Frequently asked questions
Recent ageing and aged care releases
Pathways through aged care services: a first look (21 October 2009)
Aged care packages in the community 2007-08: a statistical overview (15 October 2009)
Carers National Data Repository scoping study: final report (18 August 2009)
Incorporating HACC use into aged care pathways: a technical report for the PIAC project (17 August 2009)
Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview (19 June 2009)
Further information
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Contents
What was the 70+ population of Australia at 30 June 2008?
2,026,609 persons (900,485 males and 1,126,124 females).
(Source: ABS. Australian Demographic Statistics Catalogue No. 3101.0, March 2008 edition, released 22 September 2009)
What was the life expectancy of Australian men and women aged 65 in 2007?
In 2007 the life expectancy for Australian women aged 65 years was 21.6 years and 18.5 years for Australian men aged 65 years.
(Source: ABS. Deaths Australia 2007. ABS Catalogue No. 3302.0, released 25 November 2008)
What was the number of residential aged care places in Australia at 30 June 2008?
175,472 residential aged care places
(Source: AIHW (2009) Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 28 Cat. no. AGE 58. Canberra: AIHW).
What was the mix of high care and low care permanent residents at 30 June 2008?
On 20 March 2008 the method used measure the dependency level of aged care residents changed from the Resident Classification Scale (RCS) to the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI).
At 30 June 2008, there were 106,933 residents with a current assessment using the RCS and 47,338 using the ACFI. As there are differences between these measurement instruments the proportion of high and low care residents using the different methods of assessment are shown separately.
| Type of assessment | High care residents | Low care residents | Number |
| RCS | 70.2% | 29.8% | 106,933 |
| ACFI | 76.1% | 23.9% | 47,338 |
(Source: AIHW (2009) Residential aged care in Australia 2007-08: a statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 28 Cat. no. AGE 58. Canberra: AIHW).
How many Australian Government funded aged care packages were available in the community at 30 June 2008?
- 40,280 Community Aged Care Packages* (CACP) (low-care)
- 4,244 Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) packages (high-care)
- 1,996 Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia (EACH Dementia) packages (high-care)
- This makes a total of 46,520 packages
(*This figure includes 642 CACPs provided by Multi-Purpose Services and services receiving funding under the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program).
(Source: AIHW (2009) Aged care packages in the community 2007-08: A statistical overview. Aged care statistics series no. 29 Cat. no. AGE 60. Canberra: AIHW).
What proportion of aged care package recipients had a carer at 30 June 2008?
89.3% of EACH recipients had a carer at 30 June 2008 (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 2008 (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.