Australian Social Trends 2005 is the 12th edition of an annual series that presents information on contemporary social issues and areas of public policy concern. By drawing on a wide range of ABS statistics, and statistics from other official sources, Australian Social Trends describes aspects of Australian society, and how these are changing over time. It is designed to assist and encourage informed decision-making, and to be of value to a wide audience including those engaged in research, journalism, marketing, teaching and social policy, as well as anyone interested in how we live today and how we've changed over recent decades.
The material presented in Australian Social Trends 2005 is organised into nine chapters. As in previous editions, each of the first seven chapters represents a major area of social concern (i.e. population, family and community, health, education and training, work, economic resources, and housing), with an eighth chapter covering other areas of social concern (e.g. crime and justice, and the environment). The ninth chapter provides international comparisons for a number of these areas.
The opportunity has been taken to present some articles which expand and update analysis of topics examined in previous editions using the most recently available data. For example, in this edition there are articles on Recent fertility trends, Female and male earnings, Labour force characteristics of people with a disability and Housing for older Australians. There are also articles on new topics of interest such as grandparents who are the guardians of their grandchildren, nursing workers, social and sporting participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and Household water use and conservation. The national and state summary tables which present key social indicators in each of the seven major areas of social concern have been updated, as have the tables comparing Australia with major OECD countries, our closest neighbours, and our trading partners. The number of articles listed in the cumulative index now comes to over 350, published across all 12 editions.
Australian Social Trends has been produced on an annual basis since 1994. The 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 editions are available from this website. The current edition (Australian Social Trends 2005) is available for purchase in hardcopy (as are several of the earlier editions) and also available free in pdf format. Individual articles can be accessed via the Cumulative Topic List.
Abbreviations and symbols used in this publication can be accessed at Abbreviations and symbols.