Source data: Residential mental health care 2019–20 tables (281KB XLSX).
Changes over time
Between 2015–16 and 2019–20; residential mental health care episodes increased marginally from 3.2 to 3.3 per 10,000 population (an average annual change of 0.2% over the period), estimated number of residents increased from 2.4 to 2.6 per 10,000 population (an average annual change of 1.6%) and residential care days increased from 128.2 to 141.8 per 10,000 population (an average annual change of 2.6%). Information on data quality over time can be found in the data source section.
A higher number of females than males received residential mental health care in 2019–20 (3,370 females and 3,222 males). People aged 18–24 years accessed residential mental health care at a higher rate than other age groups (5.1 people per 10,000 age specific population) in 2019–20. There were no residents aged under 12.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People comprised 8.1% of residential mental health care residents in 2019–20. The rate of Indigenous residents per 10,000 population was more than double the rate for non-Indigenous residents (6.7 compared to 2.4).
People born in Australia accessed residential mental health care in 2019–20 at more than double the rate for people born overseas (3.2 per 10,000 population compared to 1.2 per 10,000). 86.2% of residential mental health care residents in 2019–20 were born in Australia.
People in Inner regional areas accessed residential mental health care at a higher rate than other remoteness areas (4.1 people per 10,000 population). The area of usual residence that had the lowest rate of people accessing residential mental health care was Remote and Very remote areas (1.7 people per 10,000 population).
People in SEIFA quintile 1 (most disadvantaged) accessed residential mental health care at a rate higher than all other quintiles (3.5 people per 10,000 population) and comprised of 28% of the population accessing residential mental health care (Figure RMHC.2).