Australia Yearbook - 2001

328 Year Book Australia 2001
Health and wellbeing
The 1995 National Health Survey revealed that
83% of Australians aged 15 and over reported
having good, very good or excellent health. This
proportion varies from 93% of 15–19 year old
females, to 54% of males aged 85 years or more.
Because of this variation with age, all estimates
in this section have been standardised by age and
sex to remove the effects of different age
structures in the populations being considered.
Although males had a similar rate of fair or poor
health (17%, compared to 16% of females), there
were some noticeable differences between the
sexes within individual population groups
(table 9.1). Of those not in the labour force, 31%
of males reported fair or poor health, compared
to 23% of females. However, a higher proportion
of unemployed females (28%) reported fair or
poor health than unemployed males (25%).
Among the overseas-born, 14% of females who
had been in Australia for less than five years
perceived their health to be fair or poor, while
only 10% of males in this category reported fair
or poor health. People who spoke English at
home reported lower rates of fair or poor health
than those who spoke a language other than
English (16% compared to 23%).
There was a steady improvement in perceived
health from people in households with the lowest
income to those in households with the highest
income. The socioeconomic status of the area in
which people lived was also associated with
self-reported health status. People living in the
most disadvantaged areas of the nation were
almost twice as likely to consider their health
to be fair or poor as those living in the most
advantaged areas.
9.1 INDICATORS OF SELF-ASSESSED HEALTH STATUS(a)—1995
Males
Females
Persons
Population characteristics
%
%
%
Labour force status
Employed 12.4 11.4 12.0
Unemployed (looking for work) 25.2 28.2 26.2
Not in labour force 31.1 22.7 25.4
Equivalent household income(b)
Lowest income quintile 24.9 22.2 23.2
Second income quintile 23.2 20.3 21.6
Third income quintile 16.8 14.0 15.4
Fourth income quintile 13.9 11.2 12.6
Highest income quintile 8.9 9.9 9.3
Relative socioeconomic disadvantage of areas(c)
Most disadvantaged areas quintile 21.2 20.3 20.7
Second quintile 20.3 17.4 18.8
Third quintile 17.0 17.5 17.3
Fourth quintile 16.7 13.7 15.1
Least disadvantaged areas quintile 11.7 11.7 11.7
Birthplace
Born in Australia 16.6 15.7 16.1
Born overseas 17.8 17.8 17.8
Less than 5 years in Australia 10.3 14.0 12.4
5 years or more in Australia 18.2 18.1 18.1
Language spoken at home
English 16.4 15.6 16.0
Language other than English 22.1 23.0 22.6
Self-assessed body weight
Underweight 28.6 30.4 29.4
Acceptable weight 13.5 12.5 13.0
Overweight 21.7 20.1 20.8
All persons 16.9 16.3 16.6
(a) Indirectly standardised by age and sex. (b) Household income adjusted for the number of adults and children in the household,
and the employment status of members of the household. Uses Henderson Equivalence scales. Includes respondents from
households where all adults members stated their income. (c) The Socioeconomic Indexes for Areas describe the characteristics of
the area in which a person lives, rather than the characteristics of the person.
Source: Unpublished data, 1995 National Health Survey.