New analysis from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows how Australians spend their spare time.
The ABS found men had more leisure time than women across all generations. It also found that Millennials had the least downtime, followed closely by Gen Xers.
Swipe for some other insights.
Gen Z (1996-2005)
Gen Zs spend about five hours on leisure a day.
They spend the most amount of time playing digital or video games. Gen Z men spend about 3 hours and 24 minutes gaming per day.
While Gen Z had the lowest proportion of people who read every day, those who did read spent the most time reading — over two hours.
Gen Z also spent the most time exercising.
Millennials (1981-1995)
Millennials spent about 3.5 hours in recreation per day — the lowest among all generations.
They spent the least time of all Australians watching TV, movies, and videos. This metric excluded time spent watching TV with kids.
Millennial men spent more time exercising than Millennial women.
Gen X (1966-1980)
Gen X males spent significantly more time on the internet and using digital devices than their female counterparts.
About one-quarter of Gen X females read books, newspapers, or magazines in their spare time — double the proportion of men who do the same.
Boomers (1946-1965)
Baby Boomers spent just over five hours in leisure each day.
Over three hours were spent watching TV, movies and video, while about a third read on any given day.
Over an hour was spent exercising.
Interwar (1945 or earlier)
Interwar Aussies spent 25% of any given day in recreation — the largest among all generations.
About half read on any given day. Almost all watched TV on any given day.
The data
The Australian Bureau of Statistics used data from a nationally representative time-use survey.
It was taken from November 2020 to July 2021, when COVID-19 measures prevented many recreational activities from occurring.
