Alcohol risk level
Based on the respondent’s estimated average daily alcohol consumption in the seven days prior to the NHS interview. Risk levels are based on the National Health and Medical Research Council risk levels for harm in the long-term, and assumes the level of alcohol consumption is typical. The average daily consumption of alcohol associated with the risk levels is:
Males
Low risk: 50 ml or less.
Risky: more than 50 ml, up to 75 ml.
High risk: more than 75 ml.
Females
Low risk: 25 ml or less.
Risky: more than 25 ml, up to 50 ml.
High risk: more than 50 ml.
Allocated health expenditure
Allocated health expenditure includes expenditure incurred for services provided by hospitals, high-level residential aged care, out-of-hospital medical services (including general practitioner, imaging, pathology and specialist expenditure), other professional services (optometrists, dentists, physiotherapists etc.), pharmaceuticals (prescription and over-the-counter), community mental health, public health screening programs and research. Not included is expenditure for Ambulance, aids and appliances, some community and public health, administration and other non-institutional expenditure. For more detail see Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Health System Expenditure on Disease and Injury in Australia, 2000-01, Second edition.
Ancestry
Ancestry describes the ethnic or cultural heritage of a person, that is, the ethnic or cultural groups to which a person’s forebears are or were attached. In practice, ancestry is the ethnic or cultural groups which the person identifies as being his or her ancestry. Ancestry therefore involves a measure of self-identification of ethnic or cultural group affiliation or nationality, as well as of descent from one or more particular groups.
Ancillary cover
Any cover provided by private insurance organisations for health-related services other than medical or hospital cover (e.g. physiotherapy, dental, optical, chiropractic and ambulance).
Assault
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO) (cat. no. 1234.0)
A three-level hierarchical classification developed for use in the collection and publication of crime statistics. It is used in all ABS collections requiring a classification of offences, and the ABS encourages its use by other government bodies and the community in general.
Baby boomer
Queensland residents who were born between 1946 and 1965 inclusive. This includes people born overseas or interstate during this period who have since migrated to Queensland. Older baby boomers are those born between 1946 and 1955 inclusive, and younger baby boomers are those born between 1956 and 1965 inclusive.
Birth
The delivery of a child, irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy, who, after being born, breathes or shows any evidence of life such as a heartbeat.
Blackmail/extortion
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Body Mass Index (BMI)
BMI is calculated from self-reported height and weight information, using the formula: weight (kg) divided by the square of height (m). To produce a measure of the prevalence of overweight or obesity in adults, BMI values are grouped as follows:
Underweight: Less than 18.5
Normal range: 18.5 to less than 25.0
Overweight: 25.0 to less than 30.0
Obese: 30.0 and greater.
Capital city
The statistical division for the state capital. Unless specified otherwise, in this publication capital city refers to the Brisbane Statistical Division.
Carer
A person of any age who provides any normal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to persons with disabilities or long-term conditions, or to persons who are elderly (that is, aged 60 years and over). The assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least six months. Assistance to a person in a different household relates to everyday types of activities, without specific information on the activities.
Child care activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Community/welfare organisations
Organisations and institutions providing human and social services to the general community and specific target population groups. Included are organisations whose work is for the wider social benefit of the general community without the provision of direct services, such as Apex and Rotary. Other organisations included cover those giving material assistance, personal care and advice, such as Lifeline, the Smith Family, Brotherhood of St. Lawrence, Legacy, Royal Blind Societies, Wesley Mission, Meals on Wheels. Further examples include ethnic welfare groups, marriage guidance, information and referral services, community transport, neighbourhood centres, accommodation referral and advice, homes and shelters.
Couple family
A couple family is based on two persons who are in a registered or de facto marriage and who are usually resident in the same household. The family may or may not include any number of dependents, non-dependents and other related individuals.
Dependent children
Dependent children are all persons aged under 15 years; and people aged 15-24 years who are full-time students, have a parent in the household and do not have a partner or child of their own in the household.
Divorce
Decree absolute of dissolution of marriage.
Domestic activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Dwelling
A dwelling is a building or structure in which people live. This can be a house, a block of flats, or other dwelling (such as a caravan, a houseboat or an improvised home). For the purposes of the Census of Population and Housing, dwellings are classified into private and non-private dwellings. Each of these dwelling types is further divided into occupied and unoccupied dwelling categories.
Education activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Educational attainment
Presents a measure of highest non-school educational qualification attained, and for those without a non-school qualification whether they completed Year 12. This term has only been used when data are presented to be consistent with the superseded ABS Classification of Qualifications (ABSCQ) (cat. no. 1262.0).
Employed
For data obtained from the Labour Force Survey, employed persons were those aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:
- worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job, business or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers)
- worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers)
- were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
- away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week
- away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week
- away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement
- on strike or locked out
- on workers’ compensation and expected to return to their job.
