Understanding welfare and wellbeing is an Australia's welfare topic

In the broadest sense, welfare refers to the wellbeing of individuals, families and the community. The terms welfare and wellbeing are often used interchangeably. 

While there is no exact definition or interpretation of wellbeing, it is generally agreed among researchers that wellbeing is multi-dimensional (Hone et al. 2015) and encompasses a range of inter-related factors that act together to impact on an individual’s quality of life and life satisfaction (such as work, education, housing, income, health and functioning, social connection and participation). A commonly used definition of wellbeing is ‘how people feel and how they function both on a personal and social level, and how they evaluate their lives as a whole’ (Michaelson et al. 2012). Feeling happy, healthy and having positive wellbeing means different things to different people within and across communities and countries (ACT Government 2020) and definitions of wellbeing can differ across disciplines, the lifespan and cultures (Jarden and Roache 2023).

Policies at all levels of government can substantially influence the wellbeing of individuals and communities. Welfare services and assistance are just one part of a larger network of services and assistance provided by governments and non-government organisations to improve wellbeing in Australia. They include, for example, income support payments and employment, homelessness, disability and aged care services. A key focus of the AIHW’s Australia’s welfare biennial report is to provide information and statistics on the provision of welfare services to Australians. It goes further – to look at broader services and factors associated with wellbeing – such as education, employment and social functioning.

This page provides high level information on wellbeing, factors influencing wellbeing and formal welfare services and supports. It acknowledges but does not cover informal supports for wellbeing, or other government services and systems that contribute to overall wellbeing and can influence the need or demand for welfare services – such as the education and health systems.

Conceptual framework for Australia’s welfare

Figure 1 presents a conceptual framework for Australia’s welfare, incorporating 3 main elements. This page then explores the 3 elements of the framework in greater depth.

The framework in Figure 1 aims to show how many interrelated factors affect wellbeing. It recognises the role that individual and community level influencing factors play in improving wellbeing outcomes and in impacting an individual’s need for welfare services and supports. It illustrates that welfare-related services and supports can impact both our wellbeing and the factors that can influence our wellbeing. It acknowledges that the formal and/or informal assistance a person, family or community receives in a time of need can be critical for their wellbeing.

Figure 1 is not a comprehensive framework for wellbeing or measuring wellbeing. It is for use in understanding the AIHW’s report Australia’s welfare. The welfare topics examined as part of this report (such as education, housing, justice and safety) fall within the 3 elements. Whether a topic is deemed to be an influencing factor or measure of wellbeing for example, depends on the context in which it is being considered. 

Comprehensive frameworks for wellbeing in Australia include:

Figure 1: Conceptual framework for Australia's welfare

Diagram presents 3 elements of welfare (factors influencing wellbeing, wellbeing and welfare services and supports) and shows that they influence each other.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing can be thought of as ‘How people feel and how they function both on a personal and social level, and how they evaluate their lives as a whole’ (Michaelson et al. 2012). Wellbeing is multidimensional, covering aspects of life including work, education, housing, income, health and functioning, social connection and participation. These inter-related factors act together to impact on an individual’s quality of life and life satisfaction.

Health and wellbeing are inextricably linked. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ (WHO 1946). This recognises that health is multi-dimensional, and a person’s health is linked to their wellbeing. For example, a person may have positive wellbeing in part, arising from good physical and mental health and timely access to quality, affordable health services and support.

Accurate and reliable data are critical to understanding how the different aspects of our wellbeing interact and affect people’s lives. Data at the national, community, service and individual level can provide a strong evidence base, help measure progress over time and enable better policies and decision making for improved outcomes for Australians.

Measuring wellbeing

In 2023, the Australian Government established Australia's first national wellbeing framework, Measuring What Matters (The Treasury 2023). Its purpose is to help understand how Australia is tracking in key indicators of wellbeing. It gives a better foundation for understanding Australia’s economy and society in ways that will support policy making at all levels (The Treasury 2023).

The framework has 5 themes: healthy, secure, sustainable, cohesive and prosperous. These themes are supported by 50 key indicators, to monitor and track progress. The indicators have been selected for having consistent, comparable and reliable data, including logical alignment with available indicators already captured through existing strategies and plans. The indicators are available on an online dashboard, updated annually (The Treasury 2023). The Treasury has continuing responsibility for managing the framework and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has responsibility for updates of the dashboard (ABS 2024).

