Overview

• 4 in 10 Australians experienced some form of financial hardship in Q4, the highest level in nearly 3 years.
• 1 in 3 identify money as a significant cause of stress in their lives and almost 1 in 4 believe they are struggling to make ends meet.
• Financial hardship continues to be more prevalent in rural & regional areas and among young people and low-income earners.
• The most common form of hardship is not having enough money for an emergency, followed by not having enough for food & basic necessities and being unable to pay a bill.
• Despite rising interest rates, being unable to meet mortgage repayments caused the least hardship.

For further details, please see the NAB Consumer Insight Survey – Financial Hardship (Q4 2022)