Recently I had a guest on the Sunday Session – an Aussie who was in New Zealand and was loving it. They said everyone here was relaxed, welcoming, and smiled at you on the street. They were really taken aback by the mood here compared with over the ditch. In Australia, they said, it’s pretty grim, everyone is down and just getting on with it.

I asked how could that be? I thought the Australian weather and amazing lifestyle put everyone in a good mood. They said it had rained all summer. 

I thought this was an interesting observation, but I was a little bit sceptical.

And then I stumbled across an article in the Sydney Morning Herald basically saying satisfaction with life among many Australians is lower now than during the depths of the pandemic, as the cost of living and housing is squeezing people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.   

The story was based on research released yesterday by consultancy agency KPMG which tracks life satisfaction - whether a person is content with their circumstances, so pretty much what it says on the tin.   

They discovered life satisfaction is now “substantially lower than it was in the mid-2010s across all age groups, while it has nose-dived among people facing the biggest financial hit.”   

Those in their 20s and 30s are dealing with high rents or large mortgages, and wealth has flatlined for the sandwich generation as they care for their children and their parents. Everyone is dealing with wages that have not kept up with inflation.  

Younger people and older people are a bit more satisfied – but not as much as they used to be.   

The key issue affecting satisfaction is the stress of managing household finances. “More than 21 per cent of people reported they would struggle to raise $2000 in a week for an emergency, while a quarter said they had experienced a cashflow problem in the past year.”  

It all sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it? And yet, drawn by higher wages and a larger and more diverse job market, Kiwis are still flooding over the ditch.   

I don’t want to turn this into a competition about who is more satisfied with life, but it does make you wonder if we are balancing the scales somewhat?  

It depends on your priorities, doesn’t it? If your priorities are income, career growth, warmer weather, and larger cities, Australia tends to come out ahead.  

If your priorities are nature, community, outdoor lifestyle, and a slower pace of life, New Zealand often comes out ahead.  

But one thing to consider —which may suggest we're slightly more satisfied in NZ— is we’re not so frustrated with our lives and country that we’d likely consider Pauline Hansen for Prime Minister.  

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