Australia Yearbook - 2009-10

7.18 INDIGENOUS POPULATION DISTRIBUTION–2006(a)
(a) Final estimates based on the 2006 Census of Population and Housing.
Source: ABS data available on request, Australian Demographic Statistics (3101.0).
Housing and their geographical distribution is in
map 7.18.
The final estimated resident Indigenous
population at 30 June 2006, was 517,000 people
or 2.5% of the total Australian population.
Indigenous people of Aboriginal origin
contributed 90% of the total Indigenous
population; people of Torres Strait Islander origin
comprised 6%, and those of both Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander origin comprised 4%.
Of the total Indigenous population at 30 June
2006, 152,700 (29%) people lived in New South
Wales, 144,900 (28%) in Queensland, 71,000
(15%) in Western Australia and 64,000 (13%) in
the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory
had the largest proportion of its population who
were Indigenous (30%), compared with 4% or
less for all other states and the Australian Capital
Territory.
The Indigenous population is a relatively young
population, with a median age of 21 years,
compared with 37 years for the non-Indigenous
population. The younger age structure of the
Indigenous population is shown in graph 7.19. In
2006, 38% of Indigenous people were aged under
15 years compared with 19% of non-Indigenous
people. People aged 65 years and over comprised
3% of the Indigenous population and 13% of the
non-Indigenous population.
The age structure of the Indigenous population
reflects higher rates of fertility, and deaths
occurring at younger ages. Although the total
fertility rate among Indigenous women has fallen
in recent decades, from around 6.0 babies per
202 Year Book Australia 2009–10