Single women not as happy; survey shows

 
YOUNG single women have the lowest levels of wellbeing in Australia, a survey shows.

THE NAB Wellbeing Index rose to 63.8 points in the three months to September 30, up from 61.7 in the previous quarter.
While the survey showed Australians were slightly less anxious, NAB says anxiety was still a key detractor of personal wellbeing. More than one in three people rated their current level of anxiety as very high. Single women aged 18 to 29 reported the lowest levels of wellbeing, followed closely by men in the same age category and people earning less than $35,000. NAB chief economist Alan Oster says he believes this reflects young people's fears about job security due to the high level of youth unemployment. "The difficulty for young people to get jobs and concern about what is happening in the future in terms of higher education are important factors here," he said. "Women tend to be more anxious until they get older or are widowed but the stress is highest among the young. "As you go up in the income streams, and particularly as people get older, they tend to be happier." The greater the person's income, the better they rated their wellbeing, the survey showed. Widows and retirees retained their position as having the strongest levels of wellbeing. More than 2,000 Australians took part in the survey about life satisfaction, happiness and anxiety. NAB began the quarterly survey in April last year.