How Australian money habits compare

Bulgarians want to buy whatever they want, Italians to provide for their family and Australians to eliminate debt, according to a global survey on attitudes to wealth by research firm Synovate.

Australians are not alone in prioritising debt repayment – it was the most common aspiration for consumers in developed markets, with interviewees in Canada and Britain also more likely to rank it number one.

The second most common financial priority for Australians is owning their own home, and the third affording food and accommodation, according to the survey of 12,500 people around the world.

By contrast, consumers in emerging markets were more likely to nominate providing for their family and saving for a “rainy day” as their chief financial objective.

The pattern was not consistent across developed and emerging markets, however. For example, despite their relative wealth, Germans nominated putting food on the table and a roof over their heads as their main definition of financial success, while in Russia fully self-funded retirement is the main objective.

The most consumerist nations in the world appear to be those in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, with people in both those countries nominating being able to buy whatever they want as their prime financial objective.

The British were the biggest buyers of lottery tickets in an effort to boost their financial success, while Argentineans and Russians were the least likely to believe that more money results in more happiness.