Some form of disability affects about one in five Australians. In the context of health experience, disability may refer to impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions. It denotes the negative aspects of the interaction between an individual (with a health condition) and that individual's contextual factors (environmental and personal factors).
The shape of the Australian population is changing with the older age groups making up an increasing proportion. With an older population and increasing life expectancies there will be more people with disabilities and an associated increased demand for carers to look after them. Statistics are integral to research, policy design and program evaluation in this area. There are a range of sources of information on disability, chief among them being the ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.
This theme page provides a guide to ABS and non-ABS data, statistics and information on aspects of disability, ageing and carers in the Australian population.
For information on all the ABS health collections, see the Health theme page. |
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This page first published 8 June 2007, last updated 19 February 2010 |