Links & other information

Notes

The term 'rural and remote' encompasses all areas outside Australia's Major cities. Using the Australian Standard Geographical Classification System, these areas are classified as Inner regional, Outer regional, Remote or Very remote. For further information, please see the Australian Standard Geographical Classification System on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

It can be difficult to assess the implications of remoteness for health due to:

  • the interactions between remoteness, low socioeconomic position and the higher proportion of Indigenous Australians in many of these areas compared with Major cities
  • the variability in the distribution of disadvantage and of Indigenous Australians across all areas—for example, levels of disadvantage on the fringe of Major cities can be more akin to those in rural/remote areas than to inner-city areas
  • gaps in the availability and coverage of health data in rural and remote areas, and in information available at the local area level.

It is also difficult to measure whether there is adequate supply of medical services because of the influence of factors such as varying health-seeking behaviours, professional scope of practice, and health system efficiency across remoteness areas.

Further reading

Website links

These external links take you to other organisations who are working with rural and remote health issues.

Australia

International