Experience of discrimination

Released 15/09/2025

Proportion of Australians who experienced some form of discrimination in the previous 12 months

Experiences of discrimination can have wide-ranging negative effects on a person's general wellbeing, physical and mental health. 

In 2020, the General Social Survey (GSS) found that 13% of people aged 18 years and over experienced some form of discrimination in the previous 12 months. 

This is a decrease from 18% in 2019 and 19% in 2014, which may have been influenced by short-term changes in behaviour and experience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

More recent data from the Scanlon Institute's Mapping Social Cohesion Report shows that in 2024, around one in six (17%) people had experienced discrimination based on their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion over the last 12 months. This is similar to results from 2023 (18%). 

From 2026 onwards, this indicator will be updated annually with data from the expanded GSS.

The 2022-23 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey found that around one in four (24%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over felt they had been treated unfairly at least once in the previous 12 months because they were of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, about the same as in 2018–19 (23%).

Analysis of the Mayi Kuwayu study shows that in the period from 2018 to 2021, around 2 in 3 (65%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced everyday discrimination. 

According to the 2020 General Social Survey, of people aged 15 years and over, the following groups experienced discrimination at a higher rate:

• People who described themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual compared to people who described themselves as heterosexual (30% compared to 13%).
• People who were born overseas compared to people born in Australia (16% compared to 12%).
• People with a mental health condition compared to people without a mental health condition (21% compared to 12%).

According to the 2022 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, among people with disability aged 15 years and over:

• 10% had experienced disability discrimination
• 7% of people with a moderate or mild limitation experienced disability discrimination
• 19% of people with a profound or severe limitation experienced disability discrimination. 

Further information, including how the experience of discrimination varies between groups is available via the links below.

Proportion of Australians who experienced some form of discrimination in the previous 12 months: ABS General Social Survey.

Disaggregation available includes:

• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Remoteness
• Mental health
• Long-term health condition
• Disability status
• Migrant status.

Experience of discrimination for people with disability: ABS Disability, Ageing and Carers Survey - Disability tables.

Disaggregation available includes:

• Sex at birth
• Remoteness
• Age
• Disability status
• Disability group
• Level of highest educational attainment
• Sexual orientation
• Labour force
• Occupation of main job.

Experiences of unfair treatment due to being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin: ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 2022-23

Disaggregation available includes:

• Sex
• Remoteness
• Type and frequency of unfair treatment.

1. Scanlon Foundation Research Institute: 2024 Mapping Social Cohesion Report
2. Thurber KA, Brinckley M-M (Wiradjuri), Jones R (Palawa), Evans O (Gomeroi), Nichols K (Kungarakan), Priest N, Guo S, Williams DR, Gee GC, Joshy G, Banks E, Thandrayen J, Baffour B, Mohamed J (Narrunga Kaurna), Calma T (Kungarakan/Iwaidja), Lovett R (Ngiyampaa/Wongaibon), (2022), 'Population-level contribution of interpersonal discrimination to psychological distress among Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, and to Indigenous–non-Indigenous inequities: cross-sectional analysis of a community-controlled First Nations cohort study', The Lancet, 400(10368):2084-2094, accessed 15 August 2024.