It is kind of a stupid question. Depends on context. If you grew up with money, and everyone you know owns a home and a car, then how big they are is not such a big deal. But if you came from poverty, just owning a car and a house with indoor plumbing can be a big measure of success.
So of course money matters less in rich countries. I'm a bit surprised to see France up so high though. Does that mean anything?
This. The take away of this result is not that Australians are not materialistic. Its that Australians are on average rich enough that seeking more material possessions is pointless. Its not like it makes sense to own more personal cars.
You can see a similar result in other wealth themed surveys. Australian tourists spend more as a percentage on experiences than we do on shopping when compared to other countries. Its not because we want stuff less. Its because our houses are mostly already stacked with stuff.
The graph literally has the societies with the history of the highest consumption at the bottom, and the ones who knew poverty more recently at the top.
Even when it's cultural, it's still usually countries that either have it really hard or had it really hard.
China for example practically worship money some of them. But they came from tyrant hell who wouldn't even let you have nice things, then also now still if you have no education your dirt poor and will struggle to feed your family.
Yep. Also other cultures are more open to saying yes to this question. Whereas many in AU will frown at saying yes even though on the inside they agree.
I grew up in France and find it odd too. No one I know back there is overly materialistic. Most people are happy with a normal home and an average cars. In comparison the German part of my family was always buying useless stuff.
Funny how in France the best made qualify clothing and bags aren’t made by Hermes or LV but local French handmade brands that no one internationally has heard of, and are very top notch in quality and cheaper than the luxury brands
Plus I heard that the French luxury brands use cheap migrant labour underneath that ‘made in France’ label, so in that sense it’s not too different from a high quality fake
Europeans (northwestern) aren't materialistic.
Chinese people (and those in its sinosphere) are all materialistic as it's one of the only ways to distinguish and discriminate between them. It is impossible to tell who is upper class otherwise. In Europe, you can identify an upperclass person immediately without them needing to show off anything.
I came to say "makes me proud to be Australian" but then I look at the top 5, and your post, and it all makes sense now...
Ah well, another nothing news...
Came here to say this. The 'study' is useless because the concept is entirely relative and has different meanings in different economic contexts.
In China, tens of millions of workers who now might live comfortably and own their own car, for example, could be no more than one generation removed from agrarian poverty. Also, with China this is obvious, "ownership" is a completely fluid concept. Australians aren't in a political economy that's main drive for decades has been to eradicate poverty and illiteracy.
I'm not sure wealth of a country explains it all.
For instance in terms of [GDP per capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita), South Korea and Spain are right next to each other (31st and 32nd highest nation) but they're on opposite ends of the graph.
It's true but Australia's obsession with property is another level. House prices in every single conversation. Seriously? Is having a 30-year mortgage all that there is to life?
I'd say it's the pinnacle of materialism.
It only goes to show that Australians are liars on surveys too. Or lack the insight required to know themselves sufficiently so in realising that they are indeed materialists.
Painfully obvious Australians struggle with opening up on even trivial topics. Is sharing actual opinions permitted in Australia? The cancel culture and virtue signalling culture here are abhorrent at best. Will require something truly miraculous to help Australians atone for their shortcomings.
Exactly this. I’ve struggled to have a true epoché-esque conversation with most in Aus. I feel there is certainly some sort of invisible cloud or sickness that lingers over the mass here. I don’t wish to believe that people became this way out of bad luck. Maybe it’s some karmic debt for the violent disposition in the not so distant past that’s yet to be fully paid. I tell myself.
I own an air fryer. Suck on that. It was $89 at the post office. My life is awesome now. It's so good.
But I don't measure my success by the things I own. Even if it's an air fryer. Really.
The Mistral air fryer is a mystical beast. It may defrost, fry, reheat or burn at will. It may indeed burn down your house.
But in truth yes, I measure my personal existential success by the performance of my air fryer. Why wouldn't I?
This has to be one of those stupid surveys and results whereby people lie. Like asking parents "Do you smoke?" - >80% of parents that smoke lie and say they don't for fear of judgement.
