Delayed major life decisions
Gen Z55%
Millennials45%
Share saying finances caused them to delay major life decisions such as marriage, starting a family or business, or further education.
People · Oceania
Australia
Source dates shown with each finding
← Australia overview
Australia · People
People Intelligence
Public opinion and socioeconomic subgroup evidence from approved external survey sources. Exact source framing and methodological caveats remain visible.
Australia · Financial resilience
78.7% say their household could cover basic needs for at least a month
Nearly four in five Australians reported that their household could cover basic needs for a month or more if income were lost.
Lloyd's Register Foundation World Risk Poll · Fieldwork 2025 · N=1,000
People · Generations · Financial milestones
The “maybe later” economy.
Housing, education, work and family choices increasingly collide with financial pressure. PolisMetric keeps the U.S. Pew benchmark separate from Deloitte’s same-wave Gen Z and millennial country evidence so unlike questions are never forced into one ranking.
Verified 2026 country result
Australia
#6of 15 verified countries on Gen Z delayed major decisions
Housing costs affect career decisions
Gen Z60%
Millennials45%
Share saying housing affordability affects career decisions.
Cannot afford to own a home
Gen Z50%
Millennials33%
Share saying they cannot afford to own a home.
Living paycheck to paycheck
Gen Z50%
Millennials43%
Share reporting that they live paycheck to paycheck.
Struggle with monthly living expenses
Gen Z33%
Millennials29%
Share reporting difficulty covering monthly living expenses.
Same-question international comparison
Financial pressure is delaying major life decisions.
These 15 country results come from the same Deloitte 2026 survey wave and the same question. Paired dots show published percentages for Gen Z and millennials; the connector shows the gap. This is not a quality ranking. Countries without a verified national value remain outside the ranking.
Thailand65%57%
Philippines64%64%
Argentina59%67%
Mexico57%52%
Italy56%51%
Australia55%45%
India54%44%
Sweden52%49%
Singapore51%50%
Netherlands51%45%
Switzerland46%60%
United Kingdom46%46%
China46%35%
Germany45%39%
Brazil45%36%
Deloitte Global 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey · fielded Nov. 24, 2025–Jan. 15, 2026 · online self-complete survey. The global study includes 22,595 respondents in 44 countries; this chart contains only source-verified country cuts in the current PolisMetric evidence pass.
Country source
Deloitte Global 2026 Gen Z and Millennial Survey — Country profile: Australia · published May 20, 2026 · N=800. Values are attributed public results and remain source-defined.
People Intelligence · Australia · Young women
Political divides and mental health — measured as separate evidence streams.
PolisMetric does not assume that the U.S. pattern applies everywhere. For Australia, political or gender-attitude evidence is shown only when a governed source supports it, and mental-health evidence is kept methodologically separate. An association is never inferred merely because both measures appear on the same page.
CoveragePolitics evidence · Mental-health evidenceNo synthetic national values
Political / values evidence
2026 country result + global Gen Z benchmarkFeminist self-identification by gender
Adults who say “I define myself as a feminist”POLISMETRIC · DATA
Women50%
Men29%
Country-specific all-adult result by gender. This is a gender-attitude measure, not a national young-women ideology estimate.
29-country Gen Z benchmark54% women · 36% menMulti-country average — not substituted for Australia's Gen Z result.
Mental-health evidence
Ages 18–34 · 2024–2025Young-adult mind-health position
18–34 MHQ rank#74of 84 reported countries
Higher-rankedLower-ranked
Sapien Labs' Global Mind Project ranks Australia's internet-enabled 18–34 population at #74 of 84. This is a young-adult country context, not a women-only result and not a depression prevalence estimate.
Global young-adult referenceMHQ 36 · 41% distressed/strugglingGlobal 18–34 reference from the same report; not a national value for Australia.
Interpretation ruleDo not turn two separate datasets into a causal story.
Political ideology, party affiliation, feminist self-identification, psychological distress and MHQ are different constructs. Cross-country cultural and sampling differences also matter. PolisMetric keeps the measures separate unless a single defensible study directly estimates their relationship in the same population.
POLISMETRICEvidence before narrative
Trusted sources · Health & wellness · 2018 baseline
Australia: who people trusted for health advice.
A directly comparable baseline from the Wellcome Global Monitor. “Most trusted source,” trust in government advice, and trust in medical workers are kept as separate measures. The survey was fielded in 2018; newer country-specific evidence is shown separately when a governed source is available.
