2059.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Australia's Youth, 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 05/02/2004   
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MEDIA RELEASE

February 5, 2004
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
22/2004

Income for NT youth highest of all states and territories

In 2001, Northern Territory (NT) youth (aged 15-24 years) had a median individual weekly income of $194, the highest of all states and territories, according to a new report on Australian youth released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Despite earning the highest median individual weekly income amongst youth in the country, NT young people had one of the lowest rates of labour force participation in the country. Just over half (56%) of NT youth were either working or looking for employment in 2001, compared to 63% for all Australian youth.

Other key findings for the NT include:
  • Over one-third (34%) of the territory's youth population identified themselves as Indigenous.
  • Of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth population, 14% were counted in the NT.
  • There were more young males than females in the NT youth population, with 109.9 males for every 100 females.
  • Less than one-third (30%) of youth in the NT were attending an educational institution, compared to 53% nationally.
  • Over one-third (36%) of all NT youth had accessed the Internet in the week preceding the 2001 Census, the lowest proportion of all states and territories.
  • Less than one in ten (8%) of the territory's youth population were born overseas, with the majority of these born in non-main English speaking countries.

The report draws on 2001 Census data, which counted 30,100 people aged 15–24 years in the NT. This equated to 15% of the total NT population and 1.2% of the total Australian youth population.

Further details are in Census of Population and Housing: Australia's Youth, 2001 (cat. no. 2059.0).