1003.0 - LEP Newsletter (Issue No. 57), Aug 2006  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/09/2006   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

MAP and AST - telling stories, not just statistics

ABS releases latest Measures of Australia's Progress

Measures of Australia’s Progress (MAP) presents 14 headline dimensions of Australian progress covering areas of life important to Australia and Australians.

MAP 2006 shows:

ü Health: During the past decade, Australian's health improved!

ü Education and Training: During the past 10 years, the Australian population became more educated!

ü National income: Australia experienced significant real income growth during the past decade.

ü Economic hardship: Between 1994-95 to 2003-04 the real income of 'less well-off' Australians grew by 22%!

ü National wealth: Real net worth per person increased by about 0.9% a year between 1995 and 2005.

ü Crime: Rates for personal crimes between 1998 and 2005 showed an increase from 4.8% to 5.3%, the same level as 2002.

ü The natural landscape: The available data suggests some decline in Australia's biodiversity in the past decade, partly encapsulated in a rise in the numbers of threatened bird and mammal species.

ü The Air and Atmosphere: The available indicators, such as the incidence of fine particle pollution in several cities, suggest that Australian air quality has improved during the past decade, despite increased motor vehicle use.

All this and much more in Measures of Australia’s Progress (ABS cat. no. 1370.0).


Australian Social Trends 2006

The ever popular Australian Social Trends (ABS cat. no. 4102.0) was released in July 2006, with a print copy sent to all LEP Libraries. Australian Social Trends (AST) describes aspects of Australian society, and how these are changing over time.

AST opens a window to Australia's social conditions, blending statistics and commentary on a wide range of current social issues. These include:

ü populationü education and trainingü housing
ü family and communityü workü environment
ü healthü economic resourcesü crime and justice

Each chapter is supported by a set of summary tables including key social indicators. The tables provide an overview of social change over the past decade showing how social conditions differ across Australian states and territories. A ninth chapter provides comparisons of Australia with other nations.

What's new in this issue?

ü Household expenditure patterns: In 2003–04, Australian households spent $893 per week on average on goods and services, an increase from
$362 in 1984.