Australia's health 2008
Australia's health 2008 is the 11th biennial report on the health of Australians. It brings together the latest available national statistics compiled by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) as a 'report card to the nation'.
'This 2008 edition charts the progress of health in the past two decades or more. It describes the health status of Australians as a population; disparities between particular groups of Australians; factors that influence health; specific diseases; expenditure and the workforce; and indicators used to monitor these.' (Many of the topics covered in this report are more fully treated in separate AIHW publications, available from the AIHW website.)
Chapter six of the report, 'Health across the life stages', contains a section on children and young people. This section includes information and statistics on young people relating to:
- health status (long-term health conditions, injury, sexually transmitted infections)
- mortality
- health risk and protective factors (nutrition, physical activity and body weight; tobacco, alcohol and other substance use; sun protection; and teenage pregnancy).
Selected findings from Australia's health 2008:
- According to the Survey of disability, ageing and carers (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004), in 2003, there were around 251,300 young Australians (9%) with a disability. Around 24% of these had 'a severe or profound core activity limitation'.
- The AIHW National Mortality Database indicates that there were 1,309 deaths among young Australians in 2005 – a rate of 46 deaths per 100,000 young people. Deaths by injury (predominantly motor vehicle accidents and suicide) represented 70% of these deaths. Males accounted for 73% of all deaths among young people.
- In the National health survey 2004-2005 (ABS 2006), 66% of young people reported having a long-term health condition, the most common being hayfever/allergic rhinitis (19%), short-sightedness (18%), asthma (12%) and back pain/disc disorder (9%).
- Self-reports of height and weight gathered for the National health survey 2004-2005 indicated that 22% of 18- to 24-year-olds were overweight and 7% were obese.
- Birth statistics from the ABS show that in 2006, births to females aged under 20 years comprised 4% of all births. Between 1986 and 2006, fertility rates among females aged under 20 years fell from 22 to 15 births per 1,000 females.
Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2008, Australia's health 2008, AIHW, Canberra, viewed 28 July 2008, http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/index.cfm/title/10585