In Australia, 44 percent of all national wealth was owned by the wealthiest ten percent of the population in 2023. Within the age group of 65 years or older, the wealthiest ten percent also own 44 percent of the wealth, while the lowest 60 percent own just 20 percent.

In Australia, 44 percent of all net wealth was owned by the wealthiest ten percent of the population in 2023. 66 percent of wealth generated by real estate was held by the wealthiest ten percent, with only five percent of the wealth being held by the lowest 60 percent of the population.

In 2022, the wealthiest top one percent of Australians held 9.9 percent of the national income. The bottom 50 percent of Australians had 17.2 percent of the national income.

Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data was reported at 12.700 % in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 12.200 % for 2016. Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 12.200 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2018, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.200 % in 1989 and a record low of 11.200 % in 2014. Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. The poverty headcount ratio at societal poverty line is the percentage of a population living in poverty according to the World Bank's Societal Poverty Line. The Societal Poverty Line is expressed in purchasing power adjusted 2017 U.S. dollars and defined as max($2.15, $1.15 + 0.5*Median). This means that when the national median is sufficiently low, the Societal Poverty line is equivalent to the extreme poverty line, $2.15. For countries with a sufficiently high national median, the Societal Poverty Line grows as countries’ median income grows.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

These data contain Gini coefficient estimates (2001 and 2011), for different regions in Australia.

When referencing this material, please cite: Fleming, D. and Measham, T. (2015) 'Income inequality across Australian Regions during the mining boom: 2011-11'. Australian Geographer 46(2), 201-214.

Australia Income Share Held by Highest 10% data was reported at 26.200 % in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 25.500 % for 2016. Australia Income Share Held by Highest 10% data is updated yearly, averaging 24.800 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2018, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27.400 % in 2008 and a record low of 22.900 % in 1981. Australia Income Share Held by Highest 10% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

Australia Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data was reported at 34.300 % in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 33.700 % for 2016. Australia Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data is updated yearly, averaging 33.500 % from Dec 1981 (Median) to 2018, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 35.400 % in 2008 and a record low of 31.300 % in 1981. Australia Gini Coefficient (GINI Index): World Bank Estimate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus a Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

A multi-millionaire is defined as someone owning 10 million U.S. dollars or more. It was forecasted that there would be almost 18 thousand individuals in Australia defined as multi-millionaires by 2026. This is in line with the country’s growing economy over the years as well as the growing wealth inequality that was becoming a cause for concern in the island nation.

Distribution of the wealthy

As a rich country with plenty of natural resources and a high Human Development Index, Australia had always had a large number of high net-worth individuals or HNWIs. There were over ten thousand millionaires including a couple dozen of billionaires, with these figures expected to grow significantly over the next few years.

Income inequality

Despite the increase of wealth and economic growth, there was a concern at the level of poverty and homelessness due to the rising wealth inequality nationally. The number of homeless people living in Australia had only been increasing with more than a hundred thousand people currently without shelter. Furthermore, most of the wealth was being pushed from the country to the cities, affecting the livelihood of those living in the countryside or outback.

60 percent of Australians were in the wealth range between 100,000 and one million U.S. dollars in 2020. Just 9.4 percent of Australian adults had wealth of over one million U.S. dollars, which was slightly less than the share of people who had under 10,000 U.S. dollars in wealth.

Wealth distribution in the Asia-Pacific

In 2020, China had the highest number of millionaires, followed by Japan and Australia. The number of millionaires in Australia was forecasted to increase from 1.8 million to three million by 2025. According to a source, among the Asia-Pacific countries, Australia ranked second in the share of wealth per adult. The source had revealed the wealth per adult in Australia was more than 483 thousand U.S. dollars in 2020.

LGBTQ community of Australia

In 2020, a survey of working adults in Australia revealed that LGBTQ adults were employed in public services and the law enforcement across the country. On the one hand, more than 38 percent of LGBTQ individuals had a role as as a team member, above 12 percent of respondents answered that they were either team leader or supervisor.

