General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia

Latest release

Provides data on the social characteristics, wellbeing and social experiences of people in Australia

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Reference period
2025
Release date and time
06/05/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

Of Australians aged 15 years and over in 2025:

  • overall life satisfaction was 7.1 out of 10, similar to 2020 (7.2), but lower than 2019 (7.5) and 2014 (7.6)
  • just under a quarter did unpaid voluntary work through an organisation (23%), similar to 2020 (25%), but down from 30% in 2019
  • 53% had weekly in-person contact with family or friends living outside their household, more than in 2020 (42%), but less than 2019 (68%)
  • 75% agreed that it is good for society to be made up of different cultures, down from 85% in 2020 and 81% in 2019
  • 50% agreed that most people can be trusted, down from 61% in 2020 and 55% in 2019
  • 25% of households had at least one cash flow problem, up from 21% in 2020 and 22% in 2019.

Comparisons between 2025 and 2020 data

The previous General Social Survey was conducted in 2020, during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Comparisons between 2025 and 2020 data should therefore be interpreted with this context in mind.

Wellbeing and stressors

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'.

On average, overall life satisfaction was 7.1 in 2025, similar to 2020 (7.2), but lower than 2019 (7.5) and 2014 (7.6).

In 2025, women’s overall life satisfaction (7.3) was higher than men’s (7.1).

Of those with a low overall life satisfaction (4 or below):

  • 50% felt that their health was fair or poor
  • 47% often felt very lonely
  • 40% experienced a very high level of psychological distress
  • 37% had experienced discrimination in the last 12 months.

Of those with a very high overall life satisfaction (9 and over):

  • 72% felt that their health was excellent or very good
  • 61% felt that most people can be trusted
  • 80% experienced a low level of psychological distress
  • 93% felt that they could get someone to help out when needed.

Rushed for time

In 2025, just over one third of people (34%) were ‘Always’ or ‘Often’ rushed for time, similar to 2020 (33%), but down from 2019 (40%).

More women felt rushed for time than men (38% compared with 30%).

Difficulty accessing service providers

Over one quarter of people (26%) had difficulty accessing service providers, up from 21% in 2020.

People more likely to have difficulty accessing service providers included those who:

  • live in remote (35%), outer regional (34%) and inner regional (28%) Australia, compared with major cities (24%)
  • have a mental health condition (37%)
  • have disability (36%).

Level of psychological distress

In 2025, 9% of Australians experienced a very high level of psychological distress.

Very high psychological distress was more common among:

  • women aged 15 to 24 years (17%) compared with men of the same age (6%)
  • people with a mental health condition (31%)
  • people with disability (18%)
  • people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual (18%).

Family and community support

Contact with family and friends

In 2025, just over half of Australians (53%) had face‑to‑face contact with family or friends living outside their household at least once a week, which was higher than 2020 (42%) but lower than in 2019 (68%).

People were less likely to have had face‑to‑face contact with family or friends living outside their household in the last week if they were:

  • aged 35 to 44 (43%) compared with those aged 65 and over (63%)
  • migrants (46%)
  • people who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual (42%).

Help when needed

In 2025, 83% of Australians agreed that they could get help when needed, down from 85% in 2020. Men were less likely than women to agree they could get help (81% compared with 86%).

Someone to confide in

Most people had family or friends living outside their household to confide in (88%). Men were less likely to have someone to confide in than women (87% compared with 92%).

Support in time of crisis

In 2025, most people could get support in times of crisis from someone outside their household (93%).

Trust

All measures of trust declined between 2020 and 2025.

In 2025, 50% of Australians felt that most people can be trusted, down from 61% in 2020 and 55% in 2019. Trust in the healthcare system, police and justice system also declined.

Discrimination and cultural diversity

Experiences of discrimination

In 2025, 18% of Australians experienced discrimination in the previous 12 months, higher than in 2020 (13%), but similar to 2019 (17%).

In 2025:

  • 36% of people who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual experienced discrimination
  • 31% of people with a mental health condition experienced discrimination
  • people born in Australia experienced similar rates of discrimination as migrants (17% compared with 20%).

Of those who experienced discrimination, 46% felt that their ethnic or cultural background or appearance was the reason for their most recent incident.

The most common place for discrimination to occur was in public (51%), followed by at work (44%).

Men and women experienced different types of discrimination:

  • men were more likely than women to experience discrimination based on their ethnic or cultural background or appearance (51% compared with 42%)
  • women were more likely than men to experience discrimination based on their gender (35% compared with 25%).

