Time since arrival in Australia

Figure 2: Long-term health conditions by time since arrival in Australia, by sex, 2021

This graph shows the crude and age-standardised percentages of people reporting long-term health conditions in the 2021 Census, by time since arrival in Australia and sex. The age-standardised prevalence of an individual condition generally increased as the time since arrival in Australia increased, reducing the gap between the Australian-born and overseas-born populations. Overall, there were variations between each condition and time since arrival in Australia.

The prevalence of long-term health conditions generally increased as the number of years since arriving in Australia increased, reducing the gap between the Australian-born and overseas-born populations.

For one or more condition(s), the prevalence increased from 17% for people who first arrived within the last 5 years before the 2021 Census to 30% for those who first arrived more than 15 years ago.

Compared to people who first arrived in Australia within the last 5 years, the prevalence of long-term health conditions among people who first arrived more than 15 years ago was:

  • 4 times as high for a mental health condition (8.2% and 2.1%, respectively)
  • more than twice as high for arthritis (6.3% and 2.5%, respectively), asthma (7.2% and 2.7%, respectively) and lung conditions (1.1% and 0.46%, respectively).
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