Torres Strait Islands

Demographics & education

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

For the 2016 Census in Torres Strait Islands, there were 4,148 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Of these, 50.6% were male and 49.4% were female.

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

In Torres Strait Islands, the median age of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people was 23 years. Of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people 36.2% were children aged 0 to 14 years and 4.7% were people aged 65 years and over.

In Torres Strait Islands, 21.4% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were married and 3.0% were either divorced or separated.

In Torres Strait Islands, 19.6% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people were in a registered marriage and 26.3% were in a de facto marriage.

Of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Torres Strait Islands, 35.9% were attending an educational institution. Of these, 50.9% were attending a primary school, 14.2% were attending a secondary school and 5.8% were attending a tertiary or technical institution.

Of people aged 15 and over in Torres Strait Islands, 22.0% reported having completed Year 12 as their highest level of educational attainment, 19.8% had completed a Certificate III or IV and 4.5% had completed an Advanced Diploma or Diploma.

Cultural & language diversity

English was the only language spoken at home by 2.7% of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Torres Strait Islands. The only other responses for language at home were Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole) 59.5%, Kalaw Kawaw Ya/Kalaw Lagaw Ya 11.9%, Meriam Mir 2.9% and Kriol 0.1%.

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 Torres Strait Islands (including those who did not state an ancestry).

For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Torres Strait Islands, the most common ancestries were Torres Strait Islander 69.7%, Australian Aboriginal 9.0%, Papua New Guinean 4.8%, Australian 3.0% and Maritime South-East Asian, nec 2.8%.

Employment

There were 1,021 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night in Torres Strait Islands. Of these 43.5% were employed full time, 33.2% were employed part-time and 17.8% 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 Torres Strait Islands, the most common occupations were Community and Personal Service Workers 19.3%, Professionals 18.1%, Labourers 17.3%, Clerical and Administrative Workers 14.1%, Technicians and Trades Workers 11.1%, Sales Workers 7.0%, Managers 6.3% and Inadequately described 2.9%.

For Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Torres Strait Islands, the most common industries of employment were Local Government Administration 27.7%, Primary Education 9.0%, Supermarket and Grocery Stores 6.3%, Hospitals (except Psychiatric Hospitals) 5.9% and Combined Primary and Secondary Education 5.8%.

The median weekly personal income for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people in Torres Strait Islands was $363 and the median weekly household income was $904.

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

In Torres Strait Islands, of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, 65.4% did unpaid domestic work in the week before the Census. During the two weeks before the Census, 36.5% provided care for children and 9.2% assisted family members or others due to a disability, long term illness or problems related to old age. In the year before the Census, 19.7% 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

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 Torres Strait Islands, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the average household size was 3.8 persons, with 1.1 persons per bedroom and 0.5 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 Torres Strait Islands, for dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, the median weekly rent was $120 and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $0.

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

In Torres Strait Islands, of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander households, 10.5% were a couple family with no children, 42.1% were a couple family with children and 24.9% 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 Torres Strait Islands there were 924 private dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people. Where a dwelling type was stated, 94.5% were separate houses, 4.7% were semi-detached, row or terrace houses, townhouses etc, 0.4% were flats or apartments and 0.4% were other dwellings.

In Torres Strait Islands, of dwellings occupied by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, 3.1% were owned outright, 0.0% were owned with a mortgage and 92.3% were rented.