A report has found people who live in the city fare better in terms of health, education, employment and wealth than their rural counterparts.

Roy Morgan researchers also found in their nationwide survey of 50,000 people that rural residents are more likely to have conservative beliefs.

The study found the economy was the most important issue for people, with 46 per cent of city residents saying it is a concern compared to 40 per cent of country respondents.

This is a change from 2007 when most respondents said the environment was their major concern.

In the latest study, 16 per cent of people in the capital cities were concerned about the environment compared to 8 per cent in the country.

Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine told ABC News Breakfast the data also found people living in the country were often not as healthy.

"People living in the country are actually drinking more, they're smoking more, they're more likely to be overweight, they're less likely to be doing physical exercise or to be engaging in going to the gym and really taking care of themselves," she said.

Ms Levine says business confidence is lower in rural areas.

"As a result of that, they're less likely to be planning to employ people in the country, less likely to be planning to invest in their business in the country," she said.

"So there is some fairly worrying news there, I think, on the employment front."

Most important issues facing Australia Economic 44% Environment 13% Terrorism 2% Government, political and human rights 22% Social 8% Energy 2% Health 4% Source: Roy Morgan Qualitative Research

In the country, however, mining is the most confident industry by a large amount.

The report found education levels were better in the city, with a greater proportion of city residents holding a university degree.

It found unemployment rates were higher in the country, with the younger generation most likely to be unemployed in both regions.

And it found city residents are more likely to live in larger households.

Racial background

When looking at country of birth, a higher proportion of country residents were born in Australia compared to those living in the city.

Apart from those born in Australia, the second most prevalent racial background in the city was Asian, whereas in the country it was those born in the UK and Ireland.

"In the country, predominantly people are Australian-born. So something like 84 per cent of people living outside the capital cities are born in Australia, whereas in the capital cities it's only about 63 per cent, 64 per cent," Ms Levine said.

"There's a much lager influx of people from other countries and particularly from Asia.

"In city areas, 13 or 14 per cent of people were born in Asia, whereas in the country areas that's less than 3 per cent.

"So there's a real difference there in terms of a multicultural outlook, which I think has a lot to do with those conservative attitudes that we are seeing coming through in the country areas."

Ms Levine says over the past 10 years, Australians' concerns have shifted from border security to the environment to the economy.

"In 2005 when we started asking people this question, the biggest issue facing Australians was things to do with terrorism and border security," she said.

"Then we started to get concerned about the environment, so by the end of 2007, 2008 it was all about the environment, that was our biggest worry.

"And then we had the global financial crisis, and our worries turned to everything economic."