Aged care is an Australia's welfare topic

Australia’s aged care system delivers services through a range of care types to cater for the varying needs of the ageing population. Services range from supports to remain living largely independently at home, through to full-time care in a residential setting. 

This page explores the use of mainstream residential and community-based aged care programs by people aged 65 and over. It provides information about how people are assessed and enter aged care, the types of care they use and how they leave aged care. Importantly, a person may use multiple programs during the year, and may be counted more than once as an admission to an aged care program or exit from an aged care program. For more information on aged care in Australia, see GEN Aged Care Data.

Aged Care Act 2024

The Aged Care Act 2024 passed Australian Parliament on 25 November 2024 and will replace the current Aged Care Act 1997 and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 on 1 November 2025. The new regulatory model focuses on improving quality and safety, protecting the rights of older people and ensuring the financial sustainability of aged care providers. This involves provision for a Statement of Rights, an independent complaints mechanism, enforceable rights for older people, the right to visitors at all times and hardship protections (Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission 2024).  

 

Aged care assessments

To access government-funded aged care services, people undergo an assessment of need. This process assesses people’s circumstances and care needs and, where appropriate, approves people for particular aged care services and refers them to service providers.

The My Aged Care platform is a contact centre and website which serves as the starting point for access to government-subsidised aged care services. Access to My Aged Care can be via self-referral, or requests from carers, or health and aged care professionals.

Following an initial screening through My Aged Care, people are directed to one of 2 types of assessment:

  • Regional Assessment Services assess eligibility for entry-level home support services, known as the Commonwealth Home Support Programme.
  • Aged Care Assessment Teams conduct comprehensive assessments and approve people for entry into residential aged care (permanent or respite), home care or flexible aged care programs.

In 2023–24, around 325,000 home support assessments and 218,000 comprehensive assessments were completed (SCRGSP 2025). While numbers fluctuated from year to year, the number of completed comprehensive aged care assessments increased by 15% from 2014–15 to 2023–24 (SCRGSP 2025). This increase in demand on services was largely driven by the growth in the Australian population aged 65 years and over, which increased by 32% from 3.6 million to 4.7 million over the same time period (ABS 2025).

Wait times for aged care

There are many stages between first contact and receipt of care which can be influenced by the availability of assessment services, places and packages, individual preferences and choice in respect of accessing care. Not all of these factors can be categorised as ‘waiting times’ so a proxy measurement of ‘elapsed time’ is used in some reporting.

There have been improvements in wait/elapsed times at certain stages of the process, but not for all. 

  • The median elapsed time between referral for a comprehensive assessment and approval increased from 12 days in 2019–20 to 22 days in 2023–24 (SCRGSP 2025). 
  • The median elapsed time between approval and package committed decreased for home care, from 299 days in 2019–20 to 118 days in 2023–24 (SCRGSP 2025). 
  • The median elapsed time between approval and entry fluctuated for permanent residential care, from 148 days in 2019–20 to a peak of 163 days in 2020–21 and then decreased to 136 days in 2023–24 (SCRGSP 2025).  

Entering aged care

In 2023–24, there were around 275,600 admissions to home care and residential aged care among people aged 65 and over. This included around 102,000 (37%) admissions to home care and 173,600 (63%) admissions to residential aged care, of which approximately 75,600 (44%) were to permanent care and approximately 98,000 (56%) were to respite care (AIHW 2025a).

Characteristics of people of all ages entering residential aged care and home care in 2023–24 include:

  • Over half (54%) of admissions to permanent residential aged care were among people aged 85 and over.
  • Around 3 in 5 (59%) admissions to permanent residential aged care were among women. 
  • Around a third (35%) of admissions to home care were among people aged 85 and over (AIHW 2025a).

Of all people entering residential aged care and accessing home care in 2023–24, 0.8% were aged under 65 (AIHW 2025a).

People using aged care

People tend to use different aged care programs at different stages of their life. As people get older, it is likely they will experience escalating care needs that require different care types. However, people’s journey through aged care can vary. Some people may start using lower-level care services, then progress to accessing increasing levels of care as their needs change. For others, their first experience with aged care services may be when they require higher level care after a sudden event, such as the loss of a carer or a health crisis.

For more information, see People using aged care.

