2914.0.55.002 - 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Media Releases and Fact Sheets, 2006

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/06/2007 First Issue

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	MEDIA FACT SHEET
June 27, 2007	Embargoed 9.30 am (AEST)	70/2007

Census reveals many young adults still live with their parents

About 1.88 million adult Australians aged 15–34 years live with one or both of their parents, results from the 2006 Census show. Most of these people (1.58 million) are under the age of 25 years.

In 2006, 59% of all 15–24 year olds lived with their parents. While the Census count of the population aged 15–34 years remained about the same between the 1996 and 2006 censuses, the number of young people living with their parents grew by 8%. The number of dependent students increased by 14%, while the number of non-dependent children increased by 3%.

Young men were more likely to live at home with their parents than young women of the same age. Almost 62% of 15–24 year old men lived with their parents, compared to 55% of young women. Most people in the 25–34 year age group did not live with their parents, though this gender difference continued, with 14% of men in this age group living with their parents compared to 8% of women.

Just under 34% of young people in the 15–24 year age group were dependent students living at home with parents, that is, they were studying full time and did not live with a partner or their own child. Within this group, young women were more likely to be dependent students than young men (35% of women compared to 32% of men), whereas young men were considerably more likely to be non-dependent children (30% of men compared to 20% of women), that is, children not studying full-time.

Across the states and territories, the proportion of children aged 15-24 years who were living with their parents at the time of the Census was highest in Victoria and New South Wales (both 62%). This was mostly as a result of higher proportions of dependent students living at home, though New South Wales also had the highest proportion of non-dependent children at home (27%). This pattern was repeated across the capitals, with the highest proportions occurring in Sydney and Melbourne.

Young men and women aged between 15–24 years living with their parents did, on average, less unpaid domestic work than other young people living in private households. In the week prior to the Census, 83% of young men and 78% of young women living with their parents did less than five hours of domestic work. In comparison, other young people living in private households, including those living with a partner, or in a group or one-person household, did on average more domestic work; 69% of these young men and 49% of young women did less than five hours of domestic work.

NB: The figures in this fact sheet exclude overseas visitors. Where an answer to a question has not been provided (i.e. not stated) these occurrences form a separate category in the data and therefore some percentages do not total to 100%.

Media Note: Dependent students and non-dependent children include step children and foster children.

Source: ABS 2006 Census.

Table 1.1. 2006 Census: Living arrangements of young people aged 15-34 years

		15-24			25-34 years			Total
		Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons
		' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000	' 000

Children living with their parents		852.2	732.5	1 584.7	186.2	107.5	293.7	1 038.3	840.0	1 878.4
	Dependent students	444.0	462.1	906.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	444.0	462.1	906.1
	Non-dependent children	408.1	270.4	678.5	186.2	107.5	293.7	594.3	377.9	972.2
Other living arrangements		525.3	594.3	1 119.6	1 134.9	1 247.8	2 382.7	1 660.2	1 842.1	3 502.3
Total population		1 377.5	1 326.8	2 704.3	1 321.1	1 355.3	2 676.4	2 698.5	2 682.2	5 380.7

Table 1.2. 2006 Census: Living arrangements of young people aged 15-34 years

		15-24 years			25-34 years			Total
		Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Children living with their parents		61.9	55.2	58.6	14.1	7.9	11.0	38.5	31.3	34.9
	Dependent students	32.2	34.8	33.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	16.5	17.2	16.8
	Non-dependent children	29.6	20.4	25.1	14.1	7.9	11.0	22.0	14.1	18.1
Other living arrangements		38.1	44.8	41.4	85.9	92.1	89.0	61.5	68.7	65.1
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Table 2. Changes in living arrangements of people aged 15-34 years, 1996 Census - 2006 Census

		1996			2006			Change 1996 to 2006

		15-24 years	25-34 years	Total	15-24 years	25-34 years	Total	15-24 years	25-34 years	Total
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

Children living with their parents		56.6	10.1	32.6	58.6	11.0	34.9	8.9	5.9	8.4
	Dependent students	30.8	na	14.9	33.5	na	16.8	14.3	na	14.3
	Non-dependent children	25.8	10.1	17.7	25.1	11.0	18.1	2.4	5.9	3.4
Other living arrangements		43.4	89.9	67.4	41.1	89.0	65.1	0.2	-3.4	-2.3
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

na not available

Table 3. 2006 Census: Living arrangements of young people aged 15-24 years, states and territories

		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

	Dependent students	34.9	38.1	28.5	33.4	30.0	31.2	17.9	33.4	33.5
	Non-dependent children	26.9	24.3	23.7	25.8	25.6	23.8	19.7	19.8	25.1
Children living with their parents		61.7	62.4	52.3	59.2	55.6	54.9	37.6	53.1	58.6
Other living arrangements		38.3	37.6	47.7	40.8	44.4	45.1	62.4	46.9	41.4
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Table 4. 2006 Census: Living arrangements of young people aged 15-24 years, capital cities(a)

		Sydney	Melbourne	Brisbane	Adelaide	Perth	Hobart	Darwin	Canberra
		%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%

	Dependent students	36.6	38.9	30.8	34.2	32.4	32.6	23.2	33.5
	Non-dependent children	27.3	24.4	23.5	25.7	25.7	22.2	19.3	19.9
Children living with their parents		63.9	63.4	54.3	59.9	58.1	54.8	42.6	53.3
Other living arrangements		36.1	36.6	45.7	40.1	41.9	45.2	57.4	46.7
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

(a) Capital City Statistical Division.

Table 5. 2006 Census: Hours spent doing unpaid domestic work in the last week, persons aged 15-34 years(a)

		15-24 years			25-34 years
		Male	Female	Persons	Male	Female	Persons
		%	%	%	%	%	%

Less than 5 hours
	Living with parents	82.9	77.8	80.6	79.1	68.2	75.1
	Other living arrangement	69.1	48.6	57.8	56.5	26.7	40.5
5 hours or more
	Living with parents	8.0	14.1	10.8	15.0	27.3	19.5
	Other living arrangement	25.5	47.3	37.5	40.4	70.8	56.6

(a) Excludes people living in non-private dwellings and non-classifiable households.