Australia

Demographics & education

People tables are based on a person's place of usual residence on Census night

For the 2016 Census in Australia, there were 649,173 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 49.6% were male and 50.4% were female.

View the data quality statements for: Place of Usual Residence (PURP) Indigenous status (INGP)

In Australia, the median age of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people was 23 years. Of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 34.0% were children aged 0 to 14 years and 4.8% were people aged 65 years and over.

In Australia, 24.5% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were married and 11.2% were either divorced or separated.

In Australia, 23.1% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were in a registered marriage and 16.0% were in a de facto marriage.

Of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, 40.2% were attending an educational institution. Of these, 37.5% were attending a primary school, 25.0% were attending a secondary school and 11.4% were attending a tertiary or technical institution.

Of people aged 15 and over in Australia, 14.0% reported having completed Year 12 as their highest level of educational attainment, 16.5% had completed a Certificate III or IV and 5.5% had completed an Advanced Diploma or Diploma.

2011 benchmarks are not available for this data item.

Cultural & language diversity

English was the only language spoken at home by 83.9% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. Indigenous languages spoken at home include Kriol 1.1%, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 0.9%, Djambarrpuyngu 0.7%, Pitjantjatjara 0.5% and Warlpiri 0.4%.

Respondents had the option of reporting up to two ancestries on their Census form, and this is captured by the Ancestry Multi Response (ANCP) variable used in this table. Therefore, the total responses count will not equal the persons count for this area. Calculated percentages represent a proportion of all responses from people in Australia (including those who did not state an ancestry).

For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, the most common ancestries were Australian 45.0%, English 17.2%, Australian Aboriginal 15.8%, Irish 5.2% and Scottish 3.5%.

Employment

There were 222,638 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Australia. Of these 48.0% were employed full time, 27.4% were employed part-time and 18.2% were unemployed.

The ABS Labour Force Survey provides the official estimates of Australia's unemployment rate. More information about Census and labour force status is provided in Understanding the Census and Census Data.

For information on the Community Development Programme (CDP) please refer to the Census Data Dictionary. CDP data is available in TableBuilder.

For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, the most common occupations were Community and Personal Service Workers 17.0%, Labourers 15.3%, Technicians and Trades Workers 13.4%, Professionals 13.4%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 12.7%, Machinery Operators and Drivers 9.2%, Sales Workers 8.7% and Managers 7.1%.

For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, the most common industries of employment were Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.1%, Hospitals (except Psychiatric Hospitals) 3.0%, Local Government Administration 3.0%, Other Social Assistance Services 2.9% and Primary Education 2.7%.

The median weekly personal income for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Australia was $441 and the median weekly household income was $1,203.

View the data quality statements for: Total personal income (INCP) Total household income (HIND)

In Australia, of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, 61.4% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 31.7% provided care for children and 13.7% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 14.8% of people did voluntary work through an organisation or a group.

View the data quality statements for: Unpaid domestic work (DOMP) Unpaid child care (CHCAREP) Unpaid assistance (UNCAREP) Voluntary work (VOLWP)

Dwelling characteristics

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

a) There has been change in methodology used to calculate the average number of persons per bedroom. To compare the time series for average number of persons per bedroom please refer to Understanding the Census and Census Data

In Australia, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.2 persons, with 1 persons per bedroom and 1.7 registered motor vehicles per dwelling.

View the data quality statements for: Number of Bedrooms in Private Dwelling (BEDD) Household composition (HHCD) Indigenous household Indicator (INGDWTD)

In Australia, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $250 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,660.

View the data quality statements for: Rent weekly payments (RNTD) Mortgage monthly repayments (MRED) Indigenous household Indicator (INGDWTD)

In Australia, of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander households, 17.0% were a couple family with no children, 32.6% were a couple family with children and 27.9% were a one parent family.

In multiple family households, only the family composition of the primary family is recorded. Other household includes lone person households and group households.

Dwelling structure

In Australia there were 263,037 private dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Where a dwelling type was stated, 80.7% were separate houses, 10.3% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 7.9% were flats or apartments and 1.1% were other dwellings.

In Australia, of dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, 12.2% were owned outright, 25.9% were owned with a mortgage and 57.3% were rented.