Home support

In 2023–24, around 835,000 people aged 65 and over used home support services. Of these:

  • almost 2 in 3 (64%) were women
  • the age group with the highest proportion of recipients was those aged 80–84 years (23%) (Figure 1) (AIHW 2025e).

In 2023–24, 29% of home support recipients were aged 85 and over. This was a lower proportion than those aged 85 and over receiving home care (41%) and residential aged care (59%).

Figure 1: Home support recipients by age group and sex, 2023–24

The butterfly chart shows that the age distribution of home support use by Australians aged 65 and over was similar among women and men.

The butterfly chart shows that the age distribution of home support use by Australians aged 65 and over was similar among women and men.

Home care

At 30 June 2024, more than 272,000 people using home care were aged 65 and over. The rate of people using home care has increased more than 3-fold, from 18.3 per 1,000 population in 2017 to 58.5 per 1,000 population in 2024 (AIHW 2025e). This growth aligns with government policy and is driven by a consumer preference for in-home care. Under the new Aged Care Act 2024, home care and short-term restorative care will be replaced from 1 November 2025 by the new Support at Home program. Under Support at Home, participants will be assessed into one of 8 new funding classifications and be able to access home modifications and assistive technology to maintain independence. The program will bring together current in-home aged care programs with an increased focus on early intervention and higher levels of care for people with complex needs (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024a). 

The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) will transition to the Support at Home program no earlier than 1 July 2027. The staged approach aims to give CHSP providers time to change their business systems, adjust to new payment arrangements and avoid disruption for clients. Support at Home will be enabled by a Single Assessment System which started with the introduction of a new Integrated Assessment Tool on 1 July 2024. This aims to simplify and improve access to aged care services for older people (Department of Health and Aged Care 2025).

Levels of home care

Home care provides varying levels of care to individuals based on their assessed care needs. A coordinated package of care is available at 4 levels, from Level 1 (basic care – for example, shopping assistance, transportation, and meal preparation), through to Level 4 (high-level care – for example, assistance with bathing, dressing, and getting out of bed, including support for additional care needs such as dementia, or vision and hearing impairment).

At 30 June 2024, of all home care recipients:

  • 5.4% were receiving care at Level 1
  • 41% were receiving care at Level 2
  • 33% were receiving care at Level 3
  • 21% were receiving care at Level 4 (AIHW 2025c).

At 30 June 2024, of the 272,000 people aged 65 and over using home care:

  • around 2 in 3 (66%, 181,000 people) were women
  • the age groups with the highest proportion of recipients were those aged 80–84 (23%, 64,500 people) and 85–89 years (23%, 64,100 people) (Figure 2) (AIHW 2025e).

Figure 2: Home care recipients by age group and sex, 30 June 2024

The butterfly chart shows that the age groups with the highest proportion of people using home care were those aged 80–84 and 85–89 for both men and women.

The butterfly chart shows that the age groups with the highest proportion of people using home care were those aged 80–84 and 85–89 for both men and women.

Residential aged care

At 30 June 2024, approximately 197,000 people aged 65 and over used residential aged care. Of these:

  • 188,000 lived in permanent residential aged care
  • 8,400 respite care.

Among people aged 65 and over in permanent residential aged care:

  • around 2 in 3 were women (66%, 125,000 people) and around one in 3 were men (34%, 65,000 people)
  • the age groups with the highest proportion of recipients were those aged 85–89 (25%, 46,800 people) and 90–94 years (22%, 41,500 people) (Figure 3) (AIHW 2025e).

The number of people aged 65 and over living in permanent residential aged care increased by 6.3% from 179,000 at 30 June 2017 to 190,000 at 30 June 2024 (AIHW 2025e). This increase in demand on services was largely driven by the growth in the Australian population aged 65 years and over, which increased 24% over the same period (from 3.8 million to 4.7 million people) (ABS 2025). 

Compared with other aged care programs, people generally enter residential aged care at older ages. For all admissions to permanent residential aged care in 2023–24, the average age at admission was 85 years for women and 83 years for men (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024e).

Figure 3: Residential aged care recipients by age group and sex, 30 June 2024

The butterfly chart shows the age distribution of permanent and respite residential aged care use differed by sex, with more men aged 65–84 using residential aged care compared with women and more women aged 85 and older using residential aged care compared with men.

The butterfly chart shows the age distribution of permanent and respite residential aged care use differed by sex, with more men aged 65–84 using residential aged care compared with women and more women aged 85 and older using residential aged care compared with men.

