Family and community

National and state family and community summary tables

Data sources and definitions

Carers

In 2003, 2.5 million people provided informal care to an older person or a person with a disability. Slightly less than one in five of these carers were primary carers, assisting someone who was limited in an everyday activity such as self care, mobility or communication. This article examines caring over the lifecycle, and profiles primary carers, looking at: primary carers and paid work; tasks involved in caring and carers' weekly hours; carers' relationship to the person cared for and their reasons for taking on care; the effects of the caring role on the carer; and the support they receive in that role.

Grandparents raising their grandchildren

In 2002, there were 22,500 Australian families in which grandparents were the sole carers of their grandchildren (involving 31,100 children aged 0-17 years). This article compares grandparent families with other families raising children the same age, and discusses differences in age (grandparents tend to be older than other adults raising children), family type (a high proportion of grandparent families are lone grandparent families) and income.

Informal care provided by grandparents

Grandparents make a considerable contribution to child care. In 2002, almost one in five (19%) children spent some time in the care of a grandparent in the survey reference week, and grandparents provided around a third (31%) of the total hours of child care in that week. This article examines the amount of child care provided by grandparents relative to other forms of child care, patterns of use, and influences on the use of grandparent care.

Social and sporting activities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

In 2002, 90% of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over had been involved in at least one social or sporting activity in the previous three months. This article examines selected activities associated with social interactions such as attendance at culture and leisure venues and sport and physical recreation activities. It looks at social and sporting participation in remote and non-remote areas of Australia and in remote communities.