The places where discrimination occurred also differed for men and women, including:

  • when applying for work or jobs (21% of men compared with 12% of women)
  • when dealing with government officials (20% of men compared with 10% of women)
  • when dealing with the justice system (13% of men compared with 6% of women).

Views on cultural diversity

In 2025, three-quarters of Australians (75%) agreed that it is good for society to be made up of different cultures, down from 85% in 2020 and 81% in 2019. Women were more likely to agree than men (79% compared with 73%).

People who live in major cities were more likely to agree that it is good for society to be made up of different cultures (78%), compared with those living in inner regional (69%), outer regional (69%) and remote (73%) Australia.

Voluntary work and community involvement

Voluntary work

In 2025, 23% of Australians did unpaid voluntary work through an organisation, similar to 2020 (25%), but down from 30% in 2019.

In 2025, men (22%) and women (23%) had similar rates of volunteering.

Australians volunteered a total of 618 million hours in the 12 months prior to the survey. This was an increase from the 490 million hours volunteered in 2020, but similar to the 596 million hours in 2019.

In 2025, 28% of people aged 45 to 54 years old participated in unpaid voluntary work through an organisation, compared with 13% of those aged 25 to 34 years.

People living in remote (34%), inner regional (27%) and outer regional (28%) Australia were more likely to volunteer than those living in major cities (21%).

The top three types of organisations that people volunteered for were:

  • sport and physical recreation (33%)
  • religious, faith-based or spiritual groups (23%)
  • community or cultural groups (18%).

The most common reasons for participation in volunteering were:

  • to ‘Help others or community’ (65%)
  • for ‘Personal satisfaction or to do something worthwhile’ (63%).

The main reasons given by people who did not do any voluntary work were:

  • ‘No time’ (47%)
  • ‘Not interested or no need’ (36%).

Unpaid help

In 2025, 45% of Australians provided unpaid work/support to non-household members in the four weeks prior to the survey, down from 49% in 2020.

A similar proportion of men (44%) and women (47%) provided unpaid help in 2025.

Australians provided 132 million hours of unpaid work or support to non‑household members in the four weeks prior to the survey.

Men and women differed in the types of unpaid work or support they provided to non‑household members, including:

  • emotional support, which was more common among women than men (59% compared with 36%)
  • domestic work, home maintenance or gardening, which was more common among men than women (47% compared with 35%)
  • unpaid childcare, which was more common among women than men (24% compared with 13%)
  • personal care or assistance, which was more common among women than men (17% compared with 12%).

People most often provided unpaid help to a relative living in another household (62%), followed by a friend (52%).

Informal volunteering is the provision of unpaid work/support to non-household members, excluding that provided only to family members living outside the household.

Almost one‑third of Australians (30%) undertook informal volunteering in the four weeks prior to the survey.

In 2025, informal volunteering rates were similar for men (28%) and women (31%).

Involvement in groups

People participated in social, community support, and civic or political groups at similar rates in 2020 and 2025.

More people participated in social groups in remote Australia (52%) than in major cities (44%).

Participation in community support groups was also higher for people in remote (29%), inner regional (25%) and outer regional (25%) Australia, compared with major cities (19%).

Cultural attendance and participation

In the 12 months prior to the survey in 2025, 79% of Australians had attended cultural venues or events.

Attendance at cultural venues or events was more common among:

  • people aged 15 to 24 years (89%) compared with those aged 65 years and over (67%)
  • women (83%) compared with men (76%).

Almost half of Australians (48%) participated in cultural activities in the 12 months prior to the survey.

People more likely to participate in cultural activities were:

  • aged 15 to 24 years (63%) compared with those aged 65 years and over (42%)
  • women (55%) compared with men (40%).

Financial stress

The GSS measures financial stress using several indicators. These include whether households:

  • were able to raise $2,000 within a week for something important
  • experienced a cashflow problem in the last 12 months
  • took a dissaving action in the last 12 months
  • experienced financial exclusion in the last 12 months.

More households experienced financial stress across all these indicators in 2025 compared with 2020.

One parent families with dependent children were more likely to experience financial stress across multiple indicators when compared with couple families with dependent children:

  • 42% of one parent families were unable to raise $2,000 within a week for something important, compared with 23% of couple families
  • 20% of one parent families ‘Spend more money than we get’ compared with 12% of couple families.

One parent families were also more likely to report difficulty paying their bills ten times or more in the past year (13%) than couples with dependent children (4%).

They also had more difficulty paying bills at key times of the year, including:

  • Christmas time (19% compared with 8% for couple families)
  • the start of the school year (19% compared with 7% for couple families).

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Methodology

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.

View full methodology

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