Census of Population and Housing - Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

This is the second release of the publication titled Census of Population and Housing Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (cat. no. 2075.0). The first release took place in June 2012 and can be accessed via the ‘Previous releases' menu above.

The five-yearly Census of Population and Housing is the only comprehensive source of small area data about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. The Census provides a wide range of socioeconomic indicators to support planning, administration, policy development and evaluation in the public and private sectors.

This release presents counts for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. Counts are disaggregated by a range of ABS and non-ABS geographical structures (as set out in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), to satisfy different statistical purposes. Geographical structures used in this publication include:

• National (Australia), State/ Territory
• Indigenous Regions (IREGs), Indigenous Areas (IAREs) and Indigenous Locations (ILOCs)
   

• Commonwealth Electoral Divisions (CEDs)
• Local Government Areas (LGAs)
   

This release also presents intercensal changes dating back to the 2001 Census of Population and Housing. Future updates of this publication will provide additional analysis on the characteristic of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons enumerated in the 2016 Census.

In 2016, there were 649,171 people identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the Census. Of these people, 91% (590,056 people) were of Aboriginal origin only, 5% (32,345 people) were of Torres Strait Islander origin only and 4% (26,767 people) identified as being of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. These proportions have changed very little in the last ten year period (see Data Cube 3, Table 3b). In the Northern Territory, just under 25% of the population identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the 2016 Census. In all other jurisdictions, 5% or less of the population were of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. Victoria had the lowest proportion at 0.8% of the state total.

When a response to the Indigenous status question in the Census was not provided, a response of 'not stated' is recorded. When these people are excluded from the total population, the proportion of those identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander increases slightly (between 0.1 and 0.3 percentage points) in all states and territories, with the exception of the Northern Territory which increases by 2.8 percentage points (see Data downloads section, Table 3a).

In the 2016 Census, just over one-third (35%) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived in Capital City areas. States with relatively high proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Capital Cities include South Australia (54%) and Victoria (50%). In contrast, 78% of the population who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the Northern Territory lived outside the Capital City area. Likewise, in Queensland, 71% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population lived outside of the Capital City area.

In the 2016 Census, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population had a younger age distribution than the non-Indigenous population, reflecting higher fertility and lower life expectancy - a trend consistent with 2011 Census results. In 2016, the median age (the age at which half the population is older and half the population is younger) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 23 years (up from 21 years in 2011), compared with 38 years for non-Indigenous people (up from 37 years in 2011). The Northern Territory had the highest median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in both 2011 and 2016 (23 years and 25 years respectively). In 2016, New South Wales and Queensland had the lowest median age (22 years). For 2011 age profiles, see Census of Population and Housing - Counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2011 (cat. no. 2075.0).

Nationally, just over one-third of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people counted in the 2016 Census were under 15 years of age (34%), while 5% were aged 65 years and over. The age profile of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait population varied only slightly between the states and territories. Queensland had the highest proportion of children aged under 15 years (35%). Tasmania had the highest proportion of older persons aged 65 years and over (6%).

The Indigenous Structure of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) provides a geographical standard for the publication of statistics about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia. Indigenous Regions (IREGs) are the highest level of the Indigenous Structure. IREGs are divided into Indigenous Areas (IAREs) (the second level of the Indigenous Structure) and these are then divided into smaller units known as Indigenous Locations (ILOCs), the third and lowest level of the Indigenous Structure.

In the 2016 Census, over half (59%) of the people who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin lived in 10 of the 58 Indigenous Regions. The three largest regions were located on the Eastern seaboard of Australia: Brisbane (70,734 people), NSW Central and North Coast (69,772 people) and Sydney - Wollongong (66,023 people). These three regions accounted for 32% (206,529 out of 649,171 people) of the total Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander count for Australia.

Indigenous Regions outside of Australia's major population centres had the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Of the Indigenous Regions with the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, all Regions except for Jervis Bay were located in Northern Australia (including the Torres Strait).

In the 2016 Census, the Indigenous Areas with the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were in the Northern Territory and Queensland. Cherbourg in Queensland had the highest proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (98%), followed by Laynhapuy - Gumatj Homelands in Eastern Arnhem Land and Yarrabah in Queensland (both 97%).

In the 2016 Census, 59,116 people identified as being of Torres Strait Islander origin (including people identified as being both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal origin). Of these, almost two-thirds (64%) lived in Queensland. All states, with the exception of South Australia, experienced a growth in the number of persons identifying as Torres Strait Islander. Western Australia experienced the greatest growth - up from 2,608 persons in 2011 to 3,055 in 2016, representing a 17% increase. As a proportion of total State/Territory populations, the distribution of people who identified as Torres Strait Islander has remained stable in all of the States/Territories except for the Northern Territory, where the proportion has increased from 1.0% to 1.1%.

The Indigenous Regions with the largest count of people identifying as being of Torres Strait Islander origin were Cairns–Atherton (8,644 people or 15% of the Torres Strait Islander population), Brisbane (7,573 people or 13%) and Townsville–Mackay (7,122 people or 12%).

In the Torres Strait Indigenous Region there were 6,489 people of Torres Strait Islander origin, representing 80% of the population for the region. Within this region, the Indigenous Locations with the largest populations of Torres Strait Islander people were Port Kennedy and TRAWQ (Tamoi, Rose Hill, Applin, Wyborn and Quarantine) (1,123 and 826 people respectively), followed by Badu Island (697 people) and Mer (Murray) Island (429 people). See Data Cube 13, Table 13b for further information.

The Indigenous Location of Manunda - Portsmith in Cairns had the largest number of Torres Strait Islander people (2,355 people), followed by Mackay (1,817 people) and Townsville (1,668 people). The 20 most populous Indigenous Locations for Torres Strait Islander people were all within Queensland.

In the 2016 Census, there were 649,171 people across Australia who identified as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, the majority (81%) of whom lived in non-remote areas of Australia.

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more likely to be living in non-remote areas, they made up a greater proportion of the remote (25%) than non-remote (2%) population.

Looking at the distribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across remoteness areas in 2016 compared to 2011, we can see how people have moved between the areas. In 2016, there was an increase in people living in major cities and inner regional areas and an associated reduction in people living in outer regional and remote areas.

Over the last 10 years, the number of Australians identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander has increased by 43 per cent. Growth in major cities and inner regional areas (29% and 28% respectively) was higher than the growth in remote and very remote areas (1% and 2% respectively).

As seen above, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has shifted toward urban areas over the last ten years. However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are still more likely than other Australians to live outside of major cities.

In 2016, almost 4 in 10 (37%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in major cities in 2016 compared to 72 per cent of other Australians. A further 24 per cent and 20 per cent lived in inner or outer regional areas respectively.

Almost 1 in 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in remote (6%) and very remote (12%) areas while around 1 in 100 non-Indigenous Australians lived in these areas (1% and 0.4% respectively).

Across most states and territories, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population were less likely to live in major cities and inner regional areas than other Australians and more likely to live in remote or very remote areas.

In New South Wales and Queensland, where most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live, most people lived in major cities or regional areas. However, the remote and very remote population for both states was larger for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than other Australians (3% for New South Wales and 17% for Queensland).

More than half (58%) of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of the Northern Territory lived in very remote areas compared to 6 per cent of the non-Indigenous population.

While a quarter of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Western Australia lived in very remote areas, most (40%) lived in major cities. In contrast, 80 per cent of the non-Indigenous population lived in major cities and 2 per cent lived in very remote areas.

This release previously used catalogue number 2075.0.