Living in Australia 2024: National Community Views Survey - Key Insights Report

The Living in Australia 2024: National Community Views Survey - Key Insights Report (DOWNLOAD HERE) draws on the views of the more than 5,000 people who participated in .id’s annual Living in Australia Community Views Survey collected across April and May 2024, and speaks to four themes we feel are critical to improving living standards across the Nation.

The survey captures views on a range of topics critical to informing government policy, including community safety, affordable decent housing, health and well-being, climate change and sustainability, as well as views on local area financial circumstances, economics, transport and social infrastructure (insights and data available on the views.id reporting and exploratory platform).

This annually updated, nationally representative survey provides national, state, regional, and metropolitan spatial benchmarking data for councils and other organisations that subscribe to the Community Views Service.

How do we feel about our overall quality of life in 2024?

Australia’s Overall Liveability in 2024 was 63.4 out of a possible 100.

The Index is created by combining residents’ values – what they believe contributes most towards making somewhere a good place to live with how they experience those attributes where they live. While residents from Metropolitan Areas on the whole – reported that their local areas were more liveable than Regional Areas, the reality is a lot more nuanced of course.

For example, and as referenced in the image above, residents from The ACT (65.6) cited a significantly higher Overall Liveability Index than those who make a home in Darwin (58.5), while Western Victorians (66.4) reported their local area as more liveable in comparison to Far North Queenslanders (60.3). 

Overall Liveability Indices across Metropolitan Australia:

• Greater Sydney = 65.9
• Greater Melbourne = 65.5
• South East Queensland = 63.7
• Greater Perth = 67.4
• Greater Adelaide = 67.4
• The Australian Capital Territory = 65.6
• Greater Darwin = 58.5
• Greater Hobart = 58.5

Overall Liveability Indices across Regional and Rural Australia:

• Northern NSW = 58.8
• Central NSW = 60.5
• Southern NSW = 61.9
• Eastern Vic = 63.9
• Central Vic = 67.5
• Western Vic = 66.4
• Far North QLD = 60.3
• Central QLD = 59.5
• Regional WA = 61.7
• Regional SA = 67.7
• Regional Tas = 60.2
• Regional NT = 53.0

While these liveability indices are interesting, and helpful over the longer term to monitor whether and where quality of life is changing, they are not at all instructive.

About the report

Living in Australia: 2024 speaks to four themes we feel are critical to improving living standards across the Nation, Affordable decent housing, Feeling safe, Economics and cost of living, Environment and climate change. They are also themes we see present across local, state and federal government strategic documents, and we are proud to share what we’ve learnt about how these issues are being experienced across Australia in this report, Living in Australia – 2024:

• Affordable decent housing is our greatest opportunity to improve living standards for Australians and the biggest inhibitor to overall liveability. It is crucial to achieving equality, social cohesion, and economic productivity.
  
  
• The need to feel safe is consistently a factor in what people expect from Australia’s neighbourhoods and towns and while experiences are mostly positive, there are areas in need of reform.
  
  
• Economic optimism is gradually returning, but household financial pressures are affecting Australians. This has implications for how we choose to spend, as well as a range of health and wellbeing outcomes.
  
  
• Australians are increasingly aware of changes to the climate and are expecting action from government. Understanding the unique perceptions of each local area is necessary in developing policy responses.
  
  

How to access the information

Download the full report HERE

Watch the Living in Australia 2024: National Community Views Survey - Key Insights webinar launch in full HERE and access all the insights, data and resources related to Living in Australia on the views.id reporting and exploratory platform HERE. View webinar slides HERE.

If you’d like to learn more about how the Community Views Service helps a diverse and growing number of councils and other organisations credibly, comprehensively and efficiently represent and monitor their community’s views and needs in policy and advocacy, our services page provides a simple overview, answers frequently asked questions and includes links to other helpful information. 

Visit views.id to see which Councils subscribe to the Community Views Service and if you’d like to have a chat about Community Views in your local context, feel free to book a meeting at a time that works for you HERE.