Australia has one of the lowest rates of home ownership among rich countries as the dream of owning a home fades for young people and the lowly paid.

The latest report card into the nation's wellbeing also found welfare spending increased by $40 billion in the past decade, growing to 9.5 per cent of gross domestic product.

Australia has one of the lowest rates of home ownership among OECD countries, according to a new report.

Rates of home ownership - either with or without a mortgage - declined "modestly" over the past two decades - from 71 per cent in 1994–95 to 67 per cent in 2013–14, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report Australia's welfare 2017.

This put Australia 29th among the 35 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind Hungary, the Czech Republic, Iceland and Ireland.