AUSTRALIAN SOCIAL TRENDS


THE NEW EDITION

The ABS released the latest edition of the Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0) on 24 September 2009. The publication draws together a wide range of statistics from the ABS and other official sources to provide a picture of Australian society and how it is changing over time.

The latest edition features five articles:

• Expanding links with China and India
• Children who are overweight or obese
• Carers and employment
• People with more than one job
• Work, life and family balance

The September issue also includes the release of national and state summary tables presenting the key statistics for the Health and Economic resources chapters.


The release shows that:

In 2008, the average weekly total cash earnings, for all employees in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), was $1,138, an increase of around $400 (or 55%) over the ten years since 1998. However, overall inflation in the ACT increased by 35% over the same period, leaving around 15% real growth in earnings.

Around 12% of people in the ACT were receiving Government pensions and allowances as their main source of household income in 2007-08, the lowest of any state/territory. Wages and salaries accounted for almost 71% of household income.

In 2007, the average life expectancy at birth, for males was around 80 years, the highest of all states/territories, while for females it was around 84 years, similar to the national average.

Males living in the ACT have the lowest rate of deaths from lung cancer, 41 per 100,000 (compared with 47, per 100,000 for Australia), while females have a higher rate of breast cancer deaths, 29 per 100,000, compared with the national average of 23 per 100,000.

In 2008, more males, aged 15 years and over, were overweight or obese (58%) compared with females (44%) while a higher percentage of girls, aged 15 years or over, were sedentary or involved in low level exercise (75%) compared with 63% of males.