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AUSTRALIANS are more wealthy than ever but many still have trouble paying their household bills.
A government snapshot of the nation reveals that while the average disposable household income has increased markedly in the past decade, about a quarter of Australian families have had at least one cashflow problem in the past year.
The Australian Social Trends 2004 report also reveals that while more than half the nation's households live free of debt, a quarter owe more than $5000 on their credit cards or car loans.
And while renters were less likely to suffer a cash flow crisis than those who owned property, 70 per cent of families had taken the financial plunge and pursued the great Australian dream of buying their own home.
On social measures the report reveals that Australians are having fewer children and are more educated than they were a quarter of a century ago.
The average Australian couple has fewer than two children.
The current national fertility rate of only 1,75 children a couple is about half of what it was at the peak of the post-war baby boom.
Of the children being born, one-in-five is born to a mother aged over 35.
About half of all mothers with children aged under five work - leading to a record rise in demand for formal child care.
The report also says that high school retention rates rose during the 1980s and 1990ss and more people gained tertiary qualifications.
The study also confirmed that a university degree is the ticket to not only employment but to the most lucrative jobs.
The report dispels as a myth the belief that only older retired couples are seeking a so-called "sea change" by moving to the coast.
Almost four out of five new residents of the nation's fast-growing coastal areas are aged under 50.
And it says that while most Australians consider themselves religious people, only one-in-four regularly attend church or organised religious gatherings.
The report predicts that Australia's population will reach 26 million by 2051 - by which time people aged 65 and over would account for 27 per cent of the population, compared with 13 per cent in 2002.