DEPENDANTS AGED 15–24 YEARS

A child aged 15–24 years is a dependant if they are still attending school or attending a tertiary institution full-time. However, they cannot be a dependant if they have a partner or child of their own usually resident in the household.

In 2015, there were 1.3 million dependent students aged 15–24 years attending school or studying full-time at a tertiary education institution and usually resident in the same household as their parents/guardian. This number had remained steady since 2012. (Table 5)

The proportion of all families with children and dependants where the youngest dependant was aged between 15–24 years remained steady at around 19% between 2012 and 2015. In 2015, 78% of families with youngest dependants aged 15–24 years were couple families. (Table 9)