- were employers or own account workers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
For data obtained from the 2001 Census of Population and Housing, employed persons were those aged 15 years and over who during the week prior to Census night:
- worked for payment or profit, or as an unpaid helper in a family business
- had a job from which they were on leave or otherwise temporarily absent
- were on strike or stood down temporarily.
Employment related activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Empty-nesters
Parents whose children have left home.
English language proficiency
A self-reported measure of a person’s proficiency in spoken English. Responses to this question are subjective. For example, one respondent may consider that a response of ‘Well’ is appropriate if they can communicate well enough to do the shopping while another respondent may consider such a response appropriate only for people who can hold a social conversation. Proficiency in English is just an indicator of a person’s ability to speak English and not a definite measure of their ability.
English-speaking countries
Countries have been defined as predominantly English-speaking on the basis of whether Australia has received significant numbers of migrants from them who are likely to speak English. This includes Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Equivalised disposable household income
Is derived from gross income after income tax and the Medicare levy are deducted. Disposable income is sometimes referred to as net income and is able to provide a better indication of the resources available to a household in maintaining its standard of living. Equivalising income assists in the analysis of the relative well-being of households of different size and composition. The equivalent disposable income figures in this section indicate the amount of disposable income that a single person household would require to maintain the same standard of living as the household in question, regardless of the size or composition of the latter.
Estimated resident population
The official measure of the population of Australia and its states and territories is based on the concept of residence. It refers to all people, regardless of nationality or citizenship, who usually live in a state or territory, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families. It includes usual residents who are overseas for less than 12 months. It excludes overseas visitors who are in Australia for less than 12 months.
Exercise level
Based on frequency, intensity and duration of exercise in the 2 weeks prior to the NHS interview. From these components, an exercise score was derived using factors to represent the intensity of the exercise. Scores were grouped for output as follows:
Sedentary: Less than 100 (includes no exercise)
Low: 100 to less than 1,600
Moderate: 1,600 to 3,200, or more than 3,200 but less than 2 hours of vigorous exercise
High: More than 3,200 and 2 hours or more of vigorous exercise.
Families
A family is defined by the ABS as two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, step or fostering, and who are usually resident in the same household.
Family household
A family household is defined by the ABS as a household which contains one or more families. A family household may also contain non-family members, such as unrelated persons or visitors.
Flat, unit or apartment
All dwellings in blocks of flats, units or apartments. These dwellings do not have their own private grounds and usually share a common entrance foyer or stairwell. This category also includes flats attached to houses such as granny flats, and houses converted into two or more flats.
Full-time workers
Employed persons who usually worked 35 hours or more a week (in all jobs) and who, although usually working less than 35 hours a week, worked 35 hours or more during the reference week.
Government health card
Includes Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card, Commonwealth Seniors Health Card and treatment entitlement cards issued by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Group household
A group household is a household consisting of two or more unrelated people where all persons are aged 15 years or over. There are no reported couple relationships, parent-child relationships or other blood relationships in these households.
Hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption
Hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption relate to the levels of risk associated with alcohol consumption calculated from the 1998 and 2001 National Drug Strategy Household Surveys (based on guidelines revised by National Health and Medical Research Council in October 2001). Hazardous levels of alcohol consumption relate to five or six standard drinks per day for males and three or four standard drinks for females. Harmful levels of alcohol consumption are indicated by more than six standard drinks per day for males and more than four standard drinks for females.
Hospital cover
Health insurance provided by private insurance organisations to cover all or part of the costs of private accommodation in a public hospital, charges for private hospital treatment and care in a public hospital by a doctor of the patient’s choice.
Indigenous
A person is defined to be of Indigenous origin if he or she identifies himself or herself as of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.
Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage
One of 5 of the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFAs) compiled by the ABS following each population census. Each of the indexes summarise different aspects of the socioeconomic condition of areas; the index of relative socioeconomic disadvantage includes attributes such as low income, low educational attainment, high unemployment and jobs in relatively unskilled occupations. The index refers to the area (the Census Collector's District) in which a person lives, not to the socioeconomic situation of the particular individual. For further information about the SEIFAs see Information Paper; Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (cat. no. 2039.0).
Industry
A person’s industry of employment, as classified by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industry classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (cat. no. 1292.0).
Kidnapping/abduction
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Knowledge-based economy
This term was defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as an economy which is directly based on the production and use of knowledge and information.
Labour force
Persons aged 15 years and over who were employed or unemployed.
Labour force participation rate
The labour force expressed as a percentage of the civilian population aged 15 years and over.
Labour force status
A classification of the civilian population aged 15 years and over into employed, unemployed or not in the labour force.