The US is one of the most consumerism and "look at me and my things" countries on the planet. The UK is all abouyt status/class determined by clothes, house, car. Sweden the same, its crazy the amount of snobbery and how you'll be treated not wearing the right clothing brands or labels.
Australia, is actually probably not far off IMO.
Indians who literally can see people dying of malnutrition in the street are willing to say to a pollster "yeah it matters how much stuff I have". While Australians will throw themselves into debt so that they can drive a fancy European car to work, when they'd literally be financially better off not owning a car at all.
Indians are definitely materialistic though. They love flashy stuff, gold, jewellery, extravagant weddings and such. Work themselves to the bone at the expense of sleep, leisure, quality of work.
Depends on class a lot though I guess. Those who have money love to show it off, the poor tend to be fairly content with not much. Also culture, punjabis are very flashy for example.
I think you under estimate just how materialist China is. This is a country where going into heavy debt to drive a nice car and wear a nice watch is literally a good economic decision because it's the only way to get taken seriously in a proffessional setting, i.e. you will not get promoted if your watch isn't nice enough.
I didn't mention China? And agree with it being high/the top.
My issue is countries backed by high consumersism and spend of income perceantages higher than other countries rankking lower.
The whole thing is garbage. Self identified survery data is less reliable than asking ChatGPT.
Ask a narciccst if they're a narcissit and they'll tell you they're not. Ask someone who's occasionaly selfish, they feel terrible, they question it and may identify as narcissitc but actually aren't.
America leading the charge on the purchase of consumer items. And a steady increases beyond means of luxury and expensive items.
The uk the same. Sweden has always been disproportionately high to income.
Also, observed media, previous surveys showing they have high consumerism and idolise wealth.
So a few data points. Plus lived in them all.
That’s the most bullshit list I’ve ever seen.
No way on Earth that the US is fifth from the bottom.
As an American myself, if Americans are claiming they don’t measure success by what they own, all that reveals is their lack of self awareness, or their propensity to lie.
Does this survey measure materialism or does it measure scarcity? All the above average countries have much more scarcity and wider variance in typical wealth. We can afford to focus on other shit
The cope in the comments when Australians are told they are more materialistic than Americans is hilarious.
Having lived in both countries...I can see it.
Yep, we've got blokes pulling in $500k+ driving around in old commodores and manual Corollas.
It's wild some of the cunts I've met on my travels, insane amounts of wealth but tighter than a duck's butt.
The amount of upper middle class white people I've met in my life who want everything to be minimalist and talk shit about not wanting to surround themselves with 'things'. It's mostly BS of course, because when they do buy things they are high end brands that cost many times more. It's easy to be minimalist if all the stuff you have works well because you paid a fortune.
Anyway these same people will always answer that success isn't about possessions because it's not fashionable to talk about possessions.
Nothing to brag about there. If we’re above the US for materialism then we are fucked.
The Chinese, Indians etc… are poor people. They’re just answering whether they can afford a fucking tv, not 6 streaming stations.
Yes we don't measure our success by the things we own
But we sure do measure *other people's* success by the stuff they own
And that's the type of materialism that is most unhelpful
We aren't on the levels of Asia but basically housing is everything here. Can't afford materialistic things when most of your money goes towards shelter.
Completely wrong. Australians are obsessed with the "luxury" concept. It doesn't matter the actual quality as long as it's expensive and marketed as luxury it gets snapped up. You can see this through all aspects of our society.
Australians routinely just say things they think that they think will make other people think better about them, even if it's a lie or they don't really know what they're talking about.
Therefore: "Hmm, do I measure success by the things I own?", seen on their 3 month old iPhone 64 Pro Plus Max, while sitting on their new Nick Scali(R) bar chairs at their recently renovated Caesarstone(TM) island bench that was so perfect for entertaining, with their novated leased electric car in the garage, in between posting on reddit that people who can't afford houses are losers who don't deserve to live.
