4155.0 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey: Social Atlas, 1994  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/03/1997   
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  • About this Release
  • New ABS Social Atlas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (Media Release)

MEDIA RELEASE

March 20, 1997
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
27/97
New ABS Social Atlas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Less than 20 per cent of Indigenous people in northern and central Australia say English is their main language. This is one characteristic detailed in a social atlas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which was released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The atlas includes 45 maps which present characteristics of the Indigenous population drawing on data from the 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey and other sources.

The maps show data for a number of broad categories: population, family and culture, health, health risk factors, housing, education, employment and income, and law and justice. The statistics are based on several types of data, ranging from stated perceptions and attitudes, to reported conditions and actions, to actual measurements.

Each map shows comparisons of data across the 35 ATSIC regions and the Torres Strait Area and will be useful for researchers, policy makers and service providers interested in making regional comparisons or quickly finding areas which have relatively high or low values.

Selected data from the atlas shows:
  • more than 50 per cent of females in a number of northern and central Australian regions stated that they never drank alcohol; and
  • the greatest concentration of Indigenous home ownership was found in regions located in south-east Australia.

The 1994 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey - Social Atlas (cat. no. 4155.0) is available from ABS bookshops.