Closing the Gap

[Malleeboy]

Countries & 2021
territories All Male Female Gender gap

Australia 84.5 83.2 85.8 2.6
New Zealand 82.5 80.6 84.3 3.7
Australian Indigineous 73.6 71.6 75.6 4
Samoa 72.8 70.3 75.5 5.2
World 71.4 68.9 74 5.1
Tonga 71 68.4 73.7 5.3
Micronesia 70.7 67.1 74.6 7.5
Vanuatu 70.4 68.4 72.9 4.5
Solomon Islands 70.3 68.9 72 3.1
Kiribati 67.4 65.5 69.1 3.6
Fiji 67.1 65.4 68.9 3.5
Palau 66 62.4 70.6 8.2
Papua New Guinea 65.4 62.9 68.4 5.5
Marshall Islands 65.3 63.7 67.2 3.5
Tuvalu 64.5 60.8 69.1 8.3
Nauru 63.6 60.3 67.3 7


Closing the Gap is going to be the big focus.

Note that Australian indigenous people already live longer than most Pasifika peoples, who already have self-governance and sovereignty.

Wealth has an impact on longevity but Nauru is the exception, as they once were amongst the most wealthy people per capita.

 

[Philip_B]

Countries & 2021
territories All Male Female Gender gap

Australia 84.5 83.2 85.8 2.6
New Zealand 82.5 80.6 84.3 3.7
Australian Indigineous 73.6 71.6 75.6 4
Samoa 72.8 70.3 75.5 5.2
World 71.4 68.9 74 5.1
Tonga 71 68.4 73.7 5.3
Micronesia 70.7 67.1 74.6 7.5
Vanuatu 70.4 68.4 72.9 4.5
Solomon Islands 70.3 68.9 72 3.1
Kiribati 67.4 65.5 69.1 3.6
Fiji 67.1 65.4 68.9 3.5
Palau 66 62.4 70.6 8.2
Papua New Guinea 65.4 62.9 68.4 5.5
Marshall Islands 65.3 63.7 67.2 3.5
Tuvalu 64.5 60.8 69.1 8.3
Nauru 63.6 60.3 67.3 7


Closing the Gap is going to be the big focus.

Note that Australian indigenous people already live longer than most Pasifika peoples, who already have self-governance and sovereignty.

Wealth has an impact on longevity but Nauru is the exception, as they once were amongst the most wealthy people per capita.

		All	Male	Female	Gender Gap
Australia		84.5	83.2	85.8	2.6
Australian Indigenous		73.6	71.6	75.6	6.4
The 1st People's Gap		10.9	11.6	10.2

The real issue for us as a nation is that despite many efforts we have not addressed the socio-cultural gap in outcomes, and I might add that life expectancy is only one of them.

Whilst I think the gender analysis is interesting, it has not currently been the point of the national discussion.

 

[Malleeboy]

Phillip,

Looking at the obvious selection of health issues...
The stats below are from Reports & data. although they probably correlate to socio-economic.
However I think it would be interesting to compare non-indigenous remote people, as having grown up in a rural city, some 3.5 hours drive from the "big smoke", we didn't get the services etc that city folk get, and I would imagine that very remote places would have even greater challenges. (EG we had no music program in our High Schools because the school couldn't get a music teacher.)

Tobacco smoking​

While tobacco smoking is declining in Australia, it remains disproportionately high among Indigenous Australians. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has shown:

• In 1994, 54.5% of Indigenous Australians aged 18 and over were current smokers (Table S3.1); in 2018–19, this had declined to 43.4% (ABS 2019).
• Over a similar period, the proportion of non-Indigenous smokers aged 18 and over declined, from 23.5% in 1995 to 15.1% in 2017–18 (Table S3.2).

Risky alcohol consumption​

According to the 2019 NDSHS, the proportion of Indigenous Australians who consumed 11 or more drinks at least once a month declined from 18.8% in 2016 to 10.6% in 2019. For non-Indigenous Australians, this figure remained stable (6.8% and 6.4%) (AIHW 2020b, Table 8.1).

Illicit drugs​

The 2019 NDSHS data showed that (other than ecstasy, cocaine and hallucinogens), a higher proportion of Indigenous Australians aged 14 and over had recently used illicit drugs, compared with non-Indigenous Australians (Figure INDIGENOUS4; AIHW 2020b, Table 8.2). In 2019, after adjusting for age:

1. just under one-quarter (23%) of Indigenous Australians had used any illicit drug in the last 12 months–almost 1.4 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians (16.6%)
2. 15.5% had used cannabis in the last 12 months–almost 1.3 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians (12.0%)
3. 7.7% had used a pharmaceutical for non-medical use–almost 1.9 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians (4.1%)
4. 3.1% had used meth/amphetamine in the last 12 months–almost 2.4 times higher than non-Indigenous Australians (1.3%). The estimate for Indigenous Australians has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be interpreted with caution (AIHW 2020b, Table 8.2

Indigenous Australians from the Northern Territory (22%) and Queensland (29%) were the only jurisdictions below the national average (30%) (ABS 2016, Table 2.3).