluntary work data

Different reference periods

People who undertook both types of voluntary work

Accuracy

Show all

Reliability of estimates

Non-sampling error

Sampling error

Standard error

Relative standard error

Margin of error for proportions

Confidence Intervals

Calculating measures of error

Comparison of estimates

Significance testing

Glossary

Show all

Able to have a say within the community on important issues

Able to raise $2,000 within a week for something important

Access to motor vehicle(s) to drive

Agrees it is a good thing for society to be comprised of different cultures

Cash flow problem

Civic and political groups

Community support groups

Couple

Cultural attendance

Cultural participation

Current weekly household equivalised gross income

Dependent children

Difficulties getting to the places needed

Disability

Discrimination

Dissaving action

Employed

Employed full-time

Employed part-time

Face to face contact with family or friends

Family

Financial exclusion

Financial resilience

Fully engaged in employment or study

Gender

Government support

Household

Informal volunteering

Labour force status