Life satisfaction plummets among young Aussies during COVID

Photo: Liza Summer/Unsplash - Young Australians have suffered the greatest drop in life satisfaction during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, new analysis from The Australian National University (ANU) shows. The findings come from the COVID-19 Impact Monitoring Survey, which has asked more than 3,500 Australians how the pandemic has affected their lives since COVID-19 was first recorded in the country. The survey is the longest running most comprehensive study of the pandemic's social, health and economic impacts in Australia. According to the latest wave of the survey, Australians aged 18 to 24 years saw a drop of 0.50 points in life satisfaction from 6.8 in January 2020 to an average of 6.3 on a scale of 0 to 10 between April 2020 and April 2022. Life satisfaction for young adults reached a low of 6 out of 10 in April 2022 and October 2020, and in April 2022 was still well below the January 2020 value. "Young Australians are still at the highest risk of suffering the worst mental and wellbeing effects of COVID-19," study co-author Professor Nicholas Biddle said. "Clearly we need to make sure our young people are given the right support and care to help them deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.