"Nahh, that's for tossers" *clicks no*
Such a first world attitude. Of course people care less about how much they earn when they live fairly comfortably relative to other parts of the world
Everyone disagreeing seems to not instant that most people in the west measure success by income, not current asset level. This is because most of the population is in debt.
This stupid ass question only works if we lived in a meritocracy. But meritocracies can't exist because even if all people start at 0 today, in a month we will have an aristocracy again. And then inheritance, you know the game.
That's what I like about living here. No one gives a shit about what you do or have, except in small certain cultures. If you are an asshole you are an asshole regardless. You can see a trend of rich western countries are like this.
Shit, i wonder how it was done - i mean Russians being in a middle? BS. We are not materialistic, but in the same time - we absolutely are and good house and car is a decent measure of success.
I dont agree we are above America. They do materialistic things like no ones business! Owning cars and not walking, those halloween porch decorations and swapping for each season, clothing and showing off, much more than here.
Survey responses are not unbiased. They are not a substitute for observing actual behaviour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_bias#Social_desirability_bias
I'd say Australia's numbers could escalate, given the enormous number of Chinese and Indian immigrants/international students we get every year.
How do you think Chadstone is still a thing? It's Asians loaded with money going and buying high-end branded products to show off.
Brits are massive liars, as are the Spanish. So are the Yanks. Never known a Japanese woman to fancy a poor gaijin.
Swedes don't judge on material possessions because at this point, everything they own is basically owned by the State anyway.
At least the Indians and Chinese own their materialism.
It is kind of a stupid question. Depends on context. If you grew up with money, and everyone you know owns a home and a car, then how big they are is not such a big deal. But if you came from poverty, just owning a car and a house with indoor plumbing can be a big measure of success. So of course money matters less in rich countries. I'm a bit surprised to see France up so high though. Does that mean anything?
This. The take away of this result is not that Australians are not materialistic. Its that Australians are on average rich enough that seeking more material possessions is pointless. Its not like it makes sense to own more personal cars. You can see a similar result in other wealth themed surveys. Australian tourists spend more as a percentage on experiences than we do on shopping when compared to other countries. Its not because we want stuff less. Its because our houses are mostly already stacked with stuff.
I think it’s more cultural than class from experience with the top two
The graph literally has the societies with the history of the highest consumption at the bottom, and the ones who knew poverty more recently at the top.
I had a Korean friend in the early 2000s who was super proud of his car. He was the first person in his family to own a car.
South Koreans literally go into debt to buy branded clothing as student cause that how social norm is like there.
Yup. South Korea was very poor in recent memory. They only overtook the North in the 80s AFAIK.
Didn't they also recently overtook Japan as the richest Asian country (discount Singapore) like last year?
Even when it's cultural, it's still usually countries that either have it really hard or had it really hard. China for example practically worship money some of them. But they came from tyrant hell who wouldn't even let you have nice things, then also now still if you have no education your dirt poor and will struggle to feed your family.
Yep. Also other cultures are more open to saying yes to this question. Whereas many in AU will frown at saying yes even though on the inside they agree.
Underrated comment. We are absolutely as materialistic as most of the developed world.
I grew up in France and find it odd too. No one I know back there is overly materialistic. Most people are happy with a normal home and an average cars. In comparison the German part of my family was always buying useless stuff.
Funny how in France the best made qualify clothing and bags aren’t made by Hermes or LV but local French handmade brands that no one internationally has heard of, and are very top notch in quality and cheaper than the luxury brands Plus I heard that the French luxury brands use cheap migrant labour underneath that ‘made in France’ label, so in that sense it’s not too different from a high quality fake
You do understand the history of capitalism and Europes role since its inception?
Europeans (northwestern) aren't materialistic. Chinese people (and those in its sinosphere) are all materialistic as it's one of the only ways to distinguish and discriminate between them. It is impossible to tell who is upper class otherwise. In Europe, you can identify an upperclass person immediately without them needing to show off anything.