Language spoken at home
Data for this variable are coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), 1997 (cat. no. 1267.0). Only one language is coded for each person despite the fact that people may speak more than one language at home.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy refers to the average number of additional years a person of a given age and sex might expect to live if the age-specific death rates of the given period continued throughout his/her lifetime.
Lone parent family
A person who has no spouse or partner usually present in the household but who forms a parent-child relationship with at least one dependent or non-dependent child usually resident in the household.
Lone person household
A person who makes provision for his/her own food and other essentials in living, without combining with any other person to form part of a multi-person household is classified as a lone person household. He/she may live in a dwelling on his/her own, or share a dwelling with another individual or family.
Long-term condition
A condition which in the respondent’s opinion has lasted for six months or more, or which he or she expects will last for six months or more. Some conditions reported were assumed to be long-term conditions. These included asthma, cancer, diabetes insipidus, diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2, rheumatic heart disease, heart attack and stroke.
Manslaughter
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Marriage
Refers to registered marriages only. Under the Australian Marriage Act 1961 (Commonwealth), a marriage may be celebrated by a minister of religion registered as an authorised celebrant, by a district registrar or by other persons authorised by the Attorney-General.
Median age
The age at which half the population is older and half is younger.
Median value
For any distribution the median value is that value which divides the relevant population into two equal parts, half falling below the value, and half exceeding it. Where the value for a particular record has not been stated, that record is excluded from the calculation.
Murder
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Net interstate migration
See net migration. The defined geographical areas are states and/or territories.
Net migration
The difference between the number of persons who have changed their place of usual residence by moving into a given defined geographic area and the number who have changed their place of usual residence by moving out of that defined geographic area during a specified time period. This difference can be either positive or negative.
Non-dependent children
A natural, step, adopted or foster child of a couple or lone parent usually resident in the household, who is aged over 15 years, is not a full-time student aged 15-24 years, and who has no partner or child of his/her own usually resident in the household.
Non-private dwelling
Non-private dwellings are residential dwellings with accommodation which are not included in the Census of Population and Housing list of private dwelling categories. Non-private dwellings are classified according to their function. They include hotels, motels, guest houses, jails, religious and charitable institutions, military establishments, hospitals and other communal dwellings. Where this type of accommodation includes self-contained units (as provided by hotels, motels, homes for the elderly and guest houses), the units are enumerated as part of the non-private dwelling. Complexes such as retirement villages, which have a combination of self-contained units, hostel and/or nursing home accommodation, are enumerated as non-private dwellings.
Non-school qualification
A non-school qualification is one awarded for educational attainments other than those of pre-primary, primary or secondary education.
Not in the labour force
Persons who were not in the categories employed or unemployed.
Occupation
A set of jobs with similar sets of tasks, classified according to the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), Second Edition, 1997 (cat. no. 1220.0). The classification has five levels of hierarchy: major group, sub-major group, minor group, unit group and occupation.
Older baby boomers
See Baby boomers.
Other carer
A person who provides informal assistance, but who is not the main (or primary) source of assistance.
Other couple, one family households
A family household consisting of one couple with non-dependent children only, and/or other relatives, and/or unrelated individuals. Does not include couple only or couple with dependent children family households.
Other dwelling
This includes caravans; cabins; houseboats; sheds, tents, humpies and other improvised homes; house or flat attached to a shop, office, etc.
Other health professionals
Comprises Aboriginal health worker (n.e.c.), Accredited counsellor, Acupuncturist, Alcohol and drug worker (n.e.c.), Audiologist/Audiometrist, Chemist (for advice), Chiropodist/Podiatrist, Chiropractor, Dietitian/Nutritionist, Herbalist, Hypnotherapist, Naturopath, Nurse, Occupational therapist, Optician/Optometrist, Osteopath, Physiotherapist/Hydrotherapist, Psychologist, Social worker/Welfare officer, and Speech therapist/Pathologist.
Overseas-born
Overseas-born people are those who state that they were born in a country other than Australia, those born at sea, and those whose responses are classed as 'Inadequately described' or 'Not elsewhere classified'.
Part-time workers
Employed persons who usually worked less than 35 hours a week (in all jobs) and either did so during the reference week or were not at work in the reference week.
Personal care activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Population projections
Calculated using a combination of assumptions for future levels of births, deaths and migration, to arrive at the possible size, structure and distribution of Australia’s population in the future.
Pre-retired
Includes persons who were currently working, and those who intended to work in the future whether or not they were currently looking for work.
Primary carer
A primary carer is a person of any age who provides the most informal assistance, in terms of help or supervision, to a person with one or more disabilities. The assistance has to be ongoing, or likely to be ongoing, for at least six months and be provided for one or more of the core activities of self-care, mobility or communication.
