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In the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the proportion of Indigenous people (aged 15 and over) with a non-school qualification (e.g. from university, TAFE, etc.) has risen from 26% in 1994 to 43% in 2002.

Despite these improvements, in 2002 Indigenous people (aged 18 and over) were still less likely than non-Indigenous people to have a non-school qualification (51% compared with 63% respectively).

Work:
The unemployment rate for Indigenous people in the ACT (aged 15 and over) fell from 16% in 1994 to 8% in 2002. This change parallels the decline in the national unemployment rate (from 10% in June 1994 to 6% in December 2002).

Income:

The gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples' incomes remains. In 2002 in the ACT, Indigenous people (aged 18 and over) earned 73% of the income of non-Indigenous people ($631 per week compared to $865 per week after adjusting for household size and composition).

Health:

After adjusting for the different age structures of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, Indigenous people in the ACT were:

• twice as likely as non-Indigenous people to report their health as "fair" or "poor"
• two-thirds as likely to report "excellent" or "very good" health
• one and a half times more likely to have a disability or long-term health condition than non-Indigenous people.

Over the eight years since 1994, evidence highlights stability on selected cultural indicators. In the ACT in 2002:

• more than two-thirds of Indigenous people reported attending Indigenous cultural events in the previous 12 months.
• over two-thirds of Indigenous people identified with a clan, tribal or language group.

Indigenous people in the ACT in 2002 were almost one and a half times more likely to experience at least one life stressor (e.g. "death of family member or close friend", "serious illness or disability", or "inability to get a job") than non-Indigenous people (88% compared with 62% respectively).

Similar to the non-Indigenous community, the overwhelming majority of Indigenous people received support from someone outside the household (96% for Indigenous people compared with 97% for non-Indigenous people).

Law and justice:

Compared to 1994, Indigenous people in the ACT in 2002 were twice as likely to report that they had been a victim of physical or threatened violence in the previous 12 months (33% in 2002, up from 15% in 1994). These victimisation rates were highest among younger people (41% of those aged 15-24).

There has also been an increase in the proportion of Indigenous people in the ACT who reported having been arrested in the previous five years (from 8% in 1994 to 15% in 2002), in contrast to the national trend, where the proportion decreased (from 20% in 1994 to 16% in 2002).

Housing:

The proportion of Indigenous people in the ACT living in dwellings either owned or being purchased doubled (from 19% in 1994 to 42% in 2002).


More details are available in National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2002 (cat. no. 4714.0). State/territory comparisons for selected indicators are available in Table 2 of the publication. Additonal state and territory data cube tables are available off the publication's main features page on the ABS web site or upon request.