Australians are better educated, hard-drinking and childless car addicts with massive mortgages and a growing penchant for alternative medicines, according to a new statistical snapshot.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) annual report on social trends says the number of people aged 25 to 64 with a degree, diploma or certificate jumped from 46 to 59 per cent between 1996 and 2006.
But despite better qualifications, almost half of all Australians aged 15 to 74 had literacy skills below the minimum level required to "meet the complex demands of a knowledge society", the report said.
The report also looked into fertility, showing the number of women of peak child-bearing age without kids is on the rise.
In 2006, 37 per cent of women aged 30 to 34 had no children, increasing from 29 per cent in 1996.
The report found Australians are still lukewarm on public transport, with just one in five adults using public transport to get to work or study in 2006.
Three-quarters used cars as their main form of transport, while five per cent either walked or cycled.
The report also looked into home ownership, finding the amount first home buyers borrowed to buy a house doubled in the 10 years to 2005-06.
The average loan per household rose to $213,000, as the average value of first-buyer homes rose to $310,000.
The proportion of first-home buyers purchasing new houses fell to 14 per cent, from 23 per cent.
The report gave further credence to claims the country is beset with a binge-drinking culture, finding about one in five men and one in six women aged 18 to 24 regularly drank risky amounts of alcohol in 2007.
While very few young people drank enough to be admitted to hospital, hospitalisation rates were up by 62 per cent for young men and doubled for young women in the seven years to 2005-06.
The number of people visiting a "complementary health professional" such as a chiropractor, naturopath or acupuncturist increased by 51 per cent in the decade to 2005, the report also found.
And for the first time more households are using broadband than dial-up to connect to the internet.
In the eight years to 2006-07, household internet connections jumped from 16 per cent to 64 per cent, with broadband accounting for between 50-75 per cent of connections.
The report also found trade union membership rates have almost halved overall in the two decades since 1986.