Making ends meet

Having financial security and access to housing

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Metrics

  • Proportion of households who experienced a cash flow problem in the last 12 months
  • Proportion of households unable to raise $2,000 when needed

Why this matters

Financial security is an important determinant of personal wellbeing.

Financial stress indicators can provide an indication of how many Australians lack financial security.

Progress

Cash flow problems

Recently, in 2022-23, the household saving ratio decreased to 4.3% from 12.6% in 2021-22, reflecting the need for households to draw down on their savings buffers as the rise in nominal household consumption outpaced growth in gross disposable income.

Supplementary data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey shows that in 2022, 23.9% of households had a cash flow problem in the 12 months prior. The was down from 26.8% in 2020.

In 2020, 20.7% of households had at least one cash flow problem in the 12 months prior, compared with 18.6% of households in 2006.

From 2026 onwards, this indicator will be updated with data from the expanded General Social Survey.

Supplementary data is from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and managed by the Melbourne Institute.

  1. There were a number of questionnaire changes from 2014 to 2019 that should be considered when analysing change between these two periods. A summary of these changes is available in General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia methodology.
  2. Care must be exercised when making comparisons between 2020 and previous years due to the higher non-response observed in 2020.
  3. Cash flow questions were not asked in wave 10 (2010) of the HILDA survey.
Data Source
ABS General Social Survey - Table 16.1

Inability to raise emergency funds

In 2020, 18.7% of households reported being unable to raise $2,000 for something important within a week, compared with 14.5% in 2006.

Supplementary data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey shows that the proportion of households unable to raise emergency funds was relatively unchanged between 2020 and 2022 (26.6% and 25.1% respectively).

From 2026 onwards, this indicator will be updated with data from the expanded General Social Survey.

Supplementary data is from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and managed by the Melbourne Institute.

  1. There were a number of questionnaire changes from 2014 to 2019 that should be considered when analysing change between these two periods. A summary of these changes is available in General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia methodology.
  2. Care must be exercised when making comparisons between 2020 and previous years due to the higher non-response observed in 2020.
  3. Dollar amounts have changed over time: waves 1-8: $2,000; waves 9-19: $3,000; waves 20+: $4,000.
Data Source
ABS General Social Survey - Table 16.1

Disaggregation

Further information on how life satisfaction scores differ across population groups - ABS General Social Survey: Summary Results, Australia.

  • Sex
  • Age
  • Migrant status
  • Health status
  • Disability status
  • Sexual orientation.