Summary

Childhood sets the foundation for future health and wellbeing. Biological, social, family and community, and economic influences during childhood impact on children’s physical, emotional and mental health and affect their education, employment, and behavioural development.

This report presents the latest available data on key national indicators of health, development and wellbeing of Australian children aged 0–14 years. This is the third report about children produced by the AIHW. In keeping with the new emphasis on a whole-of-government, cross-sectoral approach to effective policy towards early intervention and prevention, this report has been broadened to look at a wider set of influences on children’s health, development and wellbeing, including learning and education and the role of family and community.

Children of Australia

  • There were approximately 3.9 million children aged 0–14 years in Australia in 2003 and these children made up 20% of the total Australian population. Over the years, the share of children in the total population has been declining: in 1923, children made up over 30% of the total population, while it is projected that the child population will make up approximately 19% of the total population by 2006 and 18% by 2011.
  • According to 2001 census figures, Indigenous children comprised 4.5% of the total child population. Overseasborn children constituted 5.8% of all Australian children aged 0–14 years.

How healthy are Australia’s children?

  • The infant mortality rate in Australia halved over the last two decades, from 9.6 per 1,000 live births in 1983 to 4.8 in 2003. Based on current age-specific mortality rates, infants born today are expected to live to an average age of 77.8 years for males and 82.8 years for females.
  • Over the last two decades, mortality among children aged 1–14 years has also declined by over 50%. Most deaths to children occur in the early childhood period of 1–4 years of age, and this group has also experienced a 45% decline in the death rate between 1983 and 2003.
  • A major contributing factor for falling mortality during infancy is the declining rate of deaths from SIDS. Between 1983 and 2003, SIDS deaths declined by 84%, but in 2003, SIDS was still responsible for 17% of infant deaths in the post-neonatal period.
  • Injury and poisoning was the major cause of death among children aged 1–14 years, accounting for 40% of all deaths to children in 2003. However, between 1983 and 2003, the child death rate from injury and poisoning declined by about 60%.
  • Chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and cancer contribute significantly to the disease burden among children in Australia. In 2001, an estimate of 527,000 children aged 0–14 years had asthma as a long-term condition, a prevalence rate of 13.2%.
  • In 2000–01, the average annual rate of new cases of Type 1 diabetes was around 20 per 100,000 among children aged 0–14 years.
  • Between 1982 and 2001, the age standardised incidence rate of cancer for children aged 0–14 years increased by an average of 0.6% per year. The overall five-year survival from leukaemia increased significantly from 62.4% to 69.7% between 1982–86 and 1992–97.Childhood sets the foundation for future health and wellbeing. Biological, social, family and community, and economic influences during childhood impact on children’s physical, emotional and mental health and affect their education, employment, and behavioural development.