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Australians are in a record amount of debt

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Debt agreements reached a record level in 2016-17.

Numbers released today by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) show that debt agreements have reached record levels in 2016-17, a trend that has become an annual tradition since 2011-12.

Debt agreements have increased 11.9% this year compared to 2015-16 and there were record debt agreements in every state and territory bar Tasmania. Personal insolvencies are also on the rise, with an increase of 2.1% from 2015-16 and bankruptcies have increased 5.1%.

The AFSA publishes annual statistics for personal insolvency which includes bankruptcies, debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements. Interestingly, bankruptcies have fallen every year since 2009-10 except in 2015-16 when they increased by 0.2%. Almost on par with debt agreements, personal insolvency agreements reached their highest level in 2016-17 (244) since 2012-13.

The graphs below show the state-by-state breakdown of personal insolvencies in 2016-17 compared to 2015-16 and a breakdown of debt numbers by state.

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