Social Exclusion Monitor

More than a million Australians still experience deep social exclusion, according to the latest data.

An older man enjoys an activity that promotes social inclusion and community engagement.

Social exclusion occurs when someone experiences multiple, overlapping problems, such as unemployment, poor health and inadequate education, which stop them fully participating in society. Tackling social exclusion helps make Australia a better place to live for everyone.

The social exclusion monitor is an approach to measuring social exclusion in Australia, developed by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). It uses the annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey of more than 13,000 people. The monitor is updated with each new wave of the HILDA survey.

Update November 2019

Using the newest data from 2017, the monitor finds that more than 1.1 million Australians deal with deep social exclusion, in a nation that has seen more than two decades of overall economic prosperity. This means that these Australians experience at least four different sorts of disadvantage in their lives, such as being on a low income, having little paid work, not being involved in community clubs or associations and not being socially active.

You can use the monitor to better understand who is missing out in Australia and to gauge the effectiveness of government social policy.

Click on the photos to find out how different groups of people experience social exclusion.