Australia Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data was reported at 13.400 % in 2020. This records a decrease from the previous number of 13.600 % for 2018. Australia Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 13.500 % from Dec 2018 (Median) to 2020, with 2 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 13.600 % in 2018 and a record low of 13.400 % in 2020. Australia Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line(s). National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys. For economies for which the data are from EU-SILC, the reported year is the income reference year, which is the year before the survey year.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are compiled from official government sources or are computed by World Bank staff using national (i.e. country–specific) poverty lines.;;This series only includes estimates that to the best of our knowledge are reasonably comparable over time for a country. Due to differences in estimation methodologies and poverty lines, estimates should not be compared across countries.

This dataset presents information about total income distribution. The data covers the financial year of 2011-2012, and is based on Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) according to the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

Total Income is the sum of all reported income derived from Employee income, Own unincorporated business, Superannuation, Investments and Other income. Total income does not include the non-lodger population.

Government pensions, benefits or allowances are excluded from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) income data and do not appear in Other income or Total income. Pension recipients can fall below the income threshold that necessitates them lodging a tax return, or they may only receive tax free pensions or allowances. Hence they will be missing from the personal income tax data set. Recent estimates from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (which records Government pensions and allowances) suggest that this component can account for between 9% to 11% of Total income.

All monetary values are presented as gross pre-tax dollars, as far as possible. This means they reflect income before deductions and loses, and before any taxation or levies (e.g. the Medicare levy or the temporary budget repair levy) are applied. The amounts shown are nominal, they have not been adjusted for inflation. The income presented in this release has been categorised into income types, these categories have been devised by the ABS to closely align to ABS definitions of income.

The statistics in this release are compiled from the Linked Employer Employee Dataset (LEED), a cross-sectional database based on administrative data from the Australian taxation system. The LEED includes more than 120 million tax records over seven consecutive years between 2011-12 and 2017-18.

Please note:

• All personal income tax statistics included in LEED were provided in de-identified form with no home address or date of birth. Addresses were coded to the ASGS and date of birth was converted to an age at 30 June of the reference year prior to data provision.

• To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, perturbation has been applied to the statistics in this release. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics and is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable statistics, while maximising the range of information that can be released. These adjustments have a negligible impact on the underlying pattern of the statistics. Some cells have also been suppressed due to low counts.

• Totals may not align with the sum of their components due to missing or unpublished information in the underlying data and perturbation.

For further information please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

AURIN has made the following changes to the original data:

• Spatially enabled the original data.

• Set 'np' (not published to protect the confidentiality of individuals or businesses) values to Null.

In 2022, Australia had the highest median wealth worldwide of the countries included, reaching nearly 270,000 U.S. dollars. Belgium and Hong Kong followed behind.

This dataset presents information about total income distribution. The data covers the financial year of 2017-2018, and is based on Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3) according to the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

Total Income is the sum of all reported income derived from Employee income, Own unincorporated business, Superannuation, Investments and Other income. Total income does not include the non-lodger population.

Government pensions, benefits or allowances are excluded from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) income data and do not appear in Other income or Total income. Pension recipients can fall below the income threshold that necessitates them lodging a tax return, or they may only receive tax free pensions or allowances. Hence they will be missing from the personal income tax data set. Recent estimates from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (which records Government pensions and allowances) suggest that this component can account for between 9% to 11% of Total income.

All monetary values are presented as gross pre-tax dollars, as far as possible. This means they reflect income before deductions and loses, and before any taxation or levies (e.g. the Medicare levy or the temporary budget repair levy) are applied. The amounts shown are nominal, they have not been adjusted for inflation. The income presented in this release has been categorised into income types, these categories have been devised by the ABS to closely align to ABS definitions of income.

The statistics in this release are compiled from the Linked Employer Employee Dataset (LEED), a cross-sectional database based on administrative data from the Australian taxation system. The LEED includes more than 120 million tax records over seven consecutive years between 2011-12 and 2017-18.

Please note:

• All personal income tax statistics included in LEED were provided in de-identified form with no home address or date of birth. Addresses were coded to the ASGS and date of birth was converted to an age at 30 June of the reference year prior to data provision.

