POPULATION DISTRIBUTION AND STRUCTURE

KEY FINDINGS

In the 2011 Census:

• 548,400 people identified and were counted as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin, an increase of 21% from the 2006 Census
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 2.5% of the 2011 Census count, up from 2.3% in 2006
• the median age of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 21 years, compared with 20 years in 2006.

POPULATION DISTRIBUTION

In the 2011 Census, 548,400 people identified and were counted as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin, representing 2.5% of the Census count.

New South Wales had the highest count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (172,600 or 32% of the national total), followed by Queensland (155,800 or 28%) and Western Australia (69,700 or 13%). Combined, these three states made up almost three-quarters (73%) of people who identified as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.

The Northern Territory had the highest proportion of the population counted as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin (27%), while Victoria had the lowest proportion at less than 1% of the state total.

	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people		Non- Indigenous people	Indigenous status unknown	Total		Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as proportion of total population
	no.	%	no	no.	no.		%
New South Wales	172 624	31.5	6 402 111	342 923	6 917 658		2.5
Victoria	37 991	6.9	5 069 156	246 893	5 354 040		0.7
Queensland	155 825	28.4	3 952 706	224 206	4 332 737		3.6
South Australia	30 431	5.5	1 503 205	62 934	1 596 570		1.9
Western Australia	69 665	12.7	2 038 786	130 719	2 239 170		3.1
Tasmania	19 625	3.6	456 345	19 380	495 350		4.0
Northern Territory	56 779	10.4	137 774	17 391	211 944		26.8
Australian Capital Territory	5 184	0.9	338 030	14 005	357 219		1.5
Australia(b)	548 370	100.0	19 900 764	1 058 586	21 507 719		2.5
(a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors. (b) Includes Other Territories. Note: Totals and components may not be consistent within and between tables due to introduced random error to protect confidentiality of Census respondents – see Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).

Of the states and territories, the highest proportional increases between the 2006 and 2011 Census for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were recorded in the Australian Capital Territory (34%), Victoria (26%) and New South Wales (25%).

	2006	2011		Change between 2006 and 2011
	no.	no.		%
New South Wales	138 507	172 624		24.6
Victoria	30 143	37 991		26.0
Queensland	127 580	155 825		22.1
South Australia	25 556	30 431		19.1
Western Australia	58 710	69 665		18.7
Tasmania	16 768	19 625		17.0
Northern Territory	53 661	56 779		5.8
Australian Capital Territory	3 875	5 184		33.8
Australia(b)	455 028	548 370		20.5
(a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors. (b) Includes Other Territories. Note: Totals and components may not be consistent within and between tables due to introduced random error to protect confidentiality of Census respondents – see Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).

More information on the population distribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is available in Census of Population and Housing – Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011 (cat. no. 2075.0).


POPULATION STRUCTURE

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has a younger age distribution than the non-Indigenous population with a median age of 21 years in the 2011 Census, compared with 38 years for non-Indigenous people. This is a small increase from 2006, when the median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 20 years. In 2011, the median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males and females was 20 years and 22 years respectively.

In the 2011 Census, children under the age of 15 years made up 36% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, compared with 19% of the non-Indigenous population. Six in 10 (60%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged between 15 and 64 years compared with almost seven in 10 (67%) non-Indigenous people. The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 65 years and over was considerably smaller than for non-Indigenous people (4% compared with 14%).