4715.0.55.006 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Summary Booklet, 2004-05  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/02/2007  First Issue
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Self-assessed health status


SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH STATUS
    A person's assessment of their own health may be influenced by how much they know or understand about health issues. It may also be influenced by their personal view of what 'good health' or 'poor health' means. 'Self-assessed health status' is an indicator of how healthy a group of people believe themselves to be.

    In 2004–05 over three-quarters (78%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported their health as either 'good', 'very good' or 'excellent', while 22% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reported their health as 'fair' or 'poor'. After accounting for age differences between the two populations, Indigenous people were almost twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to report their health as only fair or poor.


    Graph: Self-Assessed Health Status, Indigenous people aged 15 years and over