COMPARISONS WITH NON-INDIGENOUS POPULATION
The Indigenous population has a younger age structure than the non-Indigenous population, which can make direct comparisons misleading. For instance, in 2011 only 5% of the Indigenous population aged 15 or more was 65 or older. The corresponding proportion was 17% for the non-Indigenous population.
It is possible to remove the effect of the differences in age structures through age-standardisation. However, the estimates in this publication have not been age-standardised. For this reason caution should be used if a comparison of Indigenous and non-Indigenous estimates is made. This is especially relevant in comparisons of rates and ratios, such as the participation rate, of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations.
Another reason for caution when comparing Indigenous and non-Indigenous estimates is the geographical distribution of the two populations. One quarter of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over lived in Remote areas in 2011. In comparison less than 2% of non-Indigenous people aged 15 years and over lived in Remote areas in 2011.
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