2032.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Australia in Profile -- A Regional Analysis, 1996  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/12/1998   
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MEDIA RELEASE

December 14, 1998
Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST)
144/1998

Australia in Profile: A regional analysis of NT - ABS

A major new social report, Australia in Profile: a Regional Analysis,released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, uses results from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing to describe some of the major differences in the characteristics and well-being of people living in different parts of Australia. This report enables comparisons of Northern Territory regions with regions across other States and Territories.

This report capitalises on the strength of the Census which is to provide detailed information for small geographic areas. The report also compares and contrasts the circumstances of people living in urban and rural areas, and identifies regions with the highest or lowest proportions of people with particular characteristics.

Australia in Profile: a Regional Analysis is divided into two main parts. The first consists of seven chapters discussing topics of social interest and concern in a range of areas including, cultural diversity, living arrangements, and employment and unemployment.

The second part of the report consists of a detailed social indicator table which presents a selection of key indicators for Statistical Local Areas - towns, shires and municipalities - across NT and Australia. At a glance NT can be compared to the rest of the nation.

Some of the main findings for NT in the report are:
  • Between 1991 and 1996 the average annual population growth rate in Darwin and Palmerston was 1.4%, compared with 2.4% for the rest of the Territory, and 1.2% nationally.
  • At June 1996 the median age of the population of Darwin and Palmerston was 29.2 years, the lowest of all Australia's major population centres. The median age of the rest of the Territory's population was just 26.6 years.
  • Just under ten per cent of people in Darwin and Palmerston were of Indigenous origin, compared to 44% for the rest of the Territory.
  • The proportion of the population of Darwin and Palmerston born overseas was similar to that for Australia (23.4% compared with 22.8%).
  • Reflecting a younger than average population, Darwin and Palmerston (together with Canberra-Queanbeyan) had the highest proportion of couple families with dependent children of all major population centres in Australia (45% of all families).
  • Service industries accounted for 84% of employment in Darwin and Palmerston, the second highest proportion behind Canberra-Queanbeyan (90%).
  • At the time of the last Census, Darwin and Palmerston had the highest median household income of all major population centres in Australia ($885 compared with an average of $637 nationally).
  • Darwin and Palmerston had the lowest proportion (18%) of people owning their home outright (no mortgage). The next lowest of the major population centres was Cairns (30%), while the national average was 43%.

Australia in Profile: a Regional Analysis (cat. no. 2032.0) is available from ABS bookshops. Other Media Releases which look Nationally and at individual States and Territories are also available from this site.