Young Aussies’ priorities in life are changing over time, with surprising new research from leading health comparison site comparethemarket.com.au revealing that younger demographics value their health above any other life factor.
The finding comes from an independent, nationally representative survey, commissioned by comparethemarket.com.au, which asked 1299 Australians[1] to rate from 1-5 how important to them certain ‘life factors’ were, with 1 being not important and 5 being very important. These were broken up into 11 categories: health, education, career, the environment, home ownership, wealth, travel, car ownership, their partner, friends and family.
The data revealed that under-30s rated health and family the highest, with each category coming in at an average of 4.4 out of five. Their partner was the next most important life factor with under 30s, ranking at a high 4.1. This was closely followed by owning a home (4.0), friends (4.0), accumulating wealth (3.9), and travel (3.6).
Health ranked highest across all respondent pools too, increasing slightly with age. Thirty to 50-year-olds ranked health at 4.5, 50 to 70-year-olds ranked it 4.7 and over-70s ranked it 4.8.
This was closely followed by family, which was ranked 4.5 by 30 to 50-year-olds, 4.7 by 50 to 70-year-olds and 4.8 by over-70s.
Survey results: The weighted averages for key life factors that Aussies value the most
| Life factors | Ages | |||
| Under 30s | 30-50 | 50-70 | Over 70s | |
| My career | 3.9 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 1.4 |
| Accumulating wealth | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.2 |
| Owning a house | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 |
| My health | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Owning a car | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| My family | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 |
| My friends | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.9 |
| The environment | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| My partner or being in a relationship | 4.1 | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Travelling | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.5 | 3.2 |
| My education | 3.8 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.2 |
.jpg){kind=tracking}