Data improvements are underway to support reporting on the Measuring What Matters framework.

In the 2024–25 Budget the Australian Government committed $14.8 million over 5 years for the ABS to deliver the General Social Survey (GSS) on an annual ongoing basis from 2025 (Chalmers 2024).

The survey will be conducted annually to deliver more timely data, the sample size will be increased to ensure that the survey provides insights into sub‑groups of the population, and it will be expanded to include new questions (Chalmers 2024).

The expanded GSS will increase the number of Measuring What Matters indicators and metrics that can be updated annually, for example, the overall life satisfaction indicator. It will enable collection of data across a range of topics, with a focus on measuring what matters most to Australians, including participation in volunteering, experience of discrimination and prevalence of serious psychological distress and chronic conditions (Chalmers 2024).

More frequent data will strengthen the capacity of the Measuring What Matters Framework to identify opportunities to improve wellbeing and inform policy change.

The first results from the expanded GSS will be available in 2026.

For more information about data improvement and development activities being undertaken by the AIHW, see Improving Australia’s welfare data.

Factors influencing wellbeing

Many factors can positively or negatively affect a person, family or community’s wellbeing. These include general socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions; political structures; commercial practices; living and working conditions; social and community networks; family situation; and individual behavioural and biological factors. Each person’s unique circumstances and experiences contributes to their wellbeing.

Our broader environment plays a critical role in our wellbeing, and can be protective of wellbeing, or be a risk factor negatively influencing wellbeing. Our climate – and the impacts of climate change – is a good example of this.

Health and wellbeing impacts from climate change

Climate is interlinked with a range of elements that sustain life, including water, food, biodiversity, health and wellbeing. Climate change is continuing to impact the natural and built environment. The global average surface temperature in 2024 was 1.55°C (with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13°C) above the 1850–1900 average, going beyond 1.5°C for the first time on record. The last 10 years have all been in the top 10 highest on record (WMO 2025).

Climate risks to health and wellbeing and associated services, are created through the interaction of climate hazards, exposure and vulnerability of the population. Climate hazards include bushfires, floods, severe storms, tropical cyclones, unusually hot temperatures and drought. These events cause people to be exposed to risks such as air pollution and high temperatures which, in turn, can have direct impacts such as loss of income, ill health and death. Consecutive climate hazards can also compound impacts.

Appropriate adaptation of health and welfare services is needed to address climate risk. Aspects of welfare such as access to, and quality of, housing as well as access to welfare services are important factors in mediating the effects of climate change. This has been recognised in the National Health and Climate Strategy, which identifies a ‘Health in All Policies’ approach as critical in addressing health impacts as well as the wider determinants of health.

Impacts of extreme weather events – floods

Recent climate events in Australia demonstrate the impact of climate change on health and wellbeing. The floods in Australia in 2021–22 and 2025 had major impacts across large parts of Queensland and New South Wales. For example, during the 2022 calendar year, there were 38 deaths attributed to either flooding or cataclysmic storms compared with an average of 5.8 deaths annually over the previous 9 years (ABS 2023). In 2024, an estimated 32,000 people were displaced due to cyclones, storms and floods (IDMC 2025). Prior to this, there was a substantial increasing trend in the number of people displaced due to weather-related disaster from 2008 (Beggs et al. 2023).

Extreme weather events can be a cause of food insecurity. Households were more likely to experience food insecurity in states heavily affected by the floods, when compared to the national average, according to the 2022 Foodbank Hunger Report. Natural disasters were reported as a factor for 25% of New South Wales households experiencing food insecurity and 23% of those in Queensland, compared with 19% nationally (Miller and Li 2022).

The cascading effects of multiple extreme weather events in an area can cause housing vulnerability. For example, floods in the Northern Rivers in Queensland 2022 compounded other recent events such as flooding in 2021 and 2017, bushfires in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, placed further pressure on a housing climate that was already strained, leading to high levels of ‘housing vulnerability’ and reduced the availability of affordable rental or temporary/transitional housing options (van den Nouwelant and Cibin 2022).

