Torres Strait Island (R)

Demographics & education

In the 2011 Census, there were 4,248 people in Torres Strait Island (R) of these 51.3% were male and 48.7% were female. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people made up 90.7% of the population.

The median age of people in Torres Strait Island (R) was 23 years. Children aged 0 - 14 years made up 36.3% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 4.8% of the population.

Of people in Torres Strait Island (R) aged 15 years and over, 26.2% were married and 4.0% were either divorced or separated.

The median age of married people in Torres Strait Island (R) was 51 years and the median age of people never married was 28 years.

In Torres Strait Island (R), of people aged 15 years and over, 22.8% of people were in a registered marriage and 26.7% were in a de facto marriage.

The median age of people in a registered marriage in Torres Strait Island (R) was 49 years and the median age of people in a de facto marriage was 33 years.

In Torres Strait Island (R) 34.4% of people were attending an educational institution. Of these, 53.4% were in primary school, 12.0% in secondary school and 8.0% in a tertiary or technical institution.

Cultural & language diversity

The most common ancestries in Torres Strait Island (R) were Torres Strait Islander 65.9%, Australian Aboriginal 9.0%, Papua New Guinean 7.0%, Australian 3.9% and Scottish 1.7%.

In Torres Strait Island (R), 98.3% of people were born in Australia. The only other responses for country of birth were England 0.1%, Papua New Guinea 0.1%, New Zealand 0.1% and Japan 0.1%.

In Torres Strait Island (R), 87.0% of people had both parents born in Australia and 7.1% of people had both parents born overseas.

The most common responses for religion in Torres Strait Island (R) were Anglican 48.2%, Pentecostal 17.8%, No Religion 7.4%, Catholic 5.9% and Other Protestant 1.9%.

In Torres Strait Island (R) 8.0% of people only spoke English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 55.7%, Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kalaw Lagaw Ya 15.9%, Meriam Mir 2.0%, Kriol 1.4% and German 0.1%.

Employment

There were 1,640 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Torres Strait Island (R). Of these 42.0% were employed full time, 42.2% were employed part-time and 7.6% were unemployed.

Of employed people in Torres Strait Island (R), 6.0% worked 1 to 15 hours, 8.1% worked 16 to 24 hours and 27.6% worked 40 hours or more.

The median age of people employed full-time in Torres Strait Island (R) was 39 years and for people who were employed part-time was 34 years.

The most common occupations in Torres Strait Island (R) included Labourers 34.1%, Professionals 15.8%, Community and Personal Service Workers 12.4%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 9.6%, Managers 7.0%, Technicians and Trades Workers 7.0%, Machinery Operators And Drivers 4.2% and Sales Workers 3.9%.

Of the employed people in Torres Strait Island (R), the most common responses for industry of employment included Local Government Administration 23.2%, Civic, Professional and Other Interest Group Services 17.5%, School Education 11.4%, Allied Health Services 5.3% and Employment Services 4.4%.

The median weekly personal income for people aged 15 years and over in Torres Strait Island (R) was $314.

In Torres Strait Island (R), on the day of the Census, the most common methods of travel to work for employed people included Walked only 65.3%, Car, as driver 12.9%, Car, as passenger 7.5%, Other 2.4% and Bus 0.8%. On the day, 1.5% of employed people used public transport (train, bus, ferry, tram/light rail) as at least one of their methods of travel to work and 20.5% used car (either as driver or as passenger).

In Torres Strait Island (R), of people aged 15 years and over, 70.2% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 46.1% provided care for children and 15.7% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 28.2% of people did voluntary work through an organisation or a group.

Of people who did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census in Torres Strait Island (R), 24.2% worked 5 to 14 hours, 9.5% worked 15 to 29 hours and 10.8% worked 30 hours or more.

Family composition

Of the families in Torres Strait Island (R), 49.2% were couple families with children, 12.8% were couple families without children and 34.2% were one parent families.

In Torres Strait Island (R) 19.5% of single parents were male and 80.5% were female.

Weekly incomes

In Torres Strait Island (R), for couple families with two incomes, the median income for those with children was $1,245 and those without children was $1,187.

Employment status of couple families

In Torres Strait Island (R), of couple families with children, 14.5% had both partners employed full-time, 10.2% had both employed part-time and 17.5% had one employed full-time and the other part-time.

Dwelling structure

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

In Torres Strait Island (R), 81.0% of private dwellings were occupied and 19.0% were unoccupied.

Of occupied private dwellings in Torres Strait Island (R), 93.8% were separate houses, 0.0% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 4.7% were flats, units or apartments and 1.5% were other dwellings.

In Torres Strait Island (R), of occupied private dwellings 3.2% had 1 bedroom, 13.5% had 2 bedrooms and 31.4% had 3 bedrooms. The average number of bedrooms per occupied private dwelling was 3.6. The average household size was 3.7 people.

Of occupied private dwellings in Torres Strait Island (R), 5.2% were owned outright, 0.0% were owned with a mortgage and 90.9% were rented.

Household composition

In Torres Strait Island (R), of all households, 79.4% were family households, 19.4% were single person households and 1.2% were group households.

In Torres Strait Island (R), 30.0% of households had a weekly household income of less than $600 and 1.9% of households had a weekly income of more than $3,000.

Mortgage & rent

Proportions are calculated using all tenure types for occupied private dwellings. This excludes visitor only and other non-classifiable households.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households whose rent payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which are not renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Proportions in this table are calculated by taking the number of households who own their dwelling, and whose mortgage payments were 30% or more of an imputed income measure and expressing this number as a proportion of the total number of households in an area, including those households which were renting their dwelling (excluding the small proportion of visitor only and other non-classifiable households). The nature of the income imputation means that the reported proportion may significantly overstate the true proportion. Further information on the method to impute income is available in the income fact sheet.

Number of motor vehicles

In Torres Strait Island (R), 24.5% of occupied private dwellings had one registered motor vehicle garaged or parked at their address, 6.4% had two registered motor vehicles and 0.5% had three or more registered motor vehicles.

People characteristics

In Torres Strait Island (R), there were 3,856 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 1,957 (or 50.8%) were male and 1,899 (or 49.2%) were female. The median age was 21 years.

Dwelling characteristics

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households. These tables represent occupied private dwellings where at least one Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait islander person was present.

Average number of people per bedroom includes a miscalculation. For more information see the persons per bedroom correction page.

In Torres Strait Island (R), for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.8, with 1.4 persons per bedroom. The median household income was $833.

In Torres Strait Island (R), for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $60 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.