• To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, perturbation has been applied to the statistics in this release. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics and is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable statistics, while maximising the range of information that can be released. These adjustments have a negligible impact on the underlying pattern of the statistics. Some cells have also been suppressed due to low counts.

• Totals may not align with the sum of their components due to missing or unpublished information in the underlying data and perturbation.

For further information please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

AURIN has made the following changes to the original data:

• Spatially enabled the original data.

• Set 'np' (not published to protect the confidentiality of individuals or businesses) values to Null.

This dataset presents aggregated values of Income Distribution as a category of the estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas ABS release. The data spans over the financial years of 2010-11 and is aggregated to the 2016 Local Government Area (LGA) boundaries.

This release presents regional data on the number of income earners, amounts they receive, and the distribution of income for the 2010-11 to 2014-15 financial years. An improved geocoding process has been introduced for this release. As such, previously released estimates for the 2010-11 and 2012-13 financial year have been superseded. The following personal income categories are provided in this census release:

• Employee Income

• Own Unincorporated Business Income

• Investment Income

• Superannuation Income

• Other Income (Income not allocatable to any other categories)

• Total Income (Sum of previous categories) These statistics provide insights into the nature of regional economies and the economic well-being of the people who live there. The data has been sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and is presented with the updated 2016 editions of the Australian Statistical Geography Standards (ASGS): Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2); Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3); Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4); Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) and Local Government Area (LGA).

For more information on the release please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Please note:

• When interpreting these results, it should be noted that some low income earners, for example those receiving Government pensions and allowances, or those who earned below the tax free threshold, may not be present in the data, as they may not be required to lodge personal tax forms. Other individuals may not lodge a tax return even if required, therefore care should be taken in interpreting the data as well as comparing the data in this publication with other income data produced by the ABS.

• To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, a confidentialisation process called perturbation has been applied to the data. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics and is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable statistics while maximising the range of information that can be released.

• Where data is not available or not for publication, the record has been set to a null value.

A cross-national data archive located in Luxembourg that contains two primary databases: the Luxembourg Income Study Database (LIS Database) includes income microdata from a large number of countries at multiple points in time. The newer Luxembourg Wealth Study Database(LWS Database) includes wealth microdata from a smaller selection of countries. Both databases include labor market and demographic data as well. Our mission is to enable, facilitate, promote, and conduct cross-national comparative research on socio-economic outcomes and on the institutional factors that shape those outcomes. Since its beginning in 1983, the LIS has grown into a cooperative research project with a membership that includes countries in Europe, North America, and Australia. The database now contains information for more than 30 countries with datasets that span up to three decades. The LIS databank has a total of over 140 datasets covering the period 1968 to 2005. The primary objectives of the LIS are as follows: * Test the feasibility for creating a database containing social and economic data collected in household surveys from different countries; * Provide a method which allows researchers to use the data under restrictions required by the countries providing the data; * Create a system that allows research requests to be received from and returned to users at remote locations; and * Promote comparative research on the social and economic status of various populations and subgroups in different countries. Data Availability: The dataset is accessed globally via electronic mail networks. Extensive documentation concerning technical aspects of the survey data, variables list, and the social institutions of income provision in member countries are also available to users through the project Website. * Dates of Study: 1968-present * Study Features: International * Sample Size: 30+ Countries Link: * ICPSR: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/00150

Australia Output Gap of Total Economy data was reported at -0.772 % in 2026. This records an increase from the previous number of -1.101 % for 2025. Australia Output Gap of Total Economy data is updated yearly, averaging 0.115 % from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2026, with 42 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.270 % in 1989 and a record low of -4.027 % in 2020. Australia Output Gap of Total Economy data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.OECD.EO: GDP: Potential Output and Output Gap: Forecast: OECD Member: Annual. GAP - Output gap, as a percentage of potential GDP OECD calculation, see OECD Economic Outlook database documentation

This dataset presents information about total income distribution. The data covers the financial year of 2017-2018, and is based on Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA) according to the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS).

Total Income is the sum of all reported income derived from Employee income, Own unincorporated business, Superannuation, Investments and Other income. Total income does not include the non-lodger population.

