Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

The preliminary estimated resident populations released in this publication are based on 2021 Census counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, adjusted for net undercount as measured by Post Enumeration Survey. Details of the estimation methodology are provided in Methodology. 

• New South Wales had the largest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (339,500 people), followed by Queensland (273,200 people) and Western Australia (120,000 people). These three states comprised almost three-quarters of the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (732,800 people or 74.5%).
• The Northern Territory had the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people relative to its total population size (30.8%), while Victoria had the lowest (1.2%).

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population had a younger age structure than the non-Indigenous population, with both larger proportions of young people and smaller proportions of older people. This reflects higher birth rates and lower life expectancy in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with that in the non-Indigenous population.

• One-third (33.1%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged under 15 years compared with 17.9% of non-Indigenous people in the same age group.
• People aged 65 years and over comprised 5.4% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population compared with 17.2% of the non-Indigenous population.
• The age structures of the male and female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations were similar.

• Overall, there were slightly more males than females (a sex ratio of 101 males to every 100 females), but females outnumbered males in age groups over 35 years.

The index of dissimilarity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations over the two successive Census years showed low values within the theoretical range of 0 to 100. The smaller the index of dissimilarity values are, the more similar the two age distributions are. This suggests that changing identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people between the two Censuses is not having a large effect on the age structure of this population.

• The index value for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was 3.5 for males and 3.6 for females, compared with 2.9 for males and 3.1 for females in the total Australian population.
• The index values for most states and territories were less than 5.0 for both sexes.

• Tasmania and the ACT had higher index values than other states and territories which may in part reflect the small size of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in these jurisdictions.

This release previously used catalogue number 3238.0.55.001.