Source: Roy Morgan telephone, SMS and web surveys in Australia 1980-2018 with an average of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ interviewed each year. Question: “As far as you are concerned, do you think that 2019 will be better, worse, or the same as 2018?”
A special Roy Morgan survey taken in mid-December shows 44% of Australians think 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018, 32% say 2019 will be ‘the same’, only 14% say 2019 will be ‘worse’ and 10% don’t know.
Australians are far more positive about 2019 than they were a year ago when asked about 2018 when only 31% said 2018 would be ‘better’ than 2017, a record low.
However, Australians are again less optimistic than their counterparts in New Zealand with a majority of New Zealanders (51%) saying 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018 compared to only 14% that say 2019 will be ‘worse’. See here for more details on New Zealand results.
This special Roy Morgan web survey was conducted in mid-December with a cross-section of 1,028 Australians aged 18+.
Next Year – Better or Worse? (Australia)
Source: Roy Morgan telephone, SMS and web surveys in Australia 1980-2018 with an average of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ interviewed each year. Question: “As far as you are concerned, do you think that 2019 will be better, worse, or the same as 2018?”
Analysis by Age & Gender – Next Year ‘Better’ or ‘Worse’

Source: This special Roy Morgan web survey was conducted in mid-December with a cross-section of 1,028 Australians aged 18+.
Slightly more men (45%) than women (44%) expect 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018, although there are also more men (19%) that say 2019 will be ‘worse’ than 2018 than women (10%).
Analysing by age group shows the usual trend with younger people more optimistic about 2019 than older people. 54% of 18-24 year olds expect 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018 – and this figure drops for each subsequent age group: 51% of 25-34yr olds, 48% of 35-49yr olds and only 28% of those aged 50+ say 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018.
|
Total
Australia
|
Gender
|
Age
|
Total
NZ
|
Men
|
Women
|
18-24
|
25-34
|
35-49
|
50+
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Better
|
44
|
45
|
44
|
54
|
51
|
48
|
28
|
51
|
Same
|
32
|
29
|
35
|
21
|
32
|
29
|
40
|
27
|
Worse
|
14
|
19
|
10
|
14
|
8
|
13
|
23
|
14
|
Don’t know
|
10
|
7
|
11
|
11
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
TOTAL
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
Analysis by States & Regions – Next Year ‘Better’ or ‘Worse’
Source: This special Roy Morgan web survey was conducted in mid-December with a cross-section of 1,028 Australians aged 18+.
Analysing by State shows people in all States are more positive about 2019 compared to 2018. A year ago three States had more respondents expecting the year ahead to be ‘worse’ than ‘better’.
Tasmanians are most optimistic about 2019 with 57% expecting 2019 to be ‘better’ than 2018 ahead of West Australians (50%) and Victorians (47%).
Respondents in the Cities (45%) are marginally more positive about 2019 being ‘better’ than 2017 compared to those in the Country (43%).
|
|
States
|
City/ Country
|
|
|
Total
Australia
|
NSW
|
VIC
|
QLD
|
WA
|
SA
|
TAS
|
City
|
Country
|
Total
NZ
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Better
|
44
|
42
|
47
|
41
|
50
|
40
|
57
|
45
|
43
|
51
|
Same
|
32
|
32
|
29
|
37
|
33
|
33
|
24
|
32
|
32
|
27
|
Worse
|
14
|
18
|
11
|
14
|
11
|
16
|
12
|
15
|
14
|
14
|
Don’t know
|
10
|
8
|
13
|
8
|
6
|
11
|
7
|
8
|
11
|
8
|
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“Australians have entered 2019 in a more positive frame of mind than a year ago with 44% expecting 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018 an increase of 13% points from a year ago.
“Only 14% of Australians expect 2019 will be ‘worse’ than 2018, less than half the result a year ago when 30% of respondents expected 2018 would be ‘worse’ than 2017. As it turned out Consumer Confidence in 2018 averaged 118.5, its highest since 2013.
“Younger Australians are easily the most optimistic about 2019 with a majority of Australians aged 18-34 years old expecting 2019 will be ‘better’ than 2018 while only 28% of Australians aged over 50 are positive about 2019.
“The first half of 2019 is set to be dominated by political discussions with a key New South Wales State election scheduled for late March and a Federal Election expected only a few weeks later in mid-May.
“The expectation for many is that Australia is set to see a change of Government at this year’s Federal Election with Bill Shorten becoming Australia’s third Prime Minister in under a year.”
Finding No. 7840 – This special Roy Morgan web survey was conducted with a representative cross-section of 1,028 Australians on December 13-14, 2018. They were asked “Do you think that 2019 will be better, worse, or the same as 2018?”
Next Year – Better or Worse? (Australia)
“As far as you are concerned, do you think that 2019 will be better, worse, or the same as 2018?”
|
1980
|
1981
|
1982
|
1983
|
1984
|
1985
|
1986
|
1987
|
1988
|
1989
|
1990
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Better
|
42
|
43
|
32
|
57
|
57
|
52
|
36
|
39
|
47
|
43
|
33
|
Same
|
33
|
26
|
22
|
24
|
25
|
24
|
23
|
21
|
22
|
22
|
18
|
Worse
|
25
|
31
|
46
|
19
|
18
|
24
|
41
|
40
|
31
|
35
|
49
|
TOTAL
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996*
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Better
|
54
|
42
|
60
|
65
|
53
|
n/a
|
50
|
55
|
49
|
46
|
53
|
Same
|
20
|
22
|
22
|
19
|
29
|
n/a
|
28
|
25
|
30
|
33
|
21
|
Worse
|
26
|
36
|
18
|
16
|
18
|
n/a
|
22
|
20
|
21
|
21
|
26
|
TOTAL
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2017
|
2018
|
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
Better
|
51
|
68
|
61
|
49
|
47
|
53
|
49
|
66
|
31
|
44
|
Same
|
16
|
17
|
22
|
22
|
25
|
24
|
17
|
18
|
39
|
32
|
Worse
|
33
|
15
|
17
|
29
|
28
|
23
|
34
|
16
|
30
|
14
|
Don’t know
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
n/a
|
10
|
TOTAL
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
*This survey wasn’t conducted in 1996 and between 2010-2016.
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Roy Morgan - Enquiries
Office: +61 (03) 9224 5309
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