Overview

There are many aspects of the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians where significant improvements are continuing or emerging. But significant gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians remain. This disadvantage, or the 'gap' between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, starts from birth and continues throughout life.

More reports and statistics on Indigenous Australians can be found under The health & welfare of Australia's Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and Indigenous health & welfare services.

Latest findings

Chronic diseases were responsible for 70% of the total health gap in 2011 Reducing exposure to modifiable risk factors would prevent 37% of the burden of disease in Indigenous Australians 5% decrease in the age-standardised rate of total burden in the Indigenous population between 2003 and 2011 The Indigenous hospitalisation rate for cataract surgery rose by 36% in the last 10 years The prevalence of active trachoma among Indigenous 5–9 year olds has decreased since 2009, but plateaued in recent years Median waiting times for cataract surgery Indigenous Australians were longer than non-Indigenous Australians 3 highest ranked disease were coronary heart disease, suicide & self-inflicted injuries and anxiety disorders Tobacco use accounted for 23% of the gap in burden between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians Mental & substance use disorders, such as anxiety, depression and alcohol use disorders, caused 19% of the burden Over one third of Indigenous people with diabetes had not had an eye examination in the preceding 12 months 19% of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was due to cardiovascular diseases and 14% to injuries Indigenous Australians experienced burden 2.3 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians

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Highlights

13 to 15%increase in the number of Indigenous Australians who had an eye examination in the preceding 12 months between 2005-06 and 2016-17
64%of the disease burden among Indigenous Australians in 2011 was caused by chronic disease
Active trachomain at-risk communities has fallen from 14% in 2009 to 4.6% in 2015
3 times higherrate of vision impairment and blindness is experienced by Indigenous Australians compared with non-Indigenous Australians
Burden of diseaseexperienced by Indigenous Australians is 2.3 times the rate of non-Indigenous Australians
19%of the Indigenous disease burden was caused by mental health and substance use disorders
37%of the Indigenous disease burden could be prevented by reducing exposure to risk factors such as tobacco use, physical inactivity & poor diet