As rising fuel prices and the economic fallout of the war in the Middle East start to sting, Australians are feeling less satisfied with their lives than during COVID lockdowns.
The finding comes from the latest ANUpoll data, which surveyed 3662 Australians in March. It found average life satisfaction in Australia had fallen to 6.22 (on a scale of 0 to 10), the lowest level recorded by the poll.
More than one in three Australians reported that it was difficult or very difficult to get by on their current income.
“Australia in March 2026 is a country under considerable strain,” Professor Nicholas Biddle, Head of the ANU School of Politics and International Relations, said.
“Average life satisfaction has fallen to 6.22 on a scale of zero to 10, the lowest recorded in the ANUpoll series and below levels reached during COVID-19 lockdowns.
“Unlike the lockdown periods, this decline is not a sharp shock from a higher base: life satisfaction was already depressed, making the current reading the culmination of a sustained deterioration rather than a sudden fall.”
The ANU poll highlighted a number of concerning themes, including that Australians are more dissatisfied with the direction of the country than satisfied (the first time this has been reported), while more than three in five people think life was better 50 years ago.
Meanwhile, more Australians are pessimistic about the world that is being left for today’s children.
The gap between those who think today’s children will have worse lives than their own and those who think they will have better ones has grown to 46 percentage points. This has risen from a gap of 19 percentage points in 2008.
Another key finding is that migrants are more satisfied with the direction of Australia, and have higher levels of confidence in Australian institutions, compared to Australian-born citizens.
And in contrast to mainstream narratives, the poll shows younger Australians are more optimistic and satisfied with the direction of the country than middle-aged people. Young people aged 18 to 24 are among the most satisfied with democracy, and are more likely than older Australians to support the right of those with extreme views to speak in public.
Young men are also less likely than older men to think that policies increasing women’s political representation have gone too far, the poll suggests, a finding that contradicts other recent studies that suggest younger men hold more regressive views on gender.
Financial strain is also a very real concern for Australians, as is the level of employment anxiety. According to the poll, employed Australians’ expected probability of losing their job has reached 26.8 per cent, the same level recorded during the lockdowns in 2020.
“Fear of automation is now one of the primary drivers of this anxiety, with the proportion of employed Australians specifically concerned that machines or computer programs will replace their jobs having nearly doubled since 2018, reaching 30.3 per cent in March 2026,’ Professor Matthew Gray, Director of POLIS: The Centre for Social Policy Research at ANU, said.
One bright spot uncovered by the poll is that Australians remain broadly satisfied with the way democracy works and support for democracy has risen since last year, driven mostly by younger people. More than 9 in 10 people agree that no one should be above the law and 8 in 10 support the media’s right to criticise the government.