Experience of discrimination

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 13.3% of people aged 18 years and over experienced some form of discrimination in the previous 12 months. 

This is a decrease from previously reported levels (18.7% in 2014, 17.9% in 2019), 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 2023, almost one in five (18%) people had experienced discrimination based on their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion over the last 12 months. This is consistent with results from 2022, when 16% of people experienced discrimination based on their skin colour, ethnic origin or religion.

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

Analysis of the Mayi Kuwayu study shows that in the period from 2018 to 2021, 64.6% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced everyday discrimination. 

According to the 2020 General Social Survey, people aged 15 years and over:

• who described themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual experienced a higher rate of discrimination than people who described themselves as heterosexual (30.1% compared with 12.5%)
• who were born overseas experienced a higher rate of discrimination than people born in Australia (16.1% compared with 11.9%)
• with a mental health condition experienced a higher rate of discrimination than people without a mental health condition (20.8% compared with 12.3%).

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

• 9.9% had experienced disability discrimination
• 6.8% of people with a moderate or mild limitation experienced disability discrimination 
• 19.0% 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 group
• Sexual orientation
• Remoteness
• Mental health
• Long-term health condition
• Disability status
• Migrant status.

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

• Additional disaggregation by disability status including age group, sex at birth, sexual orientation and remoteness.

Additional sources:

1. Scanlon Foundation Research Institute: 2023 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.