In Australia, 812,000 people identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the 2021 Census of Population and Housing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people represented 3.2% of the population. This was up from 2.8% in 2016, and 2.5% in 2011.
Of the 812,000 people who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin:
The median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people increased over the last ten years. In 2021 the median age was 24 years, up from 23 years in 2016 and 21 years in 2011.
In 2021, 51.1% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged under 25 years, down from 55.2% in 2011.
The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 75 years and over in 2021 was larger than in 2011 (1.7% compared to 1.2%).
In 2021, the largest proportion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived in New South Wales (34.2%) and Queensland (29.2%).
While only 7.5% of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived in the Northern Territory, just over one quarter (26.3%) of the Northern Territory’s population were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. This was much higher than the other states and territories.
This map displays the percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a proportion of Australia.
| State/territory | Count (no.) | Percentage (%) (as a proportion of Australia) | Percentage (%) (as a proportion of state/territory) |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 278,043 | 34.2 | 3.4 |
| Victoria | 65,646 | 8.1 | 1.0 |
| Queensland | 237,303 | 29.2 | 4.6 |
| South Australia | 42,562 | 5.2 | 2.4 |
| Western Australia | 88,693 | 10.9 | 3.3 |
| Tasmania | 30,186 | 3.7 | 5.4 |
| Northern Territory | 61,115 | 7.5 | 26.3 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 8,949 | 1.1 | 2.0 |
| Australia(a) | 812,728 | 100.0 | 3.2 |
In 2021, 37.1% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in capital city areas, compared to 34.7% in 2016.
Around half of those living in South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia lived in capital city areas. In contrast, only around one quarter of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in the Northern Territory lived in capital city areas (23.8%).
| Capital City | Person count within capital city | Percentage (%) of state or territory(b) |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 90,939 | 32.7 |
| Melbourne | 32,952 | 50.2 |
| Brisbane | 76,942 | 32.4 |
| Adelaide | 23,761 | 55.8 |
| Perth | 42,083 | 47.4 |
| Hobart | 11,216 | 37.2 |
| Darwin | 14,539 | 23.8 |
| Canberra | 8,908 | 99.5 |
| Total living in capital city areas | 301,330 | 37.1 |
In the Census, an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander household is a dwelling where at least one person identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. On Census Night the person needs to have been present and a usual resident at the dwelling.
Nationally, the average size of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households was 3.1 people, down from 3.3 people in 2011.
Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households (79.1%) were family households, including 5.1% with more than one family living together. Around one in seven households (15.5%) were made up of people who lived alone while a small proportion were group households (5.4%).
Source: Indigenous status (INGP), Household composition (HHCD)
Securing appropriate housing is an outcome area in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, measured by a housing suitability target. Housing suitability is based on the Canadian National Occupancy Standard (CNOS) which may not adequately reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives of appropriate housing and overcrowding (1).
In 2021, most (81.4%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia lived in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) dwellings, where no extra bedrooms were needed to adequately house the usual residents.
The most common Tenure types (TEND) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households were:
Of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:
Of these 77,000 people who used Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander languages (LNGP), the most common language groups were:
Other languages used were:
The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20 to 24 years who had completed Year 12 or equivalent as their highest year of school was 56.7%, up from 37.1% in 2011.
Source: Indigenous status (INGP), Age (AGEP), Highest year of school completed (HSCP), Sex (SEXP)
One in ten (10.2%) people aged 18-24 years were attending university or other higher education institutions at the time of the 2021 Census, up from 6.6% in 2011.
Source: Indigenous status (INGP), Age (AGEP), Type of educational institution attending (TYPP), Sex (SEXP)
In 2021, 2.7% of people aged 25 years and over were attending university or other higher education institutions, up from 2.2% in 2011.
The 2021 Census included a new topic to collect data on certain long-term health conditions. This information will not have the same level of detail as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSIHS). Long-term health conditions data from the Census is not intended to provide prevalence estimates at national and state/territory levels. Prevalence estimates of long-term health conditions should be sourced from the NATSIHS.
More detailed information on long-term health conditions data collected in Census can be found in Comparing ABS long-term health conditions data sources.
In 2021, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females were more likely than males to report having:
Males were more likely to report having heart disease (3.9% compared with 3.5% of females) and having no long-term health condition (58.2% compared with 55.6% of females). Males also had a higher non-response rate to the Census question (9.7% compared with 6.4% of females).
Source: Indigenous status (INGP), Type of long-term health condition (LTHP), Sex (SEXP)
More data related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can be found in the data downloads on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census topic page.