Australia has a large culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population. As of June 2016, 26% of Australia’s population were born overseas and this has been increasing over the past 10 years (ABS 2017). In 2016, there were over 300 separately identified languages spoken in Australian homes and 21% of Australians spoke a language other than English (ABS 2017). For the purposes of this report, people from CALD backgrounds refers to people whose main language spoken at home is not English (for more information refer to Box CALD1).
Some people from CALD backgrounds are more vulnerable to alcohol and other drug use due to a history of torture, trauma, grief and loss. This can also be exacerbated by family stressors, unemployment, language barriers, and lack of awareness of culturally appropriate services available (DoH 2017).
Box CALD1: Alcohol and other drug data in CALD populations
There is a lack of publicly available and comprehensive data examining the use of alcohol and other drugs by people from CALD backgrounds. The AIHW’s National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) is one of the only national data sources that specifically disaggregates alcohol and other drug use by main language spoken at home. CALD data from the NDSHS refers to persons who indicated that English was not the main language spoken at home.
The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS NMDS) also collects CALD data, however this is based on information on clients country of birth, instead of main language spoken at home. Most (87%) of treatment episodes in 2018–19 were provided to clients who were born in Australia (AIHW 2020a).
Data from the NDSHS indicate that people from CALD backgrounds are less likely to consume alcohol and other drugs compared with those whose main language spoken at home is English (AIHW 2020b).
Tobacco smoking
While there has been an increase between 2016 and 2019 in the proportion of people across Australia reporting never smoking, the proportion of 'never smokers' is greater for people from CALD backgrounds (84%) compared with people who mainly speak English at home (60%) (Table S3.51). This has been the case since 2010. People from CALD backgrounds also continue to be less likely to smoke daily than people who mainly speak English (AIHW 2020b).
NDSHS estimates indicate that, after adjusting for age differences, there was a significant reduction in daily smoking among primary English speakers from 13.1% in 2016 to 11.8% in 2019. However, for people from CALD backgrounds, this figure rose from 5.9% in 2016 to 6.2% in 2019) (Table S3.52; Figure CALD1).
People from CALD backgrounds who do smoke tend to smoke fewer cigarettes than primary English speakers. In 2019, among current smokers, people who mainly spoke a language other than English smoked an average of 69 cigarettes per week, compared with 91 cigarettes for people who mainly spoke English (Table S3.51).