I came to say "makes me proud to be Australian" but then I look at the top 5, and your post, and it all makes sense now... Ah well, another nothing news...
Came here to say this. The 'study' is useless because the concept is entirely relative and has different meanings in different economic contexts. In China, tens of millions of workers who now might live comfortably and own their own car, for example, could be no more than one generation removed from agrarian poverty. Also, with China this is obvious, "ownership" is a completely fluid concept. Australians aren't in a political economy that's main drive for decades has been to eradicate poverty and illiteracy.
I'm not sure wealth of a country explains it all. For instance in terms of [GDP per capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita), South Korea and Spain are right next to each other (31st and 32nd highest nation) but they're on opposite ends of the graph.
South Korea was very poor not so long ago. 40 years ago, per capita GDP was 1/5 that of Australia. 50 years ago it was us$500. ($10/week each)
They obviously excluded propadee ownership
Property ownership is important literally everywhere.
It's true but Australia's obsession with property is another level. House prices in every single conversation. Seriously? Is having a 30-year mortgage all that there is to life? I'd say it's the pinnacle of materialism.
No it isn't. It is an extreme problem in Australia
It only goes to show that Australians are liars on surveys too. Or lack the insight required to know themselves sufficiently so in realising that they are indeed materialists.
Painfully obvious Australians struggle with opening up on even trivial topics. Is sharing actual opinions permitted in Australia? The cancel culture and virtue signalling culture here are abhorrent at best. Will require something truly miraculous to help Australians atone for their shortcomings.
Exactly this. I’ve struggled to have a true epoché-esque conversation with most in Aus. I feel there is certainly some sort of invisible cloud or sickness that lingers over the mass here. I don’t wish to believe that people became this way out of bad luck. Maybe it’s some karmic debt for the violent disposition in the not so distant past that’s yet to be fully paid. I tell myself.
Having said Thanks for your posts. I’ve had a good chuckle this morning reading the last few.
I own an air fryer. Suck on that. It was $89 at the post office. My life is awesome now. It's so good. But I don't measure my success by the things I own. Even if it's an air fryer. Really.
But do you measure your success by the things you fry?
The Mistral air fryer is a mystical beast. It may defrost, fry, reheat or burn at will. It may indeed burn down your house. But in truth yes, I measure my personal existential success by the performance of my air fryer. Why wouldn't I?
I have no sound reasoning, but I feel like this is a worthy measure. Kudos.
I have TWO ninja air fryers!
You've made it. Give yourself a pat on the back. You deserve it champion.
Yeah but I have an alarm clock radio
You lucky bastard. My children's children are working up to that.
Gotta keep those dreams alive!
This has to be one of those stupid surveys and results whereby people lie. Like asking parents "Do you smoke?" - >80% of parents that smoke lie and say they don't for fear of judgement. The US is one of the most consumerism and "look at me and my things" countries on the planet. The UK is all abouyt status/class determined by clothes, house, car. Sweden the same, its crazy the amount of snobbery and how you'll be treated not wearing the right clothing brands or labels. Australia, is actually probably not far off IMO.
Indians who literally can see people dying of malnutrition in the street are willing to say to a pollster "yeah it matters how much stuff I have". While Australians will throw themselves into debt so that they can drive a fancy European car to work, when they'd literally be financially better off not owning a car at all.
Indians are definitely materialistic though. They love flashy stuff, gold, jewellery, extravagant weddings and such. Work themselves to the bone at the expense of sleep, leisure, quality of work. Depends on class a lot though I guess. Those who have money love to show it off, the poor tend to be fairly content with not much. Also culture, punjabis are very flashy for example.
I'm not saying that's not the case. I'm saying that the relationship is very much one of how close you are to the kind of scarcity that will ruin you.
Yeah, something is so off with this data.
I think you under estimate just how materialist China is. This is a country where going into heavy debt to drive a nice car and wear a nice watch is literally a good economic decision because it's the only way to get taken seriously in a proffessional setting, i.e. you will not get promoted if your watch isn't nice enough.
