LIFE SATISFACTION

The Overall Life Satisfaction measure provides an indication of how people regard their life as a whole, reflecting their experience in the 12 months preceding the survey interview and their expectations for the future. In 2010, 43% of people aged 18 years or over were pleased or delighted with their life and a further three in ten people (34%) were mostly satisfied and together, very similar to the 76% of Australians as reported in the 2001 ABS National Health Survey.

Overall life satisfaction varied somewhat with age. People aged 65-74 years old were the most likely to be at least satisfied with their lives (83%) while those aged 45-54 years old were the least likely to be at least satisfied with their lives (73%).

Aspects of people's lives such as health status and other differing socio-economic circumstances all have a strong influence on how satisfied people were likely to report being with their lives (see table below). People with poorer self-assessed health status were, on average, less likely to be satisfied with their lives. Similarly, fewer people who were separated from their partners or who had little or no contact with family or friends living outside the household reported being at least satisfied with their lives. Rates of satisfaction with their lives were also lower, on average, for people who were unemployed, those living in government housing and those in lower income quintiles.

2.4 Proportion of persons aged 18 and over who were at least satisfied with their lives : Selected characteristics(a)
		%
Registered marital status
	Never married	76
	Widowed	78
	Married	82
	Divorced	66
	Separated	56
Self-assessed Health Status
	Excellent/Very good	87
	Good	74
	Poor	55
Contact with family and friends living outside the household(b)
	At least once a week	78
	At least once a month	71
	At least once in three months	69
	No recent contact	33
	No family and no friends	28
Labour force status
	Employed	81
	Unemployed	58
	Not in the labour force - Retired	76
	Not in the labour force - Other	69
Tenure type
	Owner(c)	80
	Renter with a private landlord	75
	Renter with State/Territory housing authority	56
Equivalised household gross weekly income(d)
	Lowest quintile	66
	Second quintile	72
	Third quintile	78
	Fourth quintile	82
	Highest quintile	86
(a) Persons who felt Delighted, Pleased or Mostly satisfied with their lives based on a scale of Delighted, Pleased, Mostly satisfied, Mixed, Mostly dissatisfied, Unhappy and Terrible.
(b) Includes face-to-face contact and/or contact by other means such as telephone, email and mail, which a person has had with family or friends who do not live with them.
(c) 'Owner' includes persons who lived in dwellings which are owner-occupied, both with and without a mortgage.
(d) Excludes persons where household income was not known or was not adequately reported. See Appendix 2 for information on income equivalisation and quintile measures.

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