CARERS - CHARACTERISTICS

Of the almost 2.7 million Australians that were identified as carers in 2012, around 770,000 (29%) were identified as primary carers. There were almost 75,000 carers aged less than 15 years identified in 2012. Primary carers were significantly more likely to have a disability themselves, with around one third of primary carers having a disability (37%), compared with 16% of people living in households who were not in a caring role. Proportionally, male primary carers were more likely to be affected by disability than female primary carers (45% compared with 34%). Around 18,600 male and 43,300 female primary carers themselves had a profound or severe core activity limitation. (Table 34 and Figure 4)

Figure 4: Carers by disability status

The majority of primary carers (83%) resided in the same household as the person for whom they provided the most care. Two thirds of primary carers who did not live in the same household as the main recipient of care were caring for a parent (67%). (Table 39)

As in previous surveys, in 2012 females made up the majority of carers, representing 70% of primary carers and 56% of carers overall. There were similar proportions of male and female non-primary carers (49% and 51% respectively). Among people aged 55 to 64 years, there were 126,700 female primary carers (9.6%) and 60,900 male primary carers (4.7%). There were almost equal numbers of male and female primary carers in the 75 years and over age group (an estimated 35,100 males and 36,500 females). (Table 33 and Graph 6)



The proportion of Australians who were carers generally increased with age until the age of 65 years, increasing from 1.7% of those aged under 15 years to 22% of those aged 55 to 64 years. After the age of 65 years, the proportion of female carers declined, whereas the proportion of male carers continued to increase. This was the case for both primary carers and non-primary (other) carers. After the age of 75 years there were almost double the proportion of male non-primary carers compared with female non-primary carers (15.8% of males compared with 8.5% of females). This equated to around 91,00 male and 61,500 female, non-primary carers aged 75 years or more. (Table 33 and Graph 7)

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