Access and connectivity domain

Liveable city

Canberra is often ranked as a highly liveable city when compared internationally, but what do we think about the liveability of our local area?

Local area liveability

This measure shows how Canberrans feel about the liveability of their local area. This is important because high liveability supports quality of life, health and wellbeing.

In 2023, more than 9 in 10 Canberrans (90.3%) agreed that their local area is liveable.

2022-2023: Living well in the ACT region survey, unpublished data.

2019-2021: Living well in the ACT region: The changing wellbeing of Canberrans during 2020 and 2021.

Line graph of percentage of respondents considering their local area to be liveable, between 2020 and 2023.

In 2023, 90.3% agreed that their local area is liveable compared to 81.4% in 2022.

In 2023, 3.9% disagreed that their local area is liveable compared to 7.8% in 2022.

In 2023, 5.8% were neutral about their local area being liveable compared to 10.8% in 2022.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population. Differences between groups are reported when there is a statistically significant difference based on 95% confidence intervals or other tests of significance.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

The University of Canberra has been conducting the survey since 2019. As of mid-2023, the survey had been conducted 6 times. Not all questions have been measured each time the survey has been conducted.

There have been no changes in measure design, analysis or reporting of this measure since it was first included in the survey.

Data for people with disability can only be compared between 2022 and 2023 due to a change in the way disability was defined and measured in the survey, to better reflect international best practice.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting Professor Jacki Schirmer at the University of Canberra.

Proximity to places that support wellbeing

We are working across Government and with research partners to develop long term measures of how close Canberrans are to places that support wellbeing.