Client demographics

In 2017–18:

  • most (95%) clients in the Northern Territory received treatment for their own drug use, of which, most were male (74%) (Figure 29; Table SC NT.1)
  • clients receiving treatment for someone else’s drug use were more likely to be female (73%)
  • over half (54%) of clients were aged 20–39 years, and 17% of clients were aged 10–19 years which is higher the national rate (13%) (Tables SC.3 and SC NT.2)
  • almost three-quarters (72%) of clients identified as Indigenous Australians (Tables SC NT.3 and SC.4)
  • nearly all (94%) clients were born in Australia and over half (58%) reported English as their preferred language, with almost a third (29%) reported Indigenous languages as their preferred language (Tables SC NT.21 and SC NT.22).

Patterns of service use:

Of the 7,544 total clients who received treatment in 2017–18:

  • 60% (2,191) received treatment in 2017–18 only
  • 14% (505) received treatment in both 2016–17 and 2017–18
  • 4.1% (150) received treatment in each year from 2015–16 to 2017–18
  • 2.0% (74) received treatment in each year from 2014–15 to 2017–18
  • 1.2% (45) received treatment in all years, from 2013–14 to 2017–18.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2017–18, a total of 11,689 clients received treatment in the Northern Territory. Of those:

  • 74% (8,629) received treatment in only a single year
  • 19% (2,195) received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 5% (619) received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 1.7% (201) received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.4% (45) received treatment in all 5 collection years.