Australian Bureau of Statistics – National Health Survey (NHS)

3–4 yearly

2022¹

The NHS is conducted by the ABS and presents key findings for health statistics including long-term health conditions; mental wellbeing; and health risk factors. Participants include usual residents of private dwellings in urban and rural areas of Australia (excluding Very Remote areas).

The NHS uses the ABS Short Disability Module² to identify the presence of disability or a restrictive long-term health condition. Disability or a restrictive long-term health condition is defined as having at least one condition which restricts everyday activities, for at least 6 months.

The NHS identifies six disability groups based on particular types of disability:

• sensory and speech
• learning and understanding
• physical restriction
• psychosocial
• head injury, stroke or acquired brain injury (ABI)
• other.

People may have more than one type of disability. In reporting by disability groups, people could be counted more than once if they have disabilities from more than one disability group.

The NHS classifies disability according to the degree of limitation or impairment in core activities into profound, severe, moderate, and mild limitation. In addition, NHS distinguishes people with disability who have no limitation in core activities but have schooling or employment restriction, and people with disability who have no specific limitation or restriction. The ADS OF reports on outcomes of people with severe and/or profound disability, as well as outcomes of people with other disability status (people with disability who have disability status other than severe or profound). 

Age refers to the age of a person on their last birthday.

The NHS 2022 collects information on sex recorded at birth for all respondents. Information on sex recorded at birth is collected based on the 2020 ABS Standard³ (Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables). Sex recorded at birth is collected as ‘Male’, ‘Female’, and ‘Another term’.

This website reports data based on sex recorded at birth in Data downloads only. The category ‘Another term’ is not reported due to confidentiality reasons and to avoid identifying individual people.

The NHS 2022 collects information about respondent’s current gender, which may be different from sex recorded at birth or what is indicated on legal documents. Information on gender is collected based on the 2020 ABS Standard³ (Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables) for all persons aged 16 and over who are present at interview. Gender is reported as ‘Male’, ‘Female’, and ‘Non-binary’. Respondents may refuse to provide information about their gender.

Based on responses to sex at birth and gender questions, the NHS 2022 classifies respondents as either cisgender (cis) or trans or gender diverse (trans). This derivation method is recommended by the 2020 ABS Standard³. Respondents whose reported gender is the same as their sex recorded at birth are classified as ‘Cis’, while respondents who report their gender as non-binary or whose reported gender is different to sex recorded at birth are classified as ‘Trans’. 

Data on cisgender and trans and gender diverse people are reported for people aged 16 and over who were present at the interview, whose gender is reported as either ‘Male’, ‘Female’ or ‘Non-binary’, and whose sex at birth was either ‘Male’ or ‘Female’. 
 

The NHS 2022 collects information on sexual orientation based on the 2020 ABS Standard³ from respondents aged 16 and over who are present at interview. Sexual orientation is reported as ‘Straight (heterosexual)’, ‘Gay or lesbian’, ‘Bisexual’, and ‘Different term’. Respondents may refuse to provide information about their sexual orientation.

In the ADS OF, sexual orientation is reported as ‘Straight (heterosexual)’ and ‘Gay, lesbian, bisexual, or different term’ for confidentiality reasons and to avoid identifying individual people.
 

Indigenous status is voluntarily self-reported based on the ABS Indigenous Status Standard.⁴ The term ‘First Nations people’ is used to refer to survey respondents who have identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin during the data collection process.

The NHS collects information on country of birth, main language spoken at home, and (for those who mainly speak a language other than English at home) proficiency in spoken English. This information is used to derive Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) status for reporting against the ADS OF measures.

For the ADS OF reporting purposes, the CALD cohort includes people born in countries other than main English-speaking countries (Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Canada, Republic of Ireland, and South Africa), and/or those who mainly speak a language other than English at home. People born in main English-speaking countries who mainly speak English at home, and/or those who are nonverbal, mainly use Auslan at home, or mainly speak an Australian Indigenous language at home are included in the non-CALD cohort.

The CALD cohort can be further sub-divided according to proficiency in spoken English. Low English proficiency group includes people who mainly speak a language other than English at home with self-reported proficiency in spoken English of 'not well' or 'not at all'. High English proficiency group includes people who mainly speak a language other than English at home with self-reported proficiency in spoken English of 'well' or 'very well', and those who mainly speak English at home.

Remoteness is classified according to the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3. Data source does not cover very remote areas and discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.⁵

Highest level of educational attainment is reported as: 

• None or below Year 10 (includes Certificate I/II)
• Year 10/11
• Year 12 or equivalent
• Certificate III/IV or Diploma
• Bachelor Degree or higher.

Employment status is reported as: 

• Employed
• Unemployed
• Not in the labour force.

Household composition is reported as:

• Lone person
• Couple family without children
• Couple family with children aged under 15^*
• Couple family with children aged 15 and over only
• Lone parent family with children aged under 15^*
• Lone parent family with children aged 15 and over only
• Other household composition.

*Couple and lone parent families with children aged under 15 may also include children aged 15 and over.

National, state and territory data are available.

• Self-reported health

1. The NHS 2022 is considered to be comparable with the NHS 2017–18 and previous surveys. The NHS 2022 should not be compared with the 2020–21 survey which was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic with significant changes to the data collection. The 2020–21 survey is considered a break in time series from previous NHS collections, and should be used for point-in-time national analysis only.
2. The Short Disability Module used in the NHS to identify the presence of disability has been found to overestimate the number of people with less severe forms of disability (4431.0.55.002 - ABS Sources of Disability Information, 2012 - 2016).
3. The ABS Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables can be found at Standard for Sex, Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).
4. The ABS Indigenous Status Standard can be found at Indigenous Status Standard, 2014, Version 1.5 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).
5. Further information on the geographic index used by this data source can be found at Remoteness Structure | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).