Estimated Indigenous resident population
To arrive at an estimate of the size of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population using the Census count (on a usual residence basis), allowance is made for net undercount and for instances in which Indigenous status is unknown. In addition, population estimates for dates other than the Census date also take account of births, deaths and migration in the intervening period. The experimental estimated resident population (ERP) for all persons of Torres Strait Islander origin at 30 June 2001 was 48,800 or 11% of the total Indigenous population.
Overall, more than half (59%) of all Torres Strait Islander people live in Queensland (including the Torres Strait Area), with a further 18% in New South Wales (table 12.1). The Torres Strait Area is home to around 14% of the Torres Strait Islander population of Australia (table 12.2).
12.1 Experimental Indigenous Estimated Resident Population, by state or territory of usual residence - June 2001 |
|  |
| State/territory | Torres Strait Islander(a) | Aboriginal only | Indigenous | |
| |
| New South Wales | % | 17.7 | 30.8 | 29.4 | |
| Victoria | % | 6.3 | 6.0 | 6.1 | |
| Queensland | % | 58.7 | 23.7 | 27.5 | |
| South Australia | % | 2.9 | 5.9 | 5.6 | |
| Western Australia | % | 5.0 | 15.5 | 14.4 | |
| Tasmania | % | 4.8 | 3.7 | 3.8 | |
| Northern Territory | % | 3.9 | 13.4 | 12.4 | |
| Australian Capital Territory | % | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.9 | |
| Australia | % | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| Population estimate | no. | 48 800 | 409 700 | 458 500 | |
| |
| (a) Includes people who are of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin. |
| ABS 2004e |
The Torres Strait Islander population has a young age structure. In 2001, an estimated 73% of Torres Strait Islander people were under 35 years of age compared with 48% of the non-Indigenous population. Only 8% of Torres Strait Islander people were aged 55 years or over compared with 22% of the non-Indigenous population (7% of Aboriginal people were aged 55 years or over) (table 12.2).
12.2 Experimental Indigenous Estimated Resident Population, by age - June 2001 |
| |
| | Torres Strait Islander(a) | | | | |
| Age (years) | Torres Strait Area | Balance of Australia | Total | Aboriginal only | Indigenous | Non-Indigenous | |
| |
| 0-14 | % | 40.0 | 39.6 | 39.6 | 38.9 | 39.0 | 20.1 | |
| 15-34 | % | 32.1 | 33.0 | 32.9 | 34.2 | 34.1 | 28.3 | |
| 35-54 | % | 19.5 | 19.4 | 19.4 | 20.2 | 20.1 | 29.2 | |
| 55 or over | % | 8.4 | 8.0 | 8.1 | 6.7 | 6.8 | 22.3 | |
| Total | % | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| Population estimate | no. | 6 900 | 41 900 | 48 800 | 409 700 | 458 500 | 18 954 700 | |
| |
| (a) Includes people who are of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin. |
| ABS 2004e |
Births
A birth is recorded as a Torres Strait Islander birth where at least one parent is identified as being of Torres Strait Islander origin (or of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin). While the identification of Indigenous births (including Torres Strait Islander births) is incomplete, identification for the period 2001-03 is estimated to be 91% for Australia and 94% for Queensland (ABS 2004a). Separate identification ratios for each of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births are not available.
In addition to the under-identification of Indigenous births generally, the distinction between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander births is not always made when a birth is registered. 2001-03 births data for Torres Strait Islander people should therefore be viewed as indicative only.
In the period 2001-03, there were 3,738 births registered as Torres Strait Islander, of which two-thirds (2,432 births) were to Torres Strait Islander mothers. The remainder (1,306 babies) had a Torres Strait Islander father, but not a Torres Strait Islander mother. The median age of Torres Strait Islander mothers was 25 years (table 12.3).
12.3 Characteristics of parents - 2001-03 |
| |
| | | Torres Strait Islander mothers(a) | Indigenous mothers | |
| |
| Age of mother (years) | | | | |
| Less than 20 | % | 16.5 | 21.1 | |
| 20-24 | % | 32.6 | 30.4 | |
| 25-29 | % | 26.5 | 24.9 | |
| 30-34 | % | 15.9 | 16.0 | |
| 35-39 | % | 6.5 | 6.2 | |
| 40 or over | % | 2.0 | 1.2 | |
| Total | % | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| Median age of mother | years | 25.1 | 24.7 | |
| Median age of father | years | 28.0 | 27.9 | |
| All registered births | no. | 2 432 | 23 553 | |
| |
| (a) Includes mothers who are of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin. |
| ABS, Births Registration Database |
Two in five babies registered as Torres Strait Islander in origin (40%) had two Indigenous parents, compared with 30% of Indigenous babies overall (graph 12.4).