Government pensions, benefits or allowances are excluded from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) income data and do not appear in Other income or Total income. Pension recipients can fall below the income threshold that necessitates them lodging a tax return, or they may only receive tax free pensions or allowances. Hence they will be missing from the personal income tax data set. Recent estimates from the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (which records Government pensions and allowances) suggest that this component can account for between 9% to 11% of Total income.

All monetary values are presented as gross pre-tax dollars, as far as possible. This means they reflect income before deductions and loses, and before any taxation or levies (e.g. the Medicare levy or the temporary budget repair levy) are applied. The amounts shown are nominal, they have not been adjusted for inflation. The income presented in this release has been categorised into income types, these categories have been devised by the ABS to closely align to ABS definitions of income.

The statistics in this release are compiled from the Linked Employer Employee Dataset (LEED), a cross-sectional database based on administrative data from the Australian taxation system. The LEED includes more than 120 million tax records over seven consecutive years between 2011-12 and 2017-18.

Please note:

• All personal income tax statistics included in LEED were provided in de-identified form with no home address or date of birth. Addresses were coded to the ASGS and date of birth was converted to an age at 30 June of the reference year prior to data provision.

• To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, perturbation has been applied to the statistics in this release. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics and is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable statistics, while maximising the range of information that can be released. These adjustments have a negligible impact on the underlying pattern of the statistics. Some cells have also been suppressed due to low counts.

• Totals may not align with the sum of their components due to missing or unpublished information in the underlying data and perturbation.

For further information please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

AURIN has made the following changes to the original data:

• Spatially enabled the original data.

• Set 'np' (not published to protect the confidentiality of individuals or businesses) values to Null.

This dataset presents aggregated values of Income Distribution as a category of the estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas ABS release. The data spans over the financial years of 2013-14 and is aggregated to the 2016 Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) boundaries. This release presents regional data on the number of income earners, amounts they receive, and the distribution of income for the 2010-11 to 2014-15 financial years. An improved geocoding process has been introduced for this …Show full descriptionThis dataset presents aggregated values of Income Distribution as a category of the estimates of Personal Income for Small Areas ABS release. The data spans over the financial years of 2013-14 and is aggregated to the 2016 Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) boundaries. This release presents regional data on the number of income earners, amounts they receive, and the distribution of income for the 2010-11 to 2014-15 financial years. An improved geocoding process has been introduced for this release. As such, previously released estimates for the 2010-11 and 2012-13 financial year have been superseded. The following personal income categories are provided in this census release: Employee Income Own Unincorporated Business Income Investment Income Superannuation Income Other Income (Income not allocatable to any other categories) Total Income (Sum of previous categories) These statistics provide insights into the nature of regional economies and the economic well-being of the people who live there. The data has been sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and is presented with the updated 2016 editions of the Australian Statistical Geography Standards (ASGS): Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2); Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3); Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4); Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) and Local Government Area (LGA). For more information on the release please visit the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Please note: When interpreting these results, it should be noted that some low income earners, for example those receiving Government pensions and allowances, or those who earned below the tax free threshold, may not be present in the data, as they may not be required to lodge personal tax forms. Other individuals may not lodge a tax return even if required, therefore care should be taken in interpreting the data as well as comparing the data in this publication with other income data produced by the ABS. To minimise the risk of identifying individuals in aggregate statistics, a confidentialisation process called perturbation has been applied to the data. Perturbation involves small random adjustment of the statistics and is considered the most satisfactory technique for avoiding the release of identifiable statistics while maximising the range of information that can be released. Where data is not available or not for publication, the record has been set to a null value. Copyright attribution: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2017): ; accessed from AURIN on 12/3/2020. Licence type: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia (CC BY 2.5 AU)

In financial year 2020, over 460 thousand households in Australia had a gross weekly household income of 6,000 Australian dollars or more. On the other end of the spectrum, over 30,000 households had a negative income and around over 32,000 had no income.

According to a survey conducted by Ipsos on predictions for global issues in 2020, 54 percent of Australians believed it was unlikely that women would be paid the same amount as men for the same work in 2020. Australian respondents held an overall pessimistic view on closing the gender pay gap in 2020.