More Aussies feeling cold winds of global downturn

More than half of all Australians feel they have been personally affected by the global downturn, despite the nation's strong economy.

Around 58 per cent of respondents said they believed they had been personally affected by the global financial crisis, nine percentage points more than last year, a survey by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found.

BCG consumer practice leader in Australia and New Zealand James Goth said consumers were behaving as if the economy was in crisis, despite its strong performance and the low unemployment rate.

"We might be half a world away from the European financial crisis and the high unemployment levels of the Northern Hemisphere, but Australian consumers are just as battered and cautious as those in the US, the UK and many other developed countries."

The percentage of Australian correspondents feeling "affected" compared well to 74 per cent in the US and 69 per cent in the UK, but was much higher than China's 44 per cent.

Consumer confidence in eurozone nations varied widely, with 78 per cent in Spain, 73 per cent in Italy and 69 per cent in France reporting they were personally affected.

However, this dropped to 35 per cent in Germany.

Goth said concerns of local consumers were much higher than a year ago when Australia was included in BCG's global survey for the first time.

The survey found that 50 per cent of Australians intended to spend less on discretionary items, compared to 47 per cent last year.

This was more than US consumers, at 46 per cent, and the same as European Union consumers, on 50 per cent.

Surprisingly, a similar percentage of Australians, 22 per cent, felt insecure about their job in the current year as Americans, 23 per cent, French, 22 per cent, and Germans, 25 per cent.

The BCG's 11th annual Consumer Sentiment Survey was conducted in April among 15,000 consumers in 16 countries.

- AAP