Muslim wellbeing in Australia: an analysis of personal and national wellbeing among a sample of Muslims living in New South Wales and Victoria

Abstract

This article examines the subjective personal and national wellbeing of a purpose-selected sample of Muslims (n = 509 for PW and n = 544 for NW) living in New South Wales and Victoria over 2007 and 2008, using the Personal Wellbeing (PWI) and National Wellbeing (NWI) indices from the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index (AUWI) survey. The PWI looks at satisfaction with life across seven proximal domains: health, personal relationships, safety, standard of living, achieving, community connectedness, and future security, whereas the NWI deals with national satisfaction across six distal domains: the economy, the environment, social conditions, governance, business, and national security. Thus, this article asks: What is the state of subjective wellbeing among Muslims in Australia, particularly in comparison to the general population? It confirms that average Muslim personal wellbeing is comparable to that of the general Australian population, and that national wellbeing of Muslims averages lower than the general population, but still within normative ranges. It nevertheless finds there are differences between the general population and Muslims in some of the specific domains used to assess personal and national wellbeing, namely those of safety, future security, and satisfaction with government.