Private dwelling
A private dwelling in the census is defined as a house, flat, part of a house, or even a room; but can also be a house attached to, or rooms above shops or offices; an occupied caravan in a caravan park or occupied boat in a marina, a houseboat, a tent if it is standing on its own block of land, or an improvised dwelling such as a humpy or park bench. A caravan situated on a residential allotment is also classed as a private dwelling.
Purchasing goods and services activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Quintiles
The distribution of income across different groups within a population can be shown through the use of income quintiles. Income quintiles are formed by ranking all units within a population by income and then dividing them into 5 groups, each containing one-fifth of the population.
Recreation and leisure activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Relative standard error
The standard error of an estimate expressed as a percentage of the estimate. Standard error is a measure of the variability of estimates which occurs as a result of sampling. That is, the error which occurs by chance because the data were obtained from a sample, not the entire population.
Religious organisations
Organisations providing religious beliefs as their primary focus, administering religious services and rituals. Includes churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, shrines, seminaries, monasteries and religious institutions.
Retirement from full-time work
Persons who had a full-time job at some time and who had ceased full-time labour force activity (i.e. were not working full-time, were not looking for full-time work and did not intend to work full-time at any time in the future). Unpaid voluntary work was not considered full-time work.
Retirement from the labour force
Persons who had retired from work or looking for work of more than 10 hours per week, and did not intend to work at any time in the future. These persons are considered fully retired. Persons that have never worked more than 10 hours per week were also treated as fully retired.
Robbery
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
SEIFA
See Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage.
Semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse
These dwellings have their own private grounds and no other dwelling above or below them.
Separate house
This is a house which stands alone in its own grounds separated from other dwellings by at least half a metre. A separate house may have a flat attached to it, such as a granny flat or converted garage (the flat is categorised under Flat, unit or apartment).
Sexual assault
See Australian National Classification of Offences (ANCO).
Social and community interaction activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Sport/recreation organisations
Organisations in general and specialised fields of sport, recreation and leisure; sports clubs and facilities; indoor and outdoor recreational facilities; racing and gambling; social, leisure and hobby clubs; zoological, botanical, recreational parks and gardens; theme and amusement parks. Included are hobby and general interest groups such as bird watchers’ groups, book clubs, embroiderers’ guilds, gardening clubs, etc.
Standardised death rate
Standardised death rates enable the comparison of death rates between populations with different age structures by relating them to a standard population.
Statistical division
Statistical divisions are general purpose geographical areas which represent relatively homogeneous regions characterised by identifiable social and economic links between the inhabitants and between the economic units within the region, under the unifying influence of one or more major towns or cities. For further information, refer to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2002 (cat. no. 1216.0).
Statistical local area
The statistical local area (SLA) is a general purpose geographical unit. It is the base spatial unit used by the ABS to collect and disseminate statistics other than those collected from the population census. For further information, refer to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), 2002 (cat. no. 1216.0).
Superannuation
A long-term savings arrangement which operates primarily with a superannuation fund to provide income for retirement.
Time Use Survey Activity Classification
The classification used in the 1997 Time Use Survey. This classification describes nine major categories of time use activities, classified into the four major typologies of: Necessary Time, Contracted Time, Committed Time and Free Time. For a detailed description of the time use typologies and classifications, see Time Use Survey - Users Guide (cat. no. 4150.0).
Total fertility rate
The sum of age-specific fertility rates (live births at each age of mother per female population of that age). It represents the number of children a female would bear during her lifetime if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates at each age of her reproductive life.
Unemployed
For data obtained from the Labour Force Survey, unemployed persons were those aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:
- had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week, and:
- were available for work in the reference week, or
- were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week, and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.
For data obtained from the 2000 Survey of Employment Arrangements and Superannuation, unemployed persons were those aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week, and:
- were available for work in the reference week, or would have been available except for temporary illness (i.e. lasting for less than four weeks to the end of the reference week), or
- were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week, and would have started in the reference week if the job had been available then, or
- were waiting to be called back to a full-time or part-time job from which they had been stood down without pay for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week (including the whole of the reference week) for reasons other than bad weather or plant breakdown.
Unemployment rate
For any group, the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force in that same group.
Victimisation rate
The number of victims per 100,000 of the estimated resident population.
Voluntary work and care activities
See Time Use Survey Activity Classification.
Volunteer
A volunteer is someone who willingly gave unpaid help, in the form of time, service or skills, through an organisation or group in the 12 months prior to the survey. People who did voluntary work overseas, or whose only voluntary work was for the Sydney 2000 Olympic or Paralympic Games were excluded.
Volunteer rate
For any group, the volunteer rate is the number of volunteers in that group expressed as a percentage of total population in the same group.
Wealth
Wealth is defined in this study to be the sum of a person’s or household’s assets minus the sum of its liabilities. This is equivalent to the concept of net worth.
Younger baby boomers
See Baby boomers.
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