Quality indicators for residential aged care

A range of quality indicators, such as pressure injuries and use of physical restraint, are publicly reported each quarter for residential aged care, as part of the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program). Since 1 July 2019 it has been a requirement of all Australian Government-subsidised residential aged care services to report on aspects of service provision that contribute to the quality of care provided. For more information see National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

Trends over time since July-September 2021 (when reporting for the expanded QI Program commenced) to the quarter January- March 2025, show that there has been an improvement in many quality of care indicators that measure adverse events, complications, or undesirable outcomes (where lower values of these quality indicators indicate better quality of care) in residential aged care services at the national level (AIHW 2025g). These are the proportion of residents experiencing:

  • one or more pressure injuries
  • physical restraint and physical restraint exclusively through the use of a secure area
  • significant unplanned weight loss and consecutive unplanned weight loss
  • falls that resulted in major injury
  • polypharmacy, antipsychotic medication use, and in the
  • proportion of workforce turnover (Figure 4).

Similarly, quality indicators that measure desirable outcomes (where higher values of these quality indicators indicate better quality of care), show that there has been an improvement over time in the proportions of residents (AIHW 2025g):

  • reporting ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ consumer experience and quality of life.

Indicators of quality of care that did not show an improvement over time were: 

  • ‘emergency department presentations’ and ‘emergency department presentations or hospital admissions’, where proportions of residents experienced small increases in these events over time.

Indicators of quality of care that showed minimal changes over time included the proportion of care recipients: 

  • experiencing falls, a decline in their Activities of Daily Living score, or experiencing Incontinence Associated Dermatitis.

Figure 4. Trends in quality indicator performance over time, Q1 2021-22 to Q3 2024-25

Further information about the National Aged Care Mandatory Quality Indicator Program (QI Program) and quarterly data reports can be found at: Residential Aged Care Quality Indicators – January to March 2025 - AIHW Gen.

Care needs in aged care

Residential aged care funding assessments

On 1 October 2022, the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) residential aged care funding model replaced the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI). The ACFI was a tool to assess the care needs of people living in permanent residential aged care to determine the government funding provided to care providers. Residents were reappraised in the same year if their needs changed. The ACFI measured care needs across 3 different areas of care, including:

  • activities of daily living
  • cognition and behaviour
  • complex health care (AIHW 2025c).

ACFI data are reported in People’s care needs in aged care.

The AN-ACC Assessment Tool focuses on the characteristics of residents that drive care costs in residential aged care. Residential aged care funding assessors use the AN-ACC Assessment Tool to assess a resident’s care needs and assign each resident with an AN-ACC classification. The AN-ACC classification assigned to the resident corresponds to the amount of government funding the approved service provider will receive (AIHW 2024b).

There are 13 classes of care funding under the AN-ACC model with each class based on the cost of care:

  • Class 1 is for people entering residential aged care for planned palliative care only.
  • People assessed as Class 2 and 3 are considered ‘Independently mobile’.
  • People assessed as Class 4–8 are considered as having ‘Assisted mobility’.
  • People assessed as Class 9–13 are considered as being ‘Not mobile’ (AIHW 2025c).

At 30 June 2024, over 189,800 people had a current AN-ACC assessment, representing 99.5% of all people using permanent residential aged care (189,900 people) (AIHW 2025c). Among these 189,800 people:

  • most (96%) people were assessed as having some mobility needs
  • the majority of people were in the ‘Assisted mobility’ category (57%), followed by the ‘Not mobile’ category (39%) and the ‘Independently mobile’ category (3%) (AIHW 2025c).

For more information, see People’s care needs in aged care.

Health of people in aged care

People using aged care continue to interact with the health system. They may see General Practitioners or specialists, have medications dispensed to them, visit an emergency department, or be admitted to hospital. Further analysis is being undertaken to understand the patterns of service use between the aged care and health, including updates to the Interfaces between the aged care and health systems topic on GEN website, and using linked data to report on the interface of hospital and aged care services for delayed discharge older patients (DDOP).

For more information on the use of health services, see Interfaces between the aged care and health systems.

Leaving aged care

People may also leave residential aged care to move back home, to enter another aged care service, to be admitted to hospital or exit due to death. The following information covers exits from aged care services in 2023–24. A person may exit aged care services more than once over a 12-month period. 

