CANBERRA, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Social cohesion in Australia has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years, a report has found.
The independent non-profit Scanlon Foundation Research Institute (SFRI) published its annual Mapping Social Cohesion report on Wednesday, revealing that Australians' social cohesion and sense of national pride and belonging is in decline as a result of difficult national and global circumstances.
The index of social cohesion, which provides an overview of Australians' sense of belonging, worth, participation, acceptance and social justice, fell to 79 points in 2023 from 83 points in 2022 and 92 in 2020.
Report author James O'Donnell from the Australian National University (ANU) estimated that social cohesion has fallen by 14 points since the first survey in 2007.
"Our sense of national pride and belonging has been declining for some years, discrimination and prejudice remain stubbornly common, while in more recent years, we are reporting greater financial stress, increased concern for economic inequality and growing pessimism for the future," he wrote.
Of the 7,500 people who were surveyed for the report, 41 percent said they were struggling financially - up from 37 percent in 2022 and 31 percent in 2021 - and 84 percent said they were concerned about income inequality compared to 76 percent in 2020.
Sixty-one percent of participants said they were happy with the state of their finances - down from 73 percent in 2020 - and 87 percent said they were worried about the risks of a severe global economic downturn.
Single parent families, people who live alone and young people were the most likely to be under financial stress, the report found.
More than 60 percent of single parents reported feeling socially isolated sometimes or often and 40 percent said they have gone without medicine or healthcare in the last 12 months due to financial constraints. ■