Frequently asked questions
Recent ageing and aged care releases
Aged care packages in the community 2006-07: a statistical overview (14 August 2008)
A picture of osteoporosis in Australia (4 August 2008)
Residential aged care in Australia 2006-07: a statistical overview (12 June 2008)
Veterans' use of health services (25 February 2008)
Movement from hospital to residential aged care: preliminary results (21 January 2008)
Contents
What was the 70+ population of Australia at 30 June 2007?
1,957,507 persons (851,145 males and 1,106,362 females).
(Preliminary figures, estimated resident population. Source: ABS. Australian Demographic Statistics Catalogue No. 3101.0, December 2007 edition, released 24 June 2008)
What was the life expectancy of Australian men and women aged 65 in 2006?
In 2006 the life expectancy for Australian women aged 65 years was 21.5 years and 18.3 years for Australian men aged 65 years.
(Source: ABS. Deaths Australia 2006, released 9 November 2007)
What was the number of residential aged care places in Australia at 30 June 2007?
170,071 residential aged care places
(Source: AIHW (2008) Residential aged care in Australia 2006-07: a statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 26 Cat. no. AGE 56. Canberra: AIHW).
What was the mix of high care and low care permanent residents at 30 June 2007
There were 70.0% high care residents (RCS1-4) and 30.0% low care residents (RCS5-8) at 30 June 2007.
(Source: AIHW (2008) Residential aged care in Australia 2006-07: a statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 26 Cat. no. AGE 56. Canberra: AIHW).
How many Australian Government funded aged care packages were available in the community at 30 June 2007?
- 37,997 Community Aged Care Packages* (CACP) (low-care)
- 3,302 Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) packages (high-care)
- 1,271 Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACH Dementia) packages (high-care)
- This makes a total of 42,570 packages
(*This figure includes 616 CACPs provided by Multi-Purpose Services and services receiving funding under the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program).
(Source: AIHW (2008) Aged care packages in the community 2006-07: A statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 27 Cat. no. AGE 57. Canberra: AIHW).
What proportion of aged care package recipients had a carer at 30 June 2007?
90.0% of EACH recipients had a carer at 30 June 2007 (This is similar to the proportion of EACH recipients who had a carer at the time of the EACH census in 2002).
94.8% of EACH Dementia recipients had a carer at 30 June 2007 (In the EACH census in 2002, 96.6% of EACH recipients who had a formal diagnosis of dementia had a carer.)
Data on the number of CACP recipients with a carer is not routinely collected in Department of Health and Ageing's (DoHA's) Aged and Community Care Management Information System database. In the 2002 CACP census, 57% of CACP recipients had a carer. The proportion of CACP recipients with dementia who had a carer was 74%.
A census of CACP, EACH, EACH Dementia and NRCP recipients was conducted by the DoHA in the first half of 2008, and will provide more information about the characteristics of users of these programs, their service use and their service providers when the results are released.
Where do I find information about accessing aged care services?
- agedcareAustralia website
- Commonwealth Carelink Centres website
- Department of Health and Ageing's website