ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER POPULATION – NEW SOUTH WALES

2016 CENSUS DATA SUMMARY

Population

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 2.9% of the population in the 2016 Census of Population and Housing – up from 2.5% in 2011, and 2.1% in 2006.

Of the 216,176 people who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, 95.9% were of Aboriginal origin, 2.2% were of Torres Strait Islander origin and 1.9% identified as being of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin.


Age

Age Group	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people %	Non-Indigenous people %
0-4 years	11.5	6.1
5-14 years	22.8	12.1
15-24 years	19.1	12.4
25-44 years	23.4	27.8
45-64 years	17.7	25.2
65 years and over	5.4	16.5

(a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2016

Since the 1996 Census, the median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been on the rise. Twenty years ago in 1996, the median age was 19 years. This increased to 21 years in 2011, and increased again to 22 years in the five years to 2016. The median age for non-Indigenous people was 38 years in 2016.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to have a much younger age profile and structure than the non-Indigenous population. In 2016, just over half (53.5%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged under 25 years. In comparison, almost one in three (30.6%) non-Indigenous people were aged under 25.

The difference between the two populations was also clearly noticeable in the 65 years and over age group. The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 65 years and over was considerably smaller than for non-Indigenous people (5.4% compared to 16.5%).


Households and Families

Obligation and connection to family plays an important role in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. This support can be in the form of sharing accommodation.

Households in which at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person lived were more likely than other households in 2016 to be family households (79.8% compared to 71.7%). They were also less likely to be a person living alone (14.9% compared with 24.2%).

In 2016, it was also more common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households to have more than one family living together (4.3%) than for other households (2.3%).

	Households with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person(s) %	Other Households %
One family	75.5	69.3
Multiple family	4.3	2.3
Lone person	14.9	24.2
Group	5.3	4.2

(a) Includes households in occupied private dwellings only. Excludes visitor only and other non-classifiable households.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2016

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households, on average, were larger than non-Indigenous households (3.1 people, compared with an average of 2.6 people for other households).


Language

In 2016, 0.8% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (or 1,792 people) spoke an Australian Indigenous language at home.

The three most identified Australian Indigenous languages spoken at home were:

• Wiradjuri (19.8%)
• Aboriginal English, so described (9.0%)
• Bandjalang (4.5%)

Where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live, by Indigenous Region

In 2016, almost two-thirds (62.8%) of New South Wales' Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived in the Indigenous Regions of NSW Central and North Coast, and Sydney - Wollongong.

One in five (19.7%) people identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in North-Western NSW, while the corresponding proportion was 14.4% in the Dubbo region.

	No.	%	% (as a proportion of Indigenous Region)
Dubbo	12 777	5.9	14.4
North-Eastern NSW	20 477	9.5	9.7
North-Western NSW	7 723	3.6	19.7
NSW Central and North Coast	69 772	32.3	4.6
Riverina - Orange	24 975	11.6	5.2
South-Eastern NSW	13 576	6.3	3.9
Sydney - Wollongong	66 023	30.5	1.4
New South Wales	216 176	100.0	2.9

(a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2016


IncomeAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were about half as likely as non-Indigenous people to report an equivalised weekly household income of $1,000 or more in 2016 (21.8% compared with 42.3%). Both these percentages have increased (from 13.4% and 33.6% respectively) since the 2011 Census.


Education

Education is critical for overcoming disadvantage. The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20 to 24 years who had completed Year 12 or its equivalent increased between 2011 and 2016, from 36.7% to 46.9%. Over the same period, the proportion for non-Indigenous people increased from 74.0% to 78.9%.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25 to 64 years were more likely than non-Indigenous people of the same age to have left school at Year 9 or below (21.0% compared with 7.2%). This is an improvement from 2011 for both groups (from 26.3% and 9.5% respectively).


For definitions of the terms used above, see the Census of Population and Housing: Census Dictionary, 2016 (cat. no. 2901.0). For more information about 2016 Census data release and products, go to www.abs.gov.au/census.

Explanatory Information

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Household has at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person who is a usual resident and was present on Census night.

Median age is where half the population is older, while the other half is younger.