New research has shown that wellbeing has increased to its highest level in almost five years in the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires and the Queensland floods because Australians are more satisfied with their sense of community and personal safety.
A special report from the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index that looked at the effect of the recent fires and floods on wellbeing has revealed that overall wellbeing has risen by 1.1 points to 75.93. This is the second highest it has ever been in the Wellbeing Index's eight year history only 0.4 points below the 76.3 peak recorded at the time of the Athens Olympics.
Professor Bob Cummins from Deakin University, author of the Index, says that the individuals surveyed felt an enhanced connection with the Australian community and an enhanced personal wellbeing as a consequence.
"Of the eight life domains that comprise personal wellbeing, satisfaction with the community has risen the most, by 2 points since our last survey in October 2008. It is very likely that this is because of the increased sense of community generated by the tragedy of the floods and fires. Events such as these generate an enormous out-pouring of sympathy and tangible assistance, which possibly caused the population to experience a heightened sense of belonging to the 'Australian family'," Professor Cummins says.
This is consistent with an existing trend shown by the Wellbeing Index, where community connection increases whenever there is a meaningful national or international event, such as the Olympics, September 11, the lead up to the Iraq war, and the 2005 Bali Bombings.
Australian Unity Managing Director Rohan Mead says that the findings highlight the importance of community in getting through difficult times.
"It is the Australian way to help others in times of need. The way that the Australian community rallied together to provide relief to those affected by the bushfires and floods was inspirational," Mr Mead says.
When it comes to the increased sense of safety, Professor Cummins says that this is probably the result of a contrast effect.
"The images of danger from fire and floods have been so vividly portrayed by the media that the majority of people, who live in unaffected areas such as the major cities, felt an enhanced sense of safety in contrast," Professor Cummins says.
The affected areas were excluded from the data collection which was conducted from Monday 23 February to Wednesday 4 March, surveying 1,500 respondents from Victoria, Queensland and South Australia in equal proportions. South Australia was used as a comparison state where no such disasters had occurred.
On a state by state comparison, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia did not differ in terms of their overall wellbeing indicating that people did not have to be geographically close to the impacted areas to feel a heightened sense of community connectedness.
"This is not surprising seeing as few people in Victoria had direct contact with the effect of the fires, so all Australians, including most Victorians, were obtaining their information from the media," Professor Cummins says.
And now to the economic situation:
Despite the economic downturn, satisfaction with standard of living has risen by 1.4 points to 78.7, the second highest level yet recorded. Professor Cummins says that this is because although a lot of people have lost wealth with the downturn, most people are not dependent on these investments for their livelihood and have confidence that the economy will recover over time.
"The people who have been adversely affected are those who have lost their job, or who are reliant on interest from shares or other investments for their income. While a majority of people have lost wealth with the downturn, for the most part their investments are intact so they feel they can just wait for the economy to recover. And, in the meantime, if they still have a job and a mortgage, and if their wage has not diminished, then they are better off financially than maybe they have ever been due to the decrease in interest rates," Professor Cummins says.
Wellbeing is measured using the Personal Wellbeing Index. The Personal Wellbeing Index measures people's overall feeling of wellbeing through satisfaction with their health, personal relationships, personal safety, standard of living, achieving in life, community connection, future security and spirituality/religion.
