Australians are a pretty contented bunch. We do grumble a bit, and perhaps are less content with our lot than we should be. Despite being ranked first in the OECD among social and economic indicators, according to stats released last year, we only came 11th on life satisfaction.

This week the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its latest general social survey which found high levels of satisfaction across almost all households. “Overall life satisfaction is determined by a broad range of factors,” the ABS says, the most significant of which are financial stress, unemployment, mental health and sexuality.

The ABS had people rate their life satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10. And while Australians on average gave themselves a score of 7.6 – which suggests a quite solid level of satisfaction – the reality is very few rate their life satisfaction with a fail rating of five or less. Only 6.2% of Australians scored their satisfaction as being sub-par.

Of course, life satisfaction is invariably a subjective measure – and to a great extent that is the point. While it may be easy to look at another person’s life and think she should be well satisfied, the reality is a person is best able to judge his or her satisfaction

So while we might overwhelmingly consider our lives to be more good than bad, the more interesting comparison is when we break down households and see who has below or above average satisfaction.

Those who are young and a bit miffed with the way things have been turning out might find some meagre comfort from the fact that by the time they reach 75 years of age they will achieve above average levels of satisfaction:

But young adults are not actually all that dissatisfied with life. Those aged between 15-24 are on average more satisfied than the overall adult population. They have a higher percentage of people who give themselves a score of seven and eight than the overall population does, but also fewer who consider life pretty much perfect and rate themselves a 10.

No one is more perfectly satisfied than those aged over 75. With 29.3% of such people rating themselves a 10 in life satisfaction, they are the only household type who had a plurality in the top score.

The plurality for most households types was the score of eight. The only group among the ABS’s household types to have a plurality in a grade of less than eight was those were unemployed. For such people, 24% rated themselves as a seven, compared to 22.6% who gave themselves an eight:

These results record the first time sexuality was included in the general social survey. Respondents could mark themselves down as “heterosexual; gay or lesbian; bisexual; or other sexual orientation”. Bisexual and “other” were grouped together in the results to allow comparisons with the larger group of gay and lesbian Australians.

Interestingly, while gay and lesbian Australians overall had a life satisfaction of 7.5 – almost right on the national average – it is a peculiar type of satisfaction. The 46% who rated themselves an eight was the highest of any group – well above the 32.5% national average. But there were fewer gay and lesbian Australians who rated their satisfaction as nine or 10 than any other household type.

Only 16.5% of gay or lesbian Australians rated their life satisfaction level as nine or 10, compared to 30% for the overall national average. Their number was even below the 17.5% of the unemployed, who viewed their satisfaction and perfect or near so.

The data also shows the insidious nature of mental health issues. Those who had such issues rated their life satisfaction at 6.6 – the lowest of any grouping, and well below the 7.5 average of those who have a long-term health condition.

Perhaps here we find one reason why fewer non-heterosexual people rate their satisfaction as perfect compared to others. The data shows that gay and lesbians are more likely to suffer from a mental health issue, have been subjected to discrimination, and also are more likely to have experienced an incidence of crime than the overall national average.

Shockingly, 34% of gays or lesbians have experienced periods of homelessness compared to 14% of the national average:

The data would also suggest that having kids is perhaps not the way to seek satisfaction. People who were in a couple relationship with no kids had an overall satisfaction rating of 8.0 compared to those with kids of 7.7. And the burden of raising a child alone is quite clear when such adults rated their satisfaction on average at 7.0:

12% of lone parents rated their life satisfaction as five or less – the third biggest number of any group – behind only the 13% of unemployed and 14.8% of those with a mental health issue (and of course there are overlaps of such groups).

Money may not buy happiness – you don’t need to have read of Richard Cory to know that is the case – but clearly it helps.

When we look at the percentage of groups who suffer financial stress, not coincidentally those who have the lowest life satisfaction rating – the unemployed and single parents – were also those in the most difficulty.

The ABS asked people if they would be able to raise $2,000 in a week for something important. While 13% of the overall population said they would be unable to do so, 35% of those who were unemployed said they would be unable as were 29% of single parents:

By contrast only 7.8% of people who were aged 35-64 and in a couple with no kids would have been unable to raise $2,000 in a week.

The other indicators of financial stress – such as not being able to pay the electricity bill, the rent or the mortgage – show as well that there is safety in numbers:

In all categories, being a single person – either with or without children – will see you more likely to face financial stress than those in a couple. That in 2014, 29% of single parents were unable to pay electricity, gas or the telephone bill on time is a pretty sobering statistic.

It is even more sobering when you consider the Gillard government’s decision in 2013 to move single parents with children above eight years of age from the parenting payment onto Newstart – a move which saw them lose between $60 and $160 a week worse off. Truly one of the worst budgetary decisions made by an ALP government.

The data also shows the benefits of education. 29% percent of people with a bachelor degree or higher are within the highest 20% of income earning households, compared to just 12.6% of those who went no further than Year 12 level, and 7.6% of those who didn’t even reach that far:

The path to happiness would seem to be to stay in education, to find a partner in order to help alleviate financial stress, and to perhaps really enjoy that time before you have kids.

Although if all else fails, at least you can content yourself that by the time to you get to 75 years of age, you’ll most likely figure that just having survived that long is enough to make you satisfied with your lot in life.