A total of 28,286 young people between the ages of 15 and 19 responded to Mission Australia’s Youth Survey 2018. The largest number of responses came from New South Wales (29.0%), Queensland (20.4%) and Victoria (18.1%). Over half of the respondents (55.0%) were female, and just over one in seven (15.0%) respondents were born overseas. Nearly one in five (19.4%) young people spoke a language other than English at home. The level of reported disability in 2018 was 6.0%; slightly higher than in 2017 (4.8%). The vast majority of respondents were studying full-time (94.0%), which is consistent with the result of 94.9% in 2017. Around four in ten (42.1%) respondents were working part-time and over one third (34.7%) indicated that they were looking for work, which is again consistent with previous years.

1,594 (5.8%) respondents to Mission Australia’s Youth Survey 2018 identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Of this total, 1,277 (4.6%) respondents identified as Aboriginal, while 173 (0.6%) identified as Torres Strait Islander (the remaining 0.5% identified as both). Just under half (48.5%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents were male and 45.7% were female, while 16.7% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents indicated that they had a disability. In total, 3.8% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents reported speaking an Indigenous language at home.

The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people reported that they were studying full-time (83.3%), intended to complete year 12 (90.0%), and indicated that they were either very satisfied or satisfied with their studies (56.8%). Around four in ten Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents reported plans to go to university (42.6%) or to get a job (39.2%) after finishing school.