Figure 3 Alternative text. Download data tables.
Across the 5 remoteness areas, the rate of Indigenous-specific health checks in 2017–18 was generally higher in more remote areas—increasing from 23% in Major cities to 41% in Remote areas. Very remote areas were the exception to this general pattern, with a rate of 29%. This may be partly due to the use of mailing address to derive these rates—in particular, where a person lives in a Very remote area, but has mail delivered to a PO Box in a less remote location, the health check will be counted in the less remote location.
Across SA3s, the rate of Indigenous-specific health checks ranged from 3% to 59% (Figure 3; analysis relates to 328 areas for which rates could be reported).
On average, the rate of Indigenous-specific health checks was higher in SA3s with larger Indigenous populations. For example, the rate of health checks, when averaged across the SA3s, was:
- 15% in SA3s with fewer than 1,000 Indigenous Australians (120 SA3s)
- 25% in SA3s with between 1,000 and 4,999 Indigenous Australians (169 SA3s)
- 31% in SA3s with between 5,000 and 9,999 Indigenous Australians (29 SA3s)
- 37% in SA3s with 10,000 or more Indigenous Australians (10 SA3s).
In 2017–18, about 7 in 10 SA3s (71%, or 233 areas) had a rate below the national average (that is, a rate lower than 28.8%). This is because SA3s with larger populations—which tended to have higher rates of health checks—contribute more to the national rate than the smaller SA3s.