12.4 Indigenous status of parents - 2001-03, Torres Strait Islander and Indigenous registered births
Torres Strait Islander births accounted for 11% of all registered Indigenous births and 0.5% of all registered births in Australia in 2001-03 (ABS 2004a). Over this period, the number of births registered as Torres Strait islander averaged around 1,250 annually (table 12.5).
12.5 Torres Strait Islander registered births - 2001-03 |
| |
| | Torres Strait Islander births | Indigenous births | Torres Strait Islander births as a proportion of Indigenous births | |
| | no. | no. | % | |
| |
| 2001 | 1 280 | 11 405 | 11.2 | |
| 2002 | 1 172 | 11 488 | 10.2 | |
| 2003 | 1 286 | 11 740 | 11.0 | |
| Queensland | 877 | 3 408 | 25.7 | |
| Balance of Australia | 409 | 8 332 | 4.9 | |
| Males | 651 | 5 959 | 10.9 | |
| Females | 635 | 5 781 | 11.0 | |
| |
| ABS, Births Registration Database |
Babies
The AIHW National Perinatal Data Collection recorded 548 babies born to Torres Strait Islander mothers in 2002. Of these babies, 52 were low birthweight babies (less than 2,500 grams at birth). Torres Strait Islander mothers (9%) were less likely to have low birthweight babies than Aboriginal mothers (14%) but more likely to have low birthweight babies than non-Indigenous mothers (7%).
In 2002, the perinatal death rate was 16 per 1,000 births to Torres Strait Islander mothers - lower than the perinatal death rate for births to Aboriginal mothers (17 per 1,000 births) but higher than that for babies with non-Indigenous mothers (9 per 1,000 births). Low birthweight was a contributing factor in all the perinatal deaths of babies with a Torres Strait Islander mother in 2002 (AIHW National Perinatal Data Collection).
Deaths
It is likely that most deaths of Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people are registered, but not all are correctly identified, resulting in some under-counting of Indigenous deaths. While there is incomplete coverage of Indigenous deaths in all state and territory registration systems, data from Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory have been assessed by the ABS as having a sufficient level of coverage to enable statistics on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mortality to be produced. Data for these four jurisdictions have been combined for the 1999-2003 period and are presented in tables 12.6 and 12.7. Deaths data for Torres Strait Islander people should be regarded as indicative only.
Over the 1999-2003 period, the median age at death for Torres Strait Islander men was 56 years and for women it was 61 years (table 12.6).
Cause of death
An examination of Torres Strait Islander deaths for the 1999-2003 period by underlying cause (in major ICD-10 groupings) shows that diseases of the circulatory system (essentially heart diseases) remain the most commonly recorded cause of death among both Torres Strait Islander people and Indigenous people overall (27%). Torres Strait Islander people were more likely than Aboriginal people to die from cancer (malignant neoplasms), and less likely to die as a result of external causes (including injury) (table 12.7).
12.7 Underlying causes of death - 1999-2003(a) |
| |
| Torres Strait Islander(b) | Indigenous | |
| no. | % | no. | % | |
| |
| Neoplasms (C00-D48) | 84 | 20.1 | 1 094 | 14.8 | |
| Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (E00-E90) | 47 | 11.2 | 675 | 9.1 | |
| Diseases of the circulatory system I00-I99) | 113 | 27.0 | 2 016 | 27.3 | |
| Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99) | 32 | 7.7 | 637 | 8.6 | |
| Diseases of the digestive system (K00-K93) | 19 | 4.5 | 360 | 4.9 | |
| External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01-Y98) | 56 | 13.4 | 1 198 | 16.2 | |
| All causes | 418 | 100.0 | 7 387 | 100.0 | |
| |
| (a) Data for Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory combined. Deaths are based on year of occurrence of death for 1999-2002 and year of registration for death for 2003. |
| (b) Includes persons who were of both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin. |
| AIHW, National Mortality Database |
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