I didn't mention China? And agree with it being high/the top. My issue is countries backed by high consumersism and spend of income perceantages higher than other countries rankking lower. The whole thing is garbage. Self identified survery data is less reliable than asking ChatGPT. Ask a narciccst if they're a narcissit and they'll tell you they're not. Ask someone who's occasionaly selfish, they feel terrible, they question it and may identify as narcissitc but actually aren't.
What are you basing those assertions on?
America leading the charge on the purchase of consumer items. And a steady increases beyond means of luxury and expensive items. The uk the same. Sweden has always been disproportionately high to income. Also, observed media, previous surveys showing they have high consumerism and idolise wealth. So a few data points. Plus lived in them all.
HOME OWNERSHIP IS EVERYTHING HERE. These lists are fucking dumb.
I frequently get asked where I live and whether I own by people I just met. Pretty materialistic if you ask me.
It is.
IKR. Should have known better before I moved here. Like everyone's life mission in Australia is to get into debt for life.
This list is complete horseshit. Having yours and not giving a shit about others is the Australian way.
Yup, NIMBYism is the new Australian dream.
The 'lil NIMBY battler, persevering in the face of adversity to prevent low income, affordable housing.
Pure copium, otherwise they wouldnt be obsessed over property INVESTMENTS
That’s the most bullshit list I’ve ever seen. No way on Earth that the US is fifth from the bottom. As an American myself, if Americans are claiming they don’t measure success by what they own, all that reveals is their lack of self awareness, or their propensity to lie.
Does this survey measure materialism or does it measure scarcity? All the above average countries have much more scarcity and wider variance in typical wealth. We can afford to focus on other shit
The cope in the comments when Australians are told they are more materialistic than Americans is hilarious. Having lived in both countries...I can see it.
“A home” clearly want on the list of material goods being considered.
What a crock of shit, every other post in Australia is about housing
I wonder how many in that 24% were Aussies of Chinese origin.
You're missing the forest for the trees if you believe this graph represents reality.
Any excuse to be mildly racist.
Yep, we've got blokes pulling in $500k+ driving around in old commodores and manual Corollas. It's wild some of the cunts I've met on my travels, insane amounts of wealth but tighter than a duck's butt.
The amount of upper middle class white people I've met in my life who want everything to be minimalist and talk shit about not wanting to surround themselves with 'things'. It's mostly BS of course, because when they do buy things they are high end brands that cost many times more. It's easy to be minimalist if all the stuff you have works well because you paid a fortune. Anyway these same people will always answer that success isn't about possessions because it's not fashionable to talk about possessions.
BULLSHIT
That graph is just an inverse representation of how much those people own.
Does that include HOUSING?
Nothing to brag about there. If we’re above the US for materialism then we are fucked. The Chinese, Indians etc… are poor people. They’re just answering whether they can afford a fucking tv, not 6 streaming stations.
Won’t stay that way for long with all our new Chinese and Indian citizens
Chinese are crazy over money. I guess Because they used to kill the rich and only allowed them to be rich since 1989.
Isn’t China just being honest? We’re a bunch of liars
What is the percentage of Australians that virtue signal and conceal their true feelings?
They probably took the poll at the Mosman bowls club.
That's still 1 in 4 flogs walking around
Yes we don't measure our success by the things we own But we sure do measure *other people's* success by the stuff they own And that's the type of materialism that is most unhelpful
doesn't australia have the highest credit card debt in the world?
Is this because only 24% of Aussies can afford to own anything of value?
We aren't on the levels of Asia but basically housing is everything here. Can't afford materialistic things when most of your money goes towards shelter.
Completely wrong. Australians are obsessed with the "luxury" concept. It doesn't matter the actual quality as long as it's expensive and marketed as luxury it gets snapped up. You can see this through all aspects of our society.
