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KEY FINDINGS FOR INDIGENOUS REGIONS

This publication contains information for Indigenous Regions from the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (AATSIHS) core sample (12,900 people). For more information on the structure of the AATSIHS, see Structure of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey.

The Indigenous Structure of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) provides a geography standard for the publication of statistics about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia. The 37 Indigenous Regions are the highest level of this structure and are loosely based on the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) boundaries. Two Indigenous Regions - Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory - are also jurisdictions.

The 2012-13 AATSIHS was designed to produce reliable estimates at the national level, by Remoteness Areas, and for each state and territory. Data that are further disaggregated into smaller regions will generally have increased sampling error which may make these data less reliable. These analyses highlight some of the statistically significant differences between national results and the results for Indigenous Regions. Users should be careful when interpreting these data and refer to the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey: Users' Guide, 2012-13 (cat. no. 4727.0.55.002) for more information.


Self-assessed health status

• In 2012–13, around two in five (39.3%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over reported excellent or very good health. A further 36.5% assessed their health as good, and 24.2% as fair or poor. A significantly larger proportion of males than females reported excellent or very good health (41.9% compared with 36.7%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reporting excellent or very good health were significantly smaller than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of North-Western NSW (22.2%), Geraldton (31.7%) and Kununurra (32.0%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people reporting excellent or very good health were significantly larger than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Torres Strait (50.0%) and Perth (46.4%).
• In the Riverina-Orange Indigenous Region a significantly larger proportion of males than females reported excellent or very good health (48.9% compared with 26.0%), and in Brisbane, a significantly smaller proportion of males than females reported fair or poor health (18.2% compared with 30.0%).

• In 2012–13, just over two in five (41.6%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were current daily smokers (43.6% of males compared with 39.6% of females).
• Smoking rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significantly lower than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Australian Capital Territory (28.4%), Melbourne (33.7%) and Perth (33.9%).
• Smoking rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were significantly higher than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Katherine (68.0%), Nhulunbuy (61.5%), West Kimberley (59.1%), Jabiru-Tiwi (58.3%), Cape York (52.9%) and North-Western NSW (51.7%).
• Smoking rates were significantly higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males than females in the Indigenous Regions of West Kimberley (88.5% compared with 47.6%), Port Augusta (54.8% compared with 29.6%), Apatula (48.1% compared with 23.0%), Cairns-Atherton (49.5% compared with 28.1%), and Alice Springs (56.8% compared with 40.2%).

• In 2012–13, around one-third (34.0%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were in the underweight/normal range, a further 28.6% were overweight and 37.4% were obese.
• In the Indigenous Regions of Nhulunbuy (27.2%) and Jabiru-Tiwi (43.1%), the proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were overweight or obese were significantly smaller than the national average (66.0%).
• In the Indigenous Regions of Torres Strait (85.7%), Dubbo (75.9%) and South Hedland (75.2%), the proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were overweight or obese were significantly larger than the national average.
• A significantly larger proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males than females were overweight or obese in the Indigenous Regions of NSW Central and North Coast (76.4% compared with 59.5%) and South-Western WA (78.1% compared with 53.2%). Conversely, in the Torres Strait Indigenous Region, a larger proportion of females than males were overweight or obese (95.0% compared with 75.4%).

• In 2012–13, just over half (53.9%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 2 years and over met the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for daily fruit intake, around one in twelve (8.4%) met the guidelines for daily vegetable intake and 6.8% met the guidelines for both.
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for daily fruit intake were significantly smaller than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of North-Western NSW (39.1%), Australian Capital Territory (44.8%), Tasmania (48.0%) and Perth (48.0%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for daily fruit intake were significantly larger than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Torres Strait (77.2%), Tennant Creek (68.2%), Alice Springs (66.7%), Cairns-Atherton (63.1%), North-Eastern NSW (62.9%) and Apatula (62.8%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for daily vegetable intake were significantly smaller than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Jabiru-Tiwi (3.8%) and Perth (5.5%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for daily vegetable intake were significantly larger than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of North-Eastern NSW (16.3%) and Port Lincoln-Ceduna (14.4%).
• The proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting the 2013 NHMRC guidelines for both daily fruit and vegetable intake were significantly smaller than the national average in the Indigenous Regions of Jabiru-Tiwi (3.3%) and Perth (4.7%).