Client demographics

In 2017–18:

  • nearly all (95%) clients in Tasmania received treatment for their own drug use, of which, most (67%) were male (Figure 21; Table SC Tas.1)
  • clients receiving treatment for someone else’s drug use were more likely to be female (65%)
  • over half (53%) of clients were aged 20–39 years (Table SC TAS.2)
  • over 1 in 10 (12%) clients identified as Indigenous Australians, which is lower than the national rate (16%) (Tables SC TAS.3 and SC.4)
  • the majority (94%) of clients were born in Australia and nearly all (97%) reported English as their preferred language (Tables SC TAS.21 and SC TAS.22).

Of the 2,725 total clients who received treatment in 2017–18:

  • 62% (1,699) received treatment in 2017–18 only
  • 9% (250) received treatment in both 2016–17 and 2017–18
  • 4.1% (111) received treatment in each year from 2015–16 to 2017–18
  • 2.3% (63) received treatment in each year from 2014–15 to 2017–18
  • 1.2% (32) received treatment in all years, from 2013–14 to 2017–18.

Over the period 2013–14 to 2017–18, a total of 9,899 clients received treatment in Tasmania. Of those:

  • 77% (7,659) received treatment in only a single year
  • 16% (1,535) received treatment in any 2 of the 5 years
  • 5% (492) received treatment in any 3 of the 5 years
  • 1.8% (181) received treatment in any 4 of the 5 years
  • 0.3% (32) received treatment in all 5 collection years.