Australia’s welfare 2013 – in brief

Every two years the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare produces its Australia’s welfare report.

This Australia’s welfare 2013—in brief companion booklet presents a statistical picture of the main trends that affect the demand for welfare services, as well as outlining the main features of, and changes in, the services themselves.

Key trends and facts

Population

• The Australian population passed the 23 million mark in April 2013.
• Our population continues to grow because people are living longer, and because of migration.
• There are proportionally more older people in the population and fewer young people than 40 years ago.
• Our birth rate of 1.9 children per woman in 2011 was higher than a decade before, but still less than the replacement rate of 2.1.

Life and community

• Australians still live mostly in the major cities—around 7 in every 10 people.
• In 2009, 4 million Australians (18.5% of the population) had some form of disability.
• Outside the major cities, death and disability rates are higher, while incomes and labour force participation are lower.
• Among Indigenous households, home ownership is rising and overcrowding is falling. Education and labour force participation rates are improving.
• Adoptions have fallen to their lowest level ever—just 333 adoptions in 2011–12 compared with around 9,800 in 1972.
• The number of children in substantiated (confirmed) abuse and neglect cases rose by 18% between 2007–08 and 2011–12. The number of children living in out-of-home care is also rising, with a 27% increase between 2008 and 2012.
• The community services workforce grew by 24% between 2006 and 2011.
• Government pensions and allowances were the main source of income for 1 in 4 households in 2009–10.
• Governments in Australia spent an estimated $119.4 billion on welfare, including welfare services, in 2010–11. They spent an estimated $90.1 billion on health in the same year.

Learning and earning

• We are increasingly well educated—nearly three-quarters of school leavers aged 15–24 completed Year 12 in 2012, and 59% of people aged 15 to 64 had a non-school qualification in that same year compared with 48% in 2002.
• More than 8 in 10 students across Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 achieved national minimum standards for reading, persuasive writing, language conventions and numeracy in 2012.
• People in their 60s are increasingly choosing to work rather than retire. Women are taking less time off work after having children, and are doing this later in life. But young adults continue to struggle to get a foothold in employment.
• Just under 1 in 3 workers was working part time in 2012, almost double the proportion in 1982.

Housing

• The average number of people per household dropped between 1986 and 2001, and then remained steady to 2011 at 2.6.
• The average size of houses and flats is growing—30% of homes had 4 bedrooms or more in 2011, doubling from 15% in 1986.
• There are more households with a mortgage (36%) than households who own their homes outright (33%). Ten years ago the reverse was true.
• More people are renting homes—29% of households in 2009–10 compared with 26% in 1994–95.
• More lower income households were in ‘housing stress’ in 2009–10 than in 2003–04 (22% compared with 19%).
• There were around 105,000 homeless people in Australia in 2011.
• Specialist homelessness services helped around 229,000 people, including those who were homeless or at risk of homelessness, in 2011–12.

Have a great weekend,

The team at IPS