In 2023–24, for people aged 65 and over:

  • there were almost 247,100 exits from residential aged care and home care
  • the majority of exits were by people leaving respite residential aged care (38%, 94,600 people), followed by home care (34%. 84,100 people) and permanent residential aged care (28%, 68,400 people)
  • most (86%) exits from permanent residential aged care were due to death, compared with 27% from home care. Around 39% of exits from home care were due to entering residential aged care (AIHW 2025d).

Of all people who exited permanent residential aged care, those who died in care had the longest median length of stay (21 months) (AIHW 2025d).

Among all people exiting aged care, those leaving permanent residential aged care had the longest median length of stay (19 months), followed by home care (16 months) and respite residential aged care (24 days). Women stayed longer in permanent residential aged care than men with a median length of stay of 23 months for women and 14 months for men. This difference was less pronounced in respite care with a median length of stay of 24 days for women and 21 days for men (AIHW 2025d).

For more information, see People leaving aged care.

Aged care workforce

The aged care workforce is responsible for providing safe and high-quality care to people accessing aged care services in Australia. Aged care services include residential aged care, home care, home support and other flexibl care programs such as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program (NATSIFAC). Within the various aged care services, care is provided by a range of workforce roles. There are several main job groups that make up the aged care workforce:

  • Personal care workers including assistants in nursing and those undertaking a formal traineeship.
  • Nurses including nurse practitioners, registered nurses and enrolled nurses.
  • Allied health professionals including; audiologists, chiropractors, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) health worker/practitioners, dietitians, diversional therapists, exercise physiologists, occupational therapists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, social workers, speech therapists, allied health assistants and other (not specified) allied health professionals.
  • Administration including administrative, management, and quality and education coordinator positions.
  • ‘Other’ roles including pastoral/spiritual care workers, oral health professionals and those providing ancillary care. Ancillary care staff include staff who provide services such as cleaning, kitchen, gardening, and maintenance.
  • Informal carers including volunteers (AIHW 2024b). 

The findings presented on this page are drawn from the 2023 Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey which provides information on the size, composition and characteristics of the aged care workforce across 5 service care types; residential aged care, the Home Care Packages Program, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and for the first time, the Multi-Purpose Services Program and NATSIFAC (AIHW 2025f). For more information or findings using other workforce data sources, see Aged care workforce.

According to the latest Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey conducted in 2023 (AIHW 2024g): 

  • There were an estimated total of 549,000 people employedacross the 5 service care types. Of these:
    • 414,000 (75%) were direct care workers, comprised of nurses, personal care workers and allied health professionals. Direct care workers are a subset of all staff, employed either directly or indirectly, who provide care directly to older persons.
    • The remaining 135,000 workers (25%) were employed in ancillary positions, administrative, management and ‘other’ roles.
  • Overall, 43% of directly employed nursing and personal care staff were aged 45 years and older and 85% were women. 
  • Across all service care types, 4,100 (1.2%) directly employed nursing and personal care staff were reported as being First Nations people. Among First Nations people aged 50 and older, 2,100 (1.3%) were receiving either temporary or permanent residential aged care at 30 June 2022 (AIHW 2023f).
  • For NATSIFAC services, 160 (19%) directly employed nursing and personal care staff were reported as being First Nations people. 
  • Across all service care types, 17% of directly employed nursing and personal care staff were temporary residents while 83% were Australian/New Zealand citizens or Australian permanent residents. 
  • Overall, the proportion of direct care workers decreased with increasing geographic remoteness with 77% of all staff providing direct care in metropolitan areas and 55% of all staff providing direct care in very remote communities (AIHW 2024g).

For the full report, information on data collection and survey methods, see 2023 Aged Care Provider Workforce Survey: Report.

COVID-19 outbreaks in residential aged care services

During 2023–24, there continued to be a real and ongoing impact of COVID-19 on older people living in residential aged care in Australia (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024e). With older age and living in institutionalised care increasing the risk of becoming seriously ill with COVID-19, older people living in residential aged care are particularly vulnerable.

COVID-19 data, including outbreaks, resident deaths, and staff and resident cases, are self-reported by aged care providers through the My Aged Care Portal.

