Stronger evidence, better decisions, improved health and wellbeing for all Australians

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is an independent statutory agency.

We produce authoritative and accessible information and statistics to inform and support better policy and service delivery decisions, leading to better health and wellbeing for all Australians.

We are focused on turning data into useful information and telling the broader story.

We publicly release 200+ publicly available reports and data releases annually covering over 75 health and welfare topics

We provide 180+ customised data extracts annually for researchers, consumers, service providers, and organisations.

We manage controlled access to Australia’s most comprehensive collection of health and welfare data.

We deliver a full range of data services from requests and access, through to analysis and linkage.

We are backed by numerous data holdings and unmatched knowledge of data and information related to the Australian health and welfare sectors.

Our governance arrangements are robust; we have strong privacy and confidentiality controls; our business processes and infrastructure are effective; and we have access to a network of government, research, and private sector collaborators from Australia and overseas.

Key facts about the AIHW

Trusted advice

The AIHW has more than 30 years of experience working with health and welfare data. We enjoy national and international recognition for our statistical expertise and proven track record in providing high quality, independent evidence.

We are backed by numerous data holdings and unmatched knowledge of data and information related to the Australian health and welfare sectors.

Strong relationships

We work with a broad range of stakeholders—with some of our relationships dating back to our establishment in 1987. We convene or participate in around 100 committees with experts from many different subject areas, meaning we’re informed by contemporary
best practice and a wide range of perspectives.

Our partners, collaborators and clients include:

  • international organisations, such as WHO and OECD
  • Australian, and state and territory government agencies (including the Australian Bureau of Statistics)
  • universities and research centres, and non-government organisations
  • health and welfare service providers, and clinicians

A focus on data about people

A person's circumstances are key drivers of their health and wellbeing. How they grow, live, work and age all have an effect— for better or worse.

At the AIHW, we use a ‘person-centred’ model for reporting data.

This helps us better understand the relationships between these aspects of people's lives—also known as ‘social determinants’—and their health and wellbeing.

diagram of person-centred model

Joining the dots

These different aspects of our lives are interconnected, with each having flow-on effects to others.
This is why, in addition to reporting data on more than 75 individual topics, the AIHW brings together data from across multiple topics to create new insights into the health and wellbeing of Australians.

diagram of topics

Refer also to our Data linkage services for clients brochure (1.9MB PDF) that contains more information about the AIHW's data linkage services for clients.

Tailored products and services

We offer a range of competitively-priced services, from data development through to analyses and data linkage—tailored to our clients’ needs for information and statistics.

We also offer a suite of products including brief and detailed reports, data visualisation tools and data downloads to meet the different needs of our audiences. This includes providing supporting evidence for public inquiries such as royal commissions and national responses to monitoring social determinants of the health and welfare of Australians.

diagram of services

As a Commonwealth Integrating Authority we safely link data on a range of topics, offering new insights on how Australians interact with the health and welfare systems.

diagram of safe data linkage

Robust data governance

We manage data professionally, with due respect for its sensitivity, and with privacy and confidentiality assured through legislation and robust data policies and procedures. This includes use of rigorous controls to determine access and release arrangements; and the scrutiny of a legally-constituted and independent Ethics Committee.

As an information agency, we rely on our data governance arrangements to keep the trust of our many data providers,
data recipients and other stakeholders.

Refer also to our Data Governance—in-brief brochure (1.7MB PDF) that contains more information about the AIHW's robust data governance arrangements.

The AIHW Ethics Committee

The AIHW Ethics Committee plays an integral role in ensuring that the work of the AIHW is ethically acceptable.
It contributes to our robust data governance arrangements and to ensuring privacy and confidentiality with regard to the AIHW’s management and release of data.

The committee operates in line with best practice for Human Research Ethics Committees, as outlined in the National Health and Medical Research Council’s National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.

Expert people

Our organisation boasts more than 550 highly skilled staff, with over 40% holding post-graduate qualifications.

Our staff are experts in:

  • statistical analyses and data science
  • data development and management
  • data standards
  • social science
  • data linkage
  • communication
  • epidemiology
  • people-centred data
  • demography
  • economics
  • health and welfare systems
  • public sector administration.

Contact us

For further information on how we can provide products and services for your organisation, please phone the Institute on (02) 6244 1000 or email [email protected].

Customised data analysis

If you are looking for statistics that are not available in publications or supplementary tables, data cubes or data visualisations, we also offer a data request service. Customised tables can be provided, subject to data quality and confidentiality requirements, from a range of AIHW-held databases. Please note that a fee may apply for this service.

Our fees are based on standard Government cost recovery principles, and are highly competitive with other consulting and research organisations. We are always happy to discuss charges with potential clients.

Request a customised analysis