Most trusted source89.4%
named doctors or nurses as the person they trusted most for medical or health advice.
2018 national sample n=1,003 · prevalence rank #9 of 35 current PolisMetric countriesMost trusted source · Q20
One question, six answer groups.
Bars use the full weighted country sample denominator, matching Wellcome’s published convention. “Don’t know” and refusals remain in the denominator and are preserved as missing-response metadata.
Don’t know / refused: 0.7% of the weighted sample.
Government medical & health advice
Share answering that they trust government medical and health advice a lot or some.
Medical workers’ advice
Share saying they trust advice from medical workers such as doctors and nurses a lot or some.
35-country comparison
Compare the same question across PolisMetric countries.
Switch measures to inspect directly comparable 2018 values. Bars show response prevalence, not a quality score or PolisMetric ranking.
Doctors or nurses named as the single most trusted sourceQ20: share of the weighted country sample naming a doctor or nurse as the person trusted most for medical or health advice.
Australia 89.4%Median 79.7%Available 35/35
1Singapore93.5%
2Norway93.2%
3Canada91.1%
4Italy90.7%
5Malaysia90.7%
6United Kingdom90.3%
7Belgium90.2%
8Sweden89.5%
9Australia89.4%
10France88.7%
11Thailand88.7%
12Spain88.1%
13United States88.1%
14Ireland85.2%
15Netherlands84%
16Taiwan83.3%
17Mexico81.4%
18Switzerland79.7%
19Argentina79.1%
20Vietnam78.7%
21India76.8%
22Indonesia76.1%
23Türkiye75.9%
24South Africa74.3%
25Poland71.9%
26Saudi Arabia71.2%
27South Korea71.2%
28Russia69.8%
29Philippines69.6%
30Japan69%
31Brazil65.1%
32Germany63.3%
33Israel63.1%
34China62.4%
35Austria58.7%
Trust government medical and health adviceQ21: share answering 'a lot' or 'some'. Countries where the question was unavailable remain missing.
Australia 85.8%Median 77.8%Available 34/35
1Norway91.8%
2Singapore91.5%
3Malaysia89.8%
4Austria88.5%
5South Korea86.7%
6Australia85.8%
7Ireland84.5%
8India84.1%
9Germany83.2%
10Philippines83.1%
11Israel82.4%
12Thailand81.8%
13Switzerland81.5%
14United Kingdom81.5%
15Taiwan78.5%
16Canada77.9%
17Netherlands77.9%
18China77.6%
19Indonesia77.3%
20Spain76.6%
21Mexico76.5%
22Belgium74.6%
23Argentina73.6%
24Japan70.4%
25Sweden69.7%
26France69.3%
27Vietnam69.2%
28Türkiye68.9%
29Brazil65.4%
30South Africa63.1%
31Poland62.8%
32Italy62.7%
33United States59%
34Russia55.6%
Trust medical workers’ health adviceQ22: share answering 'a lot' or 'some' about advice from medical workers such as doctors and nurses.
Australia 97%Median 92.3%Available 35/35
1Norway98%
2Australia97%
3Belgium96.7%
4Thailand95.6%
5Sweden95.4%
6France95.2%
7Taiwan95.1%
8Spain95%
9Ireland94.8%
10Singapore94.8%
11South Korea94.4%
12Japan94.2%
13Switzerland94.2%
14Austria94.1%
15Germany94.1%
16Canada93.7%
17Netherlands93.3%
18United Kingdom92.3%
19United States91.3%
20Malaysia91.1%
21Israel90.9%
22Italy90.9%
23Argentina88.9%
24Poland88.5%
25Philippines86.8%
26India86.6%
27Saudi Arabia84.8%
28Türkiye84.3%
29Mexico82.3%
30China80.9%
31Russia79.6%
32Indonesia78.5%
33Vietnam78.3%
34Brazil70.5%
35South Africa68.3%
Source & reuse
Gallup (2019), Wellcome Global Monitor – First Wave Findings. PolisMetric visualization and weighted aggregation from published survey fields. The Wellcome report states that its data and text are distributed under CC BY with attribution; report images are excluded. PolisMetric uses original charts and does not reproduce Wellcome’s graphic design.
Country percentages use the public within-country survey weight (wgt) and the full weighted country sample denominator, matching Wellcome's published country convention. Q21/Q22 combine 'A lot' + 'Some'. Don't know/refused responses remain in the denominator and are preserved as missing-response metadata; unavailable questions remain null and are never converted to zero. Fieldwork: April–December 2018. This supplemental module does not count as five independent People sources.
