Australians are feeling the strain of financial worries and are losing hope for an improved future.
In a comprehensive survey involving over 15,000 Australians, it’s evident that the pressure of rising living costs has not only emerged as the leading concern but is also eroding confidence about what lies ahead.
The 2026 Wicked Problems Report by Flinders University reveals that 65% of Australians list the cost of living as their primary worry, surpassing other issues like housing affordability at 40%, crime and safety at 37%, and healthcare access at 26%.
Conversely, issues such as education, social connectivity, and challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were found to be lesser concerns, with the latter ranking lowest.
Notably, this survey also evaluated the national levels of happiness and optimism, revealing a significant disparity between the two.
While 69 per cent of Australians say they’re happy, far fewer are confident things are heading in the right direction, with many states recording optimism levels barely above a third of respondents.
Almost three-quarters (76 per cent) of those who said they were unhappy pointed to the same root cause: the cost of living.
A tale of two outlooks
Money worries cut differently depending on who you ask.
Cost pressures were found to be hitting working-age households hardest — particularly gen X and gen Y — who are more likely to be balancing mortgages and rent alongside the rising cost of raising a family.
Younger Australians — nearly half (45 per cent) of gen Z and gen Y — were concerned about housing affordability, compared with a third of baby boomers, who are instead more worried about healthcare as they age.
The divide shows up geographically too. Housing pressure is more acute in Western Australia, South Australia and NSW. Crime and safety dominates concern in the Northern Territory, and is a fast-rising worry in Victoria.
Two states, two very different stories
Victoria was a standout in the report — and not for good reasons.
Victorians recorded the lowest happiness of any state or territory — 65.9 per cent, against a national average of 69 per cent.
It also saw one of the lowest optimism scores (26.3 per cent), alongside Tasmania (23.7 per cent) and NT (23.3 per cent), and reported rising concern about crime and safety.
Western Australia saw the opposite. It recorded the second-highest happiness in the country (70.6 per cent) and, by a clear margin, the highest optimism (47 per cent).
The NT and ACT post even stronger happiness numbers (75.3 per cent and 74 per cent respectively), but neither backed it up with strong optimism — showing that how people feel right now and how hopeful they are about the future don’t always move together.
A pessimistic nation
While happiness levels across states and territories sit in a fairly narrow band — roughly 66 to 75 per cent — optimism is where the real divergence shows up.
Western Australia leads the country at 47 per cent optimistic about its future direction, while Victoria (26.3 per cent), Tasmania (23.7 per cent) and the NT (23.3 per cent) trail a long way behind.
The same pattern repeats by income and age.
Higher earners are more optimistic than lower earners (42 per cent versus 33 per cent), and older Australians are more optimistic than younger ones, with 42 per cent of gen X and baby boomers optimistic compared to 30 per cent of gen Z.
Men are also notably more optimistic than women (42 per cent versus 32 per cent).
Separating the optimists from the pessimists isn’t just income or age — it’s what’s on their mind.
Pessimistic Australians are dominated by near-term, concrete pressures. Seventy per cent cite cost of living as a top concern (compared to 54 per cent of optimists), 46 per cent crime and safety (compared to 29 per cent) and 25 per cent trust in government (compared to 13 per cent).
Optimistic Australians tended to be more concerned about longer-horizon issues — including the environment (26 per cent compared to pessimistic groups at 14 per cent), unemployment (16 per cent versus 10 cent), and global crisis (15 per cent versus 10 per cent).
The survey suggests a clear link between financial pressure and how hopeful Australians feel about what’s ahead.