2nd May, 2008

Adult Aboriginals are still likely to live 17 years less than other Australians and infants living in indigenous communities three times more likely to die despite improvements in the health, education, employment and home ownership rate of indigenous Australians.

A new report from the Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that considerable gaps remain between the socio-economic condition of indigenous and other Australians.

But it does show there have been advances, with year 12 completion rates among indigenous people aged 15 or over increasing from 20 to 23 per cent between 2001 and 2006, unemployment rates for indigenous people aged between 15 and 64 years dropping from 20 per cent to 26 per cent over the same period, and the rate of home ownership among indigenous households rising from 31 per cent to 34 per cent.

However the report also shows that life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is 59-years-old for males and 65 for females compared with 77 for all Australian males and 82 for all females. It also found the infant mortality rate for indigenous children aged up to 14 years was around three times that of non-indigenous children during the period from 2001 to 2005.

As of June 2006, Australia’s indigenous population was estimated to be 517,200 or 2.5 per cent of Australia’s population.

~ www.aihw.gov.au

- DAVID ADAMS