4704.0 - The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/10/2005   
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Contents >> Chapter 4: Housing Circumstances >> Household Types and Size

In 2002, survey data show that over three-quarters (76%) of the 165,700 Indigenous households were one-family households, while 13% were one-person households. There were another 7% of households that were multi-family households (that is with two or more families in the household) and 3% that were group households (that consist of unrelated adults) (ABS 2002 NATSISS).


Indigenous households tend to be larger than non-Indigenous households with an average household size of 3.5 people (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) compared with 2.6 for all Australian households (table 4.8 & ABS 2002 GSS). One-quarter of Indigenous households had five or more people, 19% had four, 18% had three, 24% had two people and 13% had one person.


Average Indigenous household size varied by tenure type with an average of 4.7 people in Indigenous or mainstream community housing compared with 3.1 for private and other renters. More than half (59%) of households in Indigenous or community housing had four or more people. Average household size also varied by location with an average of 3.3 people per household in non-remote areas compared with 4.6 people per household in remote areas (ABS 2002 NATSISS).

4.8 Indigenous households, tenure type by number of persons(a) - 2002
Home owners
State or Territory housing authority
Renter Indigenous/ mainstream community housing
Private and other renter
Other tenure types
Total
Number
One person
3 300
6 900
2 600
7 900
*1 300
22 000
Two people
14 600
8 100
4 200
12 500
*1 200
40 500
Three people
10 300
6 200
3 300
8 900
*800
29 600
Four people
11 400
6 700
3 700
8 700
*1 100
31 700
Five or more people
10 800
9 600
10 700
8 900
1 800
41 800
Total
50 400
37 700
24 500
46 800
6 200
165 700
Average number per household
3.4
3.5
4.7
3.1
3.8
3.5
Proportion
One person
6.6
18.4
10.4
16.9
*21.7
13.3
Two people
28.9
21.6
17.0
26.6
*18.8
24.5
Three people
20.4
16.6
13.6
18.9
*12.7
17.9
Four people
22.7
17.9
15.2
18.6
*17.4
19.1
Five or more people
21.4
25.6
43.8
19.0
29.4
25.3
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
(a) Household size is based on all household residents.
ABS, 2002 NATSISS



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