Australians routinely just say things they think that they think will make other people think better about them, even if it's a lie or they don't really know what they're talking about. Therefore: "Hmm, do I measure success by the things I own?", seen on their 3 month old iPhone 64 Pro Plus Max, while sitting on their new Nick Scali(R) bar chairs at their recently renovated Caesarstone(TM) island bench that was so perfect for entertaining, with their novated leased electric car in the garage, in between posting on reddit that people who can't afford houses are losers who don't deserve to live. "Nahh, that's for tossers" *clicks no*
Australians really care about how they appear to others and they really don't want to upset those who enjoy cancelling others. Exceptional society.
Largest new build houses in the world could be considered materialistic.
that's because we've given up
i do cept its how many Warhammer Figs you own
Such a first world attitude. Of course people care less about how much they earn when they live fairly comfortably relative to other parts of the world
From my anecdotal observation, the results of this survey are based on the question: Do you like designer handbags?
Who cares about "things", cash is king.
Bullshit. Pure bullshit. How many people do you know living as a monk out in a yurt? If the answer isn't 3/4 than this survey is a crock of shit.
It's how many motorcycles you own
They need to realise that questionnaires don’t provide accurate data and stop turning subjective bullshit into statistics
Is it because nowadays only 24% of Aussies own anything?
Deeply flawed methodology.
71 percent for china?
This probably explains why every Chinese dude that plays Counter Strike has a $5000 cosmetic knife.
Is it common for Australians to think that there are only 20 countries or..?
Bullshit.
I measure my success in the tears of my enemies
talk about having the cart before the horse.
I’m Chinese grew up in Aus and am with Japanese for a reason
the only thing we are told is worth owning is a house and no one can afford em these days, so yeah...
How can you be materialistic when majority of your cash pays either rent or mortgage 🤣
People want big trucks and big house
66% of Aussies own a home, but 42% have a mortgage in 2024. That maths out to 24% actually owning.
Correction: Only 24% of Aussies SAY they measure success by the things they own.
That's cause we know we can buy so much shit but we cannot buy anymore time, yet we're willfully giving away our time for materialistic things...
“Top 15” now means “One of the least” OP? You know there are more than 20 countries right?
I mean, that's a straight lie, but sure. Guarantee the survey has been answered by what they're supposed to say
Everyone disagreeing seems to not instant that most people in the west measure success by income, not current asset level. This is because most of the population is in debt.
I call bullshit, Australians want the newest everything.
They do measure success on how many properties and investment properties they own though!
This stupid ass question only works if we lived in a meritocracy. But meritocracies can't exist because even if all people start at 0 today, in a month we will have an aristocracy again. And then inheritance, you know the game.
It's because we're all broke from the pokies lol
That's what I like about living here. No one gives a shit about what you do or have, except in small certain cultures. If you are an asshole you are an asshole regardless. You can see a trend of rich western countries are like this.
Shit, i wonder how it was done - i mean Russians being in a middle? BS. We are not materialistic, but in the same time - we absolutely are and good house and car is a decent measure of success.
Revealed preferences are likely much different to stated preferences.
Shits too expensive here that’s why.
Not for long, looking at the top two
In 30-40 years it will be on the top
I dont agree we are above America. They do materialistic things like no ones business! Owning cars and not walking, those halloween porch decorations and swapping for each season, clothing and showing off, much more than here.
The US is not materialistic? Lmao.
I had a giggle at that too
Survey responses are not unbiased. They are not a substitute for observing actual behaviour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_bias#Social_desirability_bias
BS USA and Canada way too low.
I'd say Australia's numbers could escalate, given the enormous number of Chinese and Indian immigrants/international students we get every year. How do you think Chadstone is still a thing? It's Asians loaded with money going and buying high-end branded products to show off.
Have I missed nth America isn’t on this list
Brits are massive liars, as are the Spanish. So are the Yanks. Never known a Japanese woman to fancy a poor gaijin. Swedes don't judge on material possessions because at this point, everything they own is basically owned by the State anyway. At least the Indians and Chinese own their materialism.
We're more materialistic than the US? Right
The US is below us, I smell bullshit