AI & society · Pew Research Center · 2026
How Australia sees AI.
Four directly comparable measures from Pew Research Center’s 2026 global AI study. Rankings below describe the prevalence of each response among the 25 PolisMetric countries covered by this release; they are not quality scores.
Future of work76%
of adults say AI will lead to fewer jobs in Australia over the next 20 years.
Share rank #1 of 25 covered PolisMetric countries · covered-country median 48%Q57#1 / 25
76%
Expect AI to lead to fewer jobs
Australia: 76%25-country median: 48%
Share of adults saying AI will lead to fewer jobs in their country over the next 20 years.
Field period: Feb. 8–May 13, 2026Q56#2 / 25
52%
Expect AI to increase inequality
Australia: 52%25-country median: 32%
Share saying AI will increase the gap between rich and poor in their country over the next 20 years.
Field period: Feb. 8–May 13, 2026Q55#1 / 25
53%
More concerned than excited about AI
Australia: 53%25-country median: 37%
Share saying they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.
Field period: Feb. 8–May 13, 2026Q54#4 / 25
53%
Have heard or read a lot about AI
Australia: 53%25-country median: 41%
Share saying they have heard or read a lot about artificial intelligence.
Field period: Feb. 8–May 13, 2026Cross-country comparison
See where Australia sits among all 25 covered countries.
Switch the measure to compare every directly surveyed PolisMetric country on the same 0–100% scale. Australia is highlighted; the gold marker shows the 25-country median.
Expect AI to lead to fewer jobsShare of adults saying AI will lead to fewer jobs in their country over the next 20 years.
Australia 76%Median 48%Rank #1/25
1Australia76%
2South Korea76%
3United States71%
4Canada61%
5United Kingdom61%
6France60%
7Poland59%
8Italy55%
9Spain54%
10Germany51%
11Japan49%
12Netherlands48%
13Sweden48%
14Argentina47%
15Singapore46%
16Mexico44%
17South Africa44%
18Brazil42%
19Israel42%
20Malaysia41%
21Indonesia37%
22Thailand32%
23India29%
24Türkiye29%
25Philippines26%
Expect AI to increase inequalityShare saying AI will increase the gap between rich and poor in their country over the next 20 years.
Australia 52%Median 32%Rank #2/25
1South Korea54%
2Australia52%
3United States46%
4Canada41%
5Israel38%
6Poland38%
7Italy36%
8France35%
9Japan35%
10Netherlands35%
11Spain35%
12United Kingdom34%
13Germany32%
14Sweden32%
15South Africa28%
16Singapore27%
17Brazil24%
18Türkiye24%
19Argentina23%
20India23%
21Thailand17%
22Indonesia14%
23Mexico13%
24Malaysia11%
25Philippines9%
More concerned than excited about AIShare saying they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life.
Australia 53%Median 37%Rank #1/25
1Australia53%
2Brazil52%
3United States52%
4Canada50%
5Italy49%
6Poland45%
7United Kingdom42%
8Netherlands41%
9Sweden40%
10France39%
11Spain39%
12Mexico38%
13Indonesia37%
14Argentina36%
15Germany33%
16South Africa32%
17Malaysia31%
18Philippines31%
19Japan30%
20Türkiye25%
21Thailand24%
22Singapore23%
23India20%
24Israel19%
25South Korea18%
Have heard or read a lot about AIShare saying they have heard or read a lot about artificial intelligence.
Australia 53%Median 41%Rank #4/25
1Japan56%
2Germany55%
3France54%
4Australia53%
5Singapore53%
6Netherlands52%
7Sweden52%
8Italy51%
9United Kingdom51%
10United States48%
11Canada47%
12Philippines41%
13Poland41%
14South Africa37%
15Spain35%
16Malaysia34%
17Brazil31%
18Israel31%
19Thailand29%
20Indonesia27%
21Argentina26%
22South Korea24%
23Mexico23%
24Türkiye20%
25India13%
Source
Pew Research Center, Globally, More People Expect AI to Cause Job Loss Than Growth, published Sept. 17, 2026. International country results were fielded Feb. 8–May 13, 2026; U.S. measures shown here use the field periods printed on each card.
Pew surveyed 37 places overall. This PolisMetric comparison is restricted to the 25 countries that overlap the canonical 35-country universe. Source results are reproduced as attributed public toplines; PolisMetric does not reinterpret them as an original poll.