Australia's welfare 2011 in brief

Publication

• Australia's welfare 2011 in brief (7MB PDF)
• Australia's welfare 2011 in brief online version

Publication table of contents

• Introduction
• Title and verso page
• Contents
• 1 Who are we?
  • Australians in brief
  • Our population is growing and ageing
  • We are becoming more culturally diverse
  • We live in different types of families
  • One in five of us has a disability
  • We are living longer, with more disability-free years
• 2 Where do we live?
  • Most of us live in coastal cities
  • A generation gap in regional areas
  • Disability is more common in regional areas
  • Most of us own our home
  • Less public housing, more community housing
  • People with special needs dominate social housing recipients
• 3 How do we engage with the community?
  • Students are staying at school longer
  • More females than males now participate in higher education
  • Increasing workforce participation among women and older Australians...
  • ...but some people still miss out on the benefits of work
• 4 How do we care for others?
  • Half of all children under 15 attend child care
  • Women and older people provide most informal care
  • More children living in out-of-home care
  • More than $130 billion spent on welfare in 2008–09
  • Community service organisations employ over half a million people
• 5 Who is at risk of missing out?
  • Jobless families
  • School readiness varies
  • Young people in the juvenile justice system
  • Low income households in housing stress
  • People seeking assistance from specialist homelessness services
  • Groups vulnerable to homelessness
• 6 How do we compare?
  • We are younger than many developed countries
  • Welfare expenditure is slightly below OECD average—but relatively high for families
  • Our high school students perform well
  • But youth disengagement is still a problem
  • Labour force participation lags for 'prime age workers'
• 7 What are we doing to find out more?
  • Current AIHW projects