Overview

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the Indigenous people of Australia. They are not one group, but comprise hundreds of groups that have their own distinct set of languages, histories and cultural traditions.

AIHW reports and other products include information about Indigenous Australians, where data quality permits. Thus, information and statistics about Indigenous Australians can be found in most AIHW products.

AIHW products that focus specifically on Indigenous Australians are captured on this page.

Note: Following a recent restructure of Indigenous information on the AIHW website, this page includes those AIHW reports that used to be found on the Indigenous health and welfare services page.

Latest findings

Clients of Indigenous-specific primary health care organisations had 3.7 million episodes of care in 2018–19 82% of Indigenous children reunified during 2017–18 did not return to out-of-home care in the following 12 months At June 2019, 33% of Indigenous regular clients aged 15 and over had never smoked Clients of Indigenous-specific primary health care organisations had 6.1 million contacts in 2018–19 19% of Indigenous children in out-of-home care during 2018–19 were reunified with family 63% of Indigenous children in out-of-home care were living with family or Indigenous caregivers 77% of Indigenous children in out-of-home care had current, documented and approved cultural support plans At June 2019, 86% of Indigenous babies in the previous year had a normal birthweight Indigenous-specific primary health care organisations cared for 498,000 clients in 2018–19 210 Indigenous-specific primary health care organisations employed about 8,000 FTE staff in 2018–19 At June 2019, 38% of Indigenous regular clients aged 50 and over were immunised against influenza At June 2019, 40% of Indigenous regular clients with type 2 diabetes had blood pressure in the recommended range

Latest reports

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Highlights

3.6 millionepisodes of care were provided by Indigenous primary health services in 2017–18
3.3%of the total Australian population were Indigenous Australians in 2016
47% of children and young people in the Northern Territory had hearing loss in 2018—less than the 55% in 2012
19%of the Indigenous disease burden in 2011 was caused by mental health and substance use disorders
The median ageof Indigenous Australians was 23 in 2016, compared with 38 for non‑Indigenous Australians
1 in 3Indigenous youth experienced high levels of psychological distress in 2014–15, compared with 1 in 8 non‑Indigenous youth
64%of the burden of disease among Indigenous Australians is due to chronic diseases