Notes on the data: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, age distribution

2021 estimated resident Aboriginal population by sex and 5-year age group: 0-4 years to 65+ years; or broad age group: 0-14, 15-24, 25-44, 45-64, 65+ years, 2021 (Remoteness Areas: broad age groups only)

Policy context: The proportions of the total estimated resident population in 2021 who were Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people (in this atlas collectively referred to as Aboriginal) varies greatly by location, from 30.7% in the Northern Territory to 1.2% in Victoria. Aboriginal people represent the largest proportion of the populations in Greater Darwin (10.4%) and in the remainder of the Northern Territory (50.8%). The next largest proportion was in Western Australia, at 8.4% outside of Perth [1].

However, the largest numbers of Aboriginal people in 2021 were in New South Wales (339,710, with 111,066 in Greater Sydney, 36,745 in Illawarra, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and 191,899 in the remainder of New South Wales); and in Queensland (273119, with 87,938 in Greater Brisbane, 40,284 in Gold Coast and Townsville, and 144,897 in the remainder of Queensland). The usual resident populations in Darwin and in the remainder of the Northern Territory were 19,464 and 57,023, respectively.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is considerably younger than the non-Indigenous population. In 2021, the median age for this population was 24 years, 14.9 years less than the national median age of 38.9 years for the non-Indigenous population [2]. One in three (33.1%) Aboriginal people were estimated to be aged less than 15 years, while just 5.4% were aged 65 years and over (and although very low, this is higher than in 2011 or 2016, when the proportions was 3.8% and 5.1%, respectively) [2].

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians methodology, accessed 29 November 2023. Available from https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/estimates-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians-methodology/jun-2021
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: Final 2021 Census-based estimated resident population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians for various geographies, accessed 29 November 2023. Available from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/estimates-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release

Notes: PHIDU publishes Aboriginal population by age and sex for Population Health Areas (PHAs) and Indigenous Areas (IAREs), and also uses these populations as a denominator when calculating percentages and rates for a large number of indicators for PHAs and IAREs. As the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does not publish ERP by age and sex for the Aboriginal population for PHAs or IAREs, PHIDU staff have calculated these populations from the limited data available: these estimates are designated as erp (PHIDU), to distinguish them from the ABS ERP, and are used in the maps, graphs and data worksheets available on the PHIDU website.

Caveats: Users should be aware of the potential inaccuracies in these estimates, given the limited data available on which to produce them. However, as many individuals and agencies, including PHIDU, require estimates at a smaller geographic level than published by the ABS, we provide the estimates and details of the approach we have taken in their calculation.

Method of calculation: The ERP for June 2021 for the Aboriginal population is available from the ABS for Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2, total population only): PHIDU produced a 2021 ERP for each IARE (total population only) from these SA2 populations. The ERP for 2021 for the Aboriginal population is available by Indigenous Region (IREG – the geographic level above the IARE), by 5-year age group, although not by sex. To produce estimated resident populations by age group and sex for each IARE, PHIDU applied the proportional age distribution from the Census count (usual resident population) in each IREG to the ERP total for each of its component IAREs.

Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Quintiles within PHNs, and Remoteness Area

Numerator: Aboriginal male, female and total estimated resident population (erp (PHIDU)) by 5-year age group: 0-4 years to 65+ years or broad age group: 0-14, 15-24, 25-44, 45-64, 65+ (Remoteness Area only)

Denominator: Total Aboriginal males, females or persons, estimated resident population

Detail of analysis: The age group as a percentage of the total Aboriginal population for males, for females and for persons

Source: Developed by PHIDU, using the method as noted above