The intersection of vulnerabilities, for example, social and geographical factors, can exacerbate vulnerability (Howard et al. 2018). People with disability and their carers have also been found to be more likely to have homes that flood, find flood warning messaging difficult to access after evacuation, and may be at increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (Bailie et al. 2022).

Homelessness Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction are examples of initiatives aimed at addressing this issue (Queensland Government Department of Housing and Public Works 2021, 2023; Villeneuve et al. 2021). These participatory research partnership projects support communities to develop inclusive risk reduction, for example through raising awareness and developing educational resources.

Welfare services and support

Our wellbeing can also be affected and influenced by the services and supports we receive. The AIHWs Australia’s welfare biennial publication provides comprehensive coverage of welfare services and supports provided to Australians, reporting on the latest data and trends. This section describes the types of services and supports that are considered to be ‘welfare’ services, and who funds and provides these. Welfare support can come from both:

  • informal assistance from family, friends and the community; and/or
  • formal assistance from government and non-government organisations.

Use of formal assistance can be mediated by informal supports and the availability of other services at community or individual levels. This section focuses primarily on formal services and support. See also, summary information about Informal carers.

While the responsibility for funding and managing welfare services and support mainly lies with the Australian Government or state and territory governments, arrangements for delivering welfare services are complex. Government welfare assistance in Australia is a network of government payments and services.

The level of formal welfare assistance a person receives depends on their life stage, level of disadvantage, and the interactions among these factors. A person’s need for assistance can change over time. People may access welfare services and support temporarily when circumstances and need arise (for instance, emergency temporary accommodation for flood or bushfire affected communities), or longer term (for instance, Age Pension) (DSS 2024c). When an event triggers a change in a person’s life, it is often the point at which that person contacts government support services (Qu et al. 2012).

Welfare services

Welfare services aim to encourage participation and independence and can help enhance a person’s wellbeing (DSS 2024b). Welfare services are provided to people and families of different ages and social and economic circumstances.

Examples of welfare services include:

Welfare services are often closely linked to health services. One example is aged care, with home care packages providing domestic assistance, personal care and social support as well as clinical and allied health care services.

A number of welfare-related programs operate to support specific target cohorts to participate socially or economically, such as the Strong and Resilient Communities program and volunteering programs.

Non-government organisations

In many cases, profit or not-for-profit non-government organisations (NGOs) deliver services. These NGOs are predominantly ‘approved providers’, meaning they have been formally authorised, contracted and/or funded by government to provide particular services – although not all NGOs receive government funding. Further, service delivery can be shared between NGOs and local governments or state and territory governments.


Government payments

Government payments aim to support eligible people who cannot fully support themselves by providing targeted payments and assistance. Programs include:

  • working age payments (such as JobSeeker and Youth Allowance (other) payments)
  • support for families (such as Family Tax Benefit and paid parental leave)
  • housing support (such as Commonwealth Rent Assistance)
  • support for older Australians (such as Age Pension)
  • financial support for people with disability (such as Disability Support Pension)
  • financial support for carers (such as Carer Payment and Carer Allowance)
  • student payments (such as Youth Allowance (student or Australian Apprentices)) (DSS 2024a).

Government payments can be available short- or long-term, or for a transitional period, and the eligibility requirements and amounts received vary.

General concessions, allowances and supplements can apply to people at different points in their lives, including the Pharmaceutical Allowance, Utilities Allowance and Remote Area Allowance. Supporting infrastructure – such as financial information services and a voluntary bill-paying service for Services Australia customers – are also available (DSS 2024a).

For the latest data about government payments, see the Income support payments for the working age population.

Tax offsets and concession cards

Tax offsets are available to support a person financially for welfare purposes. For example, a taxpayer may be entitled to claim a tax offset if a close family member receiving a disability support pension or invalidity service pension is a dependent (ATO 2022). The Australian Government can also provide support with tax and superannuation obligations for people experiencing personal crisis, including experiencing family and domestic violence or financial difficulties (ATO 2021).

Governments at all levels, and some non-government organisations, also issue concession and health care cards to eligible Australians for certain discounts (Services Australia 2022).

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on welfare services and wellbeing, see:

For further information on the natural and built environment and health and wellbeing, see Natural environment and health and Built environment and health. Also visit: