Authors: Lucas Walsh, Zihong Deng, Thuc Bao Huynh & Blake Cutler

For the fourth annual Australian Youth Barometer, we surveyed more than 620 young Australians aged 18–24, and interviewed 30 more, about their experiences with the economy, work, education, health and wellbeing, relationships and participation in civic life. Among these topics, themes emerge: the impact of technology and the role of social media, feelings of belonging and exclusion, financial security (including housing and food insecurity) and the need for governments to offer more support.

The results reported by young Australians are staggering. We’ve consistently found that each year the findings have been troubling, but what is emerging from four years of data are persistent feelings of anxiety, isolation, pessimism and mental health. Young people need our help now.
(Lucas Walsh, Director, CYPEP)

Download the report: The 2024 Australian Youth Barometer: Understanding young people in Australia today

The top three issues identified by young people as needing immediate action remained similar to previous years: affordable housing (nominated by 73% of young Australians); employment opportunities for young people (52%) and climate change (40%).

Some of the key findings from the 2024 Australian Youth Barometer are:

• 98% of young Australians reported having feelings of anxiety or depression at least once in the past year
• 86% experienced financial difficulties in the last 12 months; just over one-quarter often experienced financial difficulties.
• Only half of those we surveyed think that it is likely they will achieve financial security in the future and 62% think they will be financially worse off than their parents.
• More than half of young people experienced underemployment in the last 12 months.
• One in five young Australians received mental health support in the past year; 10% sought help with their mental health but did not receive it.
• Only half of young Australians think that they will have children in the future.

Our Youth Reference Group has framed the broad systemic pressures young people face in terms of inertia: the principle that an object will remain on its existing path unless acted upon by an external force. They ask:

Is this path of inertia what we want for our movement as a generation? Surely we would rather break free from it in pursuit of more meaningful goals: taking that gap year, volunteering or getting more involved in our communities, moving out of our rental, learning more about ourselves and what we care about. Or perhaps we’re too busy doing what we need to survive …

Despite the challenges, there are some positive things worth highlighting. Almost 60% of young people agree or strongly agree that their education has prepared them for the future. They are proactive in pursuing learning, with 69% taking some form of informal online classes. They are caring and involved in their communities: 70% volunteered in organised activities at least once in the past year, most commonly in welfare-related care and services.

Young people have a vision for their futures. It is time to listen to them.