Australia is becoming increasingly unequal.
The story is an indomitable generation: young Australians today face a harsher reality than their parents and grandparents.
Despite having greater access to education and data, they’re more uncertain, indebted, insecure and restless than ever before.
This contradiction has profound implications for the social fabric of our nation.
Financial, educational and employment insecurities are changing to affect mental health and psychological well-being, as young people form relationships, start families and interact with society and politics.
Who is young?
Genocide reduction just isn’t a precise science. Some researchers use five- or ten-year birth cohorts, while others prefer 15-year-old cans In the shape of vital social and political events in essentially the most influential early years.
But for me, youth just isn’t nearly age groups. Now is the time before the important thing markers of youth are acquired.
Educational credentials, financial independence, home ownership, partnership and parenthood will not be universal goals, and plenty of decide to opt out. But the truth is, increasingly young individuals are less qualified, or taking longer, to get the power to opt out.
Here are five charts that show how all these aspects work together to make young Australians more prone to work.
1. Education: An Expensive Gateway to Youth
Education must be a needed recipe for stable employment, but it surely is taking longer and costs more. In lower than twenty years, the typical student loan debt for people of their 20s has greater than doubled, increasing by 145 percent.
If loans had only tracked inflation, they might have 62% high
Although graduate salaries have increased by around 2.5 times since 1996, student contributions have increased by 6.2 times, meaning that HECS-HELP loans now use up a bigger proportion of initial income.
In particular, the Labor government's recent Reformswhich increased the payment threshold from $56,156 to $67,000 from 2025–26, will reduce the initial payment burden.
But Mali Stress It starts well before graduation. Most are rental listings Intolerable For the youth, for the youth, and One of seven Full-time students also worked full-time in 2023, double the speed within the Nineteen Nineties.
2. Home Ownership: A Disappearing Dream
Home ownership has long been an emblem of economic stability. But for young Australians, it’s increasingly out of reach.
Latest Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Data report Households included 26.5% of those born between 1974 and 1977, in comparison with only 18% of those born between 1994 and 1997.
In 2023, housing prices increased by approx 5%far ahead of wage growth.
Israel Sebastian/Getty
Over the past 25 years, average housing cost nine times per capita annual household income 16.4 Times in 2024.
Housing affordability is now under such a strain that many young Australians not see home ownership as a necessity. A 2024 Australian National University (ANU) Survey A growing sentiment amongst young people found that owning a house is not any longer essential to the Australian lifestyle.
In 2024–25, it’s estimated 1.26 million Low-income households were under housing pressure, spending greater than 30% of their disposable income on shelter.
These households are headed by younger people, first home buyers, single parents and folks in the bottom income brackets. The reality just isn’t just delayed ownership, but a structural shift that threatens to lock younger generations out of stability altogether.
3. Psychological distress: The silent crisis of youth
In all age groups, there was psychological distress is growingbut smaller Australians are bearing the brunt.
Between 2011 and 2021, prevalence amongst 15- to 24-year-olds greater than doubled, from 18.4% to 42.3%. For those aged 25 to 34, the prevalence reached 32.7% in 2021.
The likelihood of suffering decreases with age, however the synergistic effect is striking. Today there are young people twice As troubled as their 2007 counterparts.
Distress is significantly higher amongst income support recipients and in insecure housing, particularly renters and social housing tenants.
This weakness is present in the youth.
The 2025 Australian Alliance Wellbeing Index survey found that young Australians are the least satisfied with life, adults aged 18 to 34 report the best levels of mental distress and loneliness, and adults report a number of the lowest levels of private well-being of any age group.
Financial difficulties, housing stress and unemployment were key drivers.
4. Loneliness: Not just an old person's problem
Loneliness has moved from being an exclusively aging problem to a defining characteristic of youth.
2024 in line with Hilda statistics Reportthe share of single people aged 15 to 24 increased from 14.4 percent in 2008 to twenty.2 percent in 2019.
The pandemic accelerated the trend, with loneliness jumping to 26.6 percent in 2020 and remaining at a two-year high since then. No other age group saw an identical increase.
In fact, older Australians, once the loneliest, now report lower levels of loneliness.
2025 ANU Election Monitoring Surveyheld in October 2024, loneliness and financial stress are strongly linked to political neglect. Affected individuals reported lower satisfaction with democracy and reduced trust in institutions.
These findings echo the research on distress mentioned above.
As loneliness and distress increase, the implications extend beyond individual well-being to wider social and civic life.
5. Delayed Adolescence: Changing Family Milestones
Young Australians are entering maturity later and under greater pressure. There are more Living with parents of their late 20s and early 30s, often while studying or working in low-paying jobs.
Census Data The proportion of young adults living at home has increased in all ages group since 2006, with the fastest increase between 2016 and 2021.
Mast/Getty
This shift reflects broader economic conditions, including housing instability and labor market volatility, particularly during pandemics.
The structure of relationships can be changing. Young individuals are entering first marriages later. Whether women are having children later or not.
The proportion of first-time moms aged 30 and above is higher double Since the Nineteen Eighties, but for the reason that mid-2010s the fertility rate of all ages group under 35 has declined.
Overall, fertility rates have fallen to record lows 1.5 children per woman, well below current levels needed for population substitute.
Meanwhile, babysitting Expenses Weekly spending has increased from $71 in 2002 to $192 in 2022, likely affecting people's selections about what number of children they’ve, or in the event that they have any in any respect.
These demographic trends have long-term implications for caregiving and dependency, as fewer children might be available to support aging parents.
Relationship pressures are also intensifying. Almost half of 18- to 24-year-olds report that work or study commitments are their most significant relationship stress. One of 4 or more pressures at the identical time.
This shift in household dynamics, fertility, and relationship stability reflects a broader delay within the attainment of traditional markers of maturity. For many young people, the road to independence just isn’t only slower but more fragile, shaped by economic constraints and societal changes.
It can be clear that financial, educational and employment insecurities aren’t any longer isolated challenges. They are changing to shape mental health and psychological well-being, influencing how young people form relationships, start families and interact with society and politics.
Intergenerational inequality just isn’t just an economic problem, but a social and democratic one.