In the 2023–24 financial year, there was a total of:

  • 119,652 cases of COVID-19 among residents
  • 53,282 cases of COVID-19 among staff
  • 2,134 deaths associated with COVID-19 among residents (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024e). 

The majority (86%) of residential aged care services experienced a COVID-19 outbreak in the 2023–24 financial year. An outbreak of COVID-19 occurs when 2 or more residents test positive to COVID-19 within a 72-hour period (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024c). This requires a residential aged care service to notify the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and local Public Health Unit, and to activate their outbreak management plan (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024d). During 2023-24:

  • 2,238 of 2,617 (86%) residential aged care services experienced at least one COVID-19 outbreak
  • 577 residential aged care services experienced one COVID-19 outbreak
  • 1,661 residential aged care services experienced two or more COVID-19 outbreaks (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024e).

In recognition of the ongoing costs to aged care providers to plan for and safely manage COVID-19 outbreaks in residential aged care, the Australian Government introduced the Aged Care Outbreak Management Support Supplement in February 2024 (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024b). Ongoing support in 2025 includes a surge workforce program to help aged care facilities during critical staff shortages, infection prevention and control measures, measures to address low vaccination rates in aged care facilities, and surveillance, monitoring and reporting of COVID-19 across residential aged care (Department of Health and Aged Care 2024b).

For further information on the current impact of COVID-19 on older people in residential aged care, see the Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act and the COVID-19 outbreaks in Australian residential aged care facilities weekly report.

Key data gaps and data improvement activities

It is critical that the Australian aged care data system meets the needs of people using aged care, the providers delivering care, as well as other data users, such as government and researchers. A key recommendation arising from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety (Royal Commission), which concluded in 2021, was to put people at the centre of aged care. The Royal Commission also made recommendations related to improving the quality, coverage and availability of aged care data. 

Information about Australia’s aged care system is derived from a variety of sources including administrative data and survey data. There is currently a multitude of administrative data in the aged care data system. However, data have been fragmented and lacked common data definitions. There are also notable gaps in available data, for example, on regular detailed assessments of the care needs, health conditions and functional status of older people; diversity characteristics of older people; and people working in aged care. 

These issues have limited the ability for data to enable a person-centred view of the pathways and outcomes for older people within aged care. Addressing data limitations can help answer important questions to inform policy. Detailed and complete information is limited on:

  • Barriers to accessing aged care – how does the availability, cost, timely access, and suitability of aged care services influence if and how older people access aged care services? 
  • Aged care workforce – who works in aged care, and what are their demographics, skills and qualifications? 
  • Older people’s diversity – do older people need different things from aged care services depending on their personal background and experiences?
  • Quality of care – what are older people’s aged care experiences and outcomes?
  • Other service use – how do older people interact with other services, and what other services do older people access whilst using aged care services, such as primary health, hospital, allied health, dental, and palliative care services?

Data development activities underway in the aged care sector are working to address these known data gaps and limitations.

The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (the Department) is making changes to the aged care system (aged care reforms), many of which respond to recommendations of the Royal Commission. The aged care reforms aim to deliver an aged care system that is person-centred, and improves the access to, and safety and quality of, aged care. For more information see Aged care reforms and reviews | Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.

The AIHW has been funded by the Department to work with a broad range of stakeholders on a number of aged care data development and improvement activities, including:

  • The Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy: this outlines the Department’s approach to developing data and digital foundations for the aged care systems. The Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy and the Action Plan were launched in July 2024 and are available via the Department’s website: Aged Care Data and Digital Strategy 2024 – 2029.
  • The Aged Care National Minimum Data Set: this is a core set of standardised data elements agreed for mandatory collection and reporting at a national level about aged care. The Aged Care NMDS V1.0 data standards were released via METEOR in June 2023, and V2.0 is expected to be released in October 2025. The aged care data standards will be iteratively progressed, and aim to ensure data are reliable, consistent and comparable across the aged care sector. For further information see Data improvements - AIHW Gen.
  • The National Aged Care Data Asset (NACDA): this aims to bring together de-identified person-level data collected across aged care, health and community service settings for aged care research purposes. The purpose of the NACDA is to better understand the pathways, experiences and outcomes of people receiving aged care, and the operation and performance of the aged care system. The NACDA is now available for researchers to access via the National Health Data Hub. For more information, visit the NACDA webpage.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on Australians’ use of aged care services, see the AIHW’s aged care data website, GEN aged care data.