Diabetes is more common in Indigenous Australians than in non-Indigenous Australians
- In 2004–05, 6.3% (29,874) of Indigenous Australians had diabetes, based on self-reports.
- Diabetes among Indigenous Australians was 3 times as common as in non-Indigenous Australians according to the 2004–05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, after taking into account differences in age structure (Figure 1).
- Type 1 diabetes is uncommon in the Indigenous population, but there is a very high prevalence of Type 2 diabetes.
- Indigenous Australians were 7 times as likely as non-Indigenous Australians to have diabetes recorded on their death certificate for the period 2003–2007.
For more information, see Diabetes indicators in Australia and Australia’s Health 2010.
Rates of diabetes among Australian born and overseas born people are similar
- In 2007–08, 4.3% of people born overseas living in Australia had diabetes (Figure 2).
- In the same period, 4.0% of people born and living in Australia also had diabetes.
- Based on data from the National Mortality Database, (NMD), between 1997 and 2007 the death rate from diabetes-related causes:
- dropped by 16% among people born overseas compared with 17% among Australian born people.
- was 19–29% higher among people born overseas than people born in Australia.
For more information, see Diabetes indicators in Australia.
There are small differences in diabetes prevalence rates between geographic areas
- Of the 898,800 Australians estimated to have diabetes in 2007–08, around 557,700 (62%) lived in Australia’s major cities, 230,700 (26%) in inner regional areas and 110,400 (12%) in outer regional or remote geographic areas.
- The proportion of people estimated to have diabetes was 4.0% in major cities, compared with 5.2% in inner regional areas and 5.1% in outer regional or remote areas.
- The differences between major cities and inner regional/outer regional or remote areas are not statistically significant after accounting for age differences.
- Between 1997 and 2006, the death rate from diabetes-related causes remained stable at around 45 deaths per 100,000 per population among people living in outer regional, remote and very remote areas. By comparison, the death rate from diabetes-related causes among people living in major cities dropped from 38 to 30 deaths per 100,000 people, while the diabetes-related death rate among people living in inner regional areas dropped from 38 to 34 deaths per 100,000 people.
For more information, see Diabetes indicators in Australia and Diabetes prevalence in Australia: Detailed estimates for 2007–08.
Further information
AIHW 2012. Diabetes indicators in Australia
AIHW 2011. Diabetes prevalence in Australia: Detailed estimates for 2007–08
AIHW 2010. Australia’s Health 2010
Definitions
- Country of birth (ABS NHS)
- Country of birth has been defined based on the ABS NHS, as either Australian-born or overseas-born. Australian-born includes Australia, Norfolk Island and Australian External Territories. Overseas-born includes all other countries/regions and those that were not stated or inadequately described.
- Country of birth (NMD)
- Country of birth has been defined based on the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), as either Australian-born or overseas-born. Australian-born includes the areas Australia, Norfolk Island and Australian External Territories. Overseas-born includes all other areas and those that were not stated or inadequately described.
- Indigenous Australian
- A person who identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.
- Non-indigenous Australian
- A person who identifies as not being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.
- Geographic areas
- The ASGC RA classification is based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). ARIA is derived from the distance a place is by road from urban centres of different sizes, so it provides a relative indication of how difficult it might be for residents to access certain services such as health care and education. Three categories are used here: Major cities of Australia (e.g. Sydney, Canberra); Inner regional Australia (e.g. Hobart, Mackay, Gundegai), and Outer regional or Remote Australia (which is a combination of Outer regional (e.g. Darwin, Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie) and Remote Australia (e.g. Alice Springs, Blinman)). Very remote Australia was not included in the scope of the ABS 2007–08 National Health Survey.