ACTGHS financial stress, adults

Commentary

Respondents to the 2022 ACT General Health Survey were asked about their financial situation in the past 12 months. When asked if something had happened because they were short of money, 22.0% had to delay or cancel non-essential purchases, 11.2% sought financial assistance from friends or family, 8.1% could not pay bills on time, 6.8% pawned or sold something, 6.2% could not pay car registration or insurance on time, 4.5% could not pay the minimum credit card payment, 4.3% went without meals and could not pay their rent or mortgage on time, 4.1% sought financial assistance from welfare or community organisations and 3.1% were unable to heat or cool their home. In 2022, there was no significant difference between males and females in any of the financial stress categories. Respondents aged 25 to 44 years (9.9%) were significantly more likely to report that they were unable to pay their utility bills on time than respondents aged 65 years and over (3.9%); respondents aged 18 to 24 years (12.5%) were significantly more likely to report that they went without meals than respondents aged 45 to 64 years (3.8%); respondents aged 18 to 24 years (22.4%) were significantly more likely to report that they sought financial assistance from friends or family than respondents aged 45 to 64 years (6.9%) and 65 years and over (3.8%) and respondents aged 18 to 24 years (26.6%) and 25 to 44 years (27.4%) were significantly more likely to report that they had to cancel or delay non-essential purchases than respondents aged 45 to 64 years (18.5%) and 65 years and over (11.6%) in 2022.

The statement for cancelling or delaying non-essential purchases was not included in the 2020 questionnaire.

Note: The indicator shows self-reported data collected through Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI). Estimates were weighted to adjust for differences in the probability of selection among respondents and were benchmarked to the estimated residential population using the latest available Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates.

Respondents to the 2022 ACT General Health Survey were aged 18 years and over. Persons includes respondents who identified as male, female, other and those who refused to answer and may not always add to the sum of male and female.

The following estimates have a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution:

- 2019: respondents aged 18 to 24 years who couldn't pay bills on time, respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay car registration or insurance on time, respondents aged 45 to 64 years who couldn't make the minimum credit card payment on time, respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who pawned/sold something, males and respondents aged 65 years and over who went without meals, males, respondents aged 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who weren't able to heat/cool their home, respondents aged 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from family/friends and males, respondents aged 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations
- 2020: females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who couldn't pay rent/mortgage on time, males, females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who couldn't pay car registration or insurance on time, males, females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who couldn't make the minimum credit card payment on time, males, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who pawned/sold something, males, females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who went without meals, persons, males, females and respondents aged 25 to 44 years who weren't able to heat/cool their home, respondents aged 18 to 24 years who sought financial assistance from family/friends and respondents aged 45 to 64 years who sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations
- 2021: males and females who couldn't pay rent/mortgage on time, males, females, respondents aged 25 to 44 years and 45 to 64 years who couldn't pay car registration or insurance on time, females and respondents aged 25 to 44 years who couldn't make the minimum credit card payment on time, males, females and respondents aged 45 to 64 years who went without meals, males, females and respondents aged 45 to 64 years who weren't able to heat/cool their home and respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 45 to 64 years who sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations
- 2022: respondents aged 65 years and over who couldn't pay bills on time, respondents aged 45 to 64 years who couldn't pay rent/mortgage on time, respondents aged 18 to 24 years who went without meals, respondents aged 25 to 44 years who weren't able to heat/cool their home, respondents aged 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from family/friends and respondents aged 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations.

The following estimates have not been published due to small numbers or a relative standard error greater than 50%:

- 2019: respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay rent/mortgage or the minimum credit card payment on time, respondents aged 18 to 24 years who went without meals, weren't able to heat/cool their home and sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations
- 2020: respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay bills, rent/mortgage, car registration or insurance or the minimum credit card payment on time, pawned/sold something, went without meals and sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations, respondents aged 18 to 24 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who weren't able to heat/cool their home and respondents aged 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from family/friends
- 2021: respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay bills car registration or insurance on time, pawned/sold something and sought financial assistance from family/friends, respondents aged 18 to 24 years, 25 to 44 years, 45 to 64 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay rent/mortgage on time, respondents aged 18 to 24 years, 25 to 44 years and 65 years and over who went without meals and weren't able to heat/cool their home and respondents aged 65 years and over who sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisation and cancelled/delayed non-essential purchases
- 2022: respondents aged 18 to 24 years who couldn't pay bills on time and sought financial assistance from welfare/community organisations, respondents aged 18 to 24 years and 65 years and over who couldn't pay rent/mortgage, car registration or insurance or the minimum credit card payment on time, pawned/sold something and weren't able to heat/cool their home and respondents aged 65 years and over who went without meals.

Statistically significant differences are difficult to detect for smaller jurisdictions such as the Australian Capital Territory. Sometimes, even large apparent differences may not be statistically significant. This is particularly the case in breakdowns of small populations because the small sample size means that there is not enough power to identify even large differences as statistically significant.

Chart

Proportion of adults aged 18 years and over who have experienced financial stress in the past 12 months, ACT General Health Survey, 2019-2022

Data

To access the data, select "View source data" link at the bottom of the visualisation. This link will open up a data table that you can download.

Codes and sources

Q. In the past 12 months, did any of these happen to you because you were short of money?

Had to delay or cancel non-essential purchases e.g. holiday, going to a restaurant or movie, buying clothes
Could not pay electricity, gas or telephone bills on time
Could not pay mortgage or rent payments on time
Could not pay for car registration or insurance on time
Could not make minimum payment of your credit card
Pawned or sold something because you needed cash
Went without meals
Were unable to heat or cool your home
Sought financial assistance from friends or family
Sought financial assistance from welfare or community organisations

Yes; No, Not sure; Prefer not to say

Not sure and prefer not to say responses were excluded from analysis.

A copy of the ACT General Health Survey questionnaires can be found in Data collections.