- Approximately 2.1 million Australians (aged 15 and over) are currently receiving welfare through either the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Disability Support Pension (DSP), Jobseeker, or Youth Allowance. This is approximately 425,000 higher than in 2018, before the NDIS was implemented in full and before the Covid lockdowns.
- Approximately 86% of the growth to the total number of people on welfare since 2018 is from the NDIS.
- From 2013 to 2018, the total number on welfare declined by around 115,000, which is around 23,000 per year on average. If this trend had continued until 2023, there would be around 1.5 million on welfare, instead of 2.1 million, a difference of 600,000.
- There are 190,000 more Australians aged 65 and over who are receiving non-pension welfare than in 2013—an increase of over 500%—from 34,000 to 225,000.
- All up, 61% of increase to welfare since 2013 is from those aged 65 and over.
Table 1: Percentage of total population on welfare—including NDIS, DSP, Jobseeker, or Youth Allowance (does not include age pension)
