This document was added or updated on 17/03/2011.

STUDENTS

In 2010 there were 3,510,875 students in Australian schools. The distribution of these students throughout the states and territories was:

• 32% in New South Wales
• 24% in Victoria
• 21% in Queensland
• 10% in Western Australia
• 7% in South Australia; and
• 5% between Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
  

In 2010 66% of students in Australia attended government schools, 20% attended Catholic schools and 14% attended independent schools. In 2000 these figures were 69%, 20% and 11% respectively.

Over the last ten years, the number of non-government students has increased proportionally more than government students in recent years. Catholic and independent schools have seen the largest proportional increase in students over the last 5 years with 6% and 14% increases respectively. Students attending government schools increased over the same time by less than 2%.

Over the last ten years in all states and territories across Australia, the number of non-government students has consistently increased at a greater rate than for government students. The Northern Territory has the biggest disparity, with non-government students increasing by 16% compared with a slight decline in the number of government students. Overall, Queensland had the largest growth in non-government students up almost 22% while the number of students at government schools also increased, up 8%.