Who are Australia’s children?

Age

2.2 Children make up a substantial section of the Australian community. In the latest census, the ABS counted more than 4.8 million children aged 0 to 18 living in Australia on 6 August 1996.[1]

Table 2.1 Australia’s children by age group[2]

Age group

Number of children

Percentage of total child population

Percentage of total population in Australia

0-4

1 264 908

26.1

7.3

5-11

1 797 872

37.2

10.4

12-18

1 773 447

36.7

10.3

Total

4 836 227

100

28

 

2.3 The proportion of children in Australia’s population has been slowly declining, from 36% in 1925 to 28% in 1996.[3] The ABS estimates that approximately 5 million children under 18 years of age will be living in Australia by the year 2025.[4]

Sex

2.4 Although for the Australian population as a whole there are slightly more females than males,[5] the reverse is true for Australia’s children. On census night 1996, the ABS counted approximately 2.48 million boys and 2.36 million girls.[6] There were slightly more boys than girls in each age group.[7]

Aboriginality and ethnicity

2.5 Indigenous children made up around 3.5% of all Australian children counted in the 1996 census.[8] By contrast, as Indigenous people are on average younger that non-Indigenous people, as a whole they made up only 2.0% of the total Australian population.[9] On census night in 1996, almost half (48%) of all people who identified themselves as Indigenous were children,[10] and almost 13% of Indigenous people counted were aged under 5.[11]

Table 2.2 Indigenous populations[12]

Population

Indigenous

Total

Aged 0-18

169 564

4 836 227

All ages

352 970

17 267 825

2.6 In addition to Indigenous cultures, Australia’s children come from close to two hundred different ethnic groups. Many children in Australia are from non-English speaking backgrounds. This means that they were born in countries where English is not the primary language or have at least one parent born in a country where English is not the primary language, regardless of the child’s own country of birth.

2.7 The 1996 census found that almost 7.6% (365 847) of all Australian children were born overseas,[13] compared to 26.1% of the total Australian population.[14] The largest percentage of children born overseas were born in a non-English speaking country (66%), but the United Kingdom and New Zealand were the most common country of birth for all overseas-born children.[15] The most common countries of birth for children born in non-English speaking countries were Vietnam, the Philippines, Hong Kong and China.

Table 2.3 Most common overseas birthplaces of children in Australia[16]

Country

Number of children

Percentage of total overseas-born children

United Kingdom

50 056

13.7

New Zealand

44 365

12.1

Vietnam

19 019

5.19

Philippines

18 976

5.18

Hong Kong

17 180

4.7

China

10 409

2.8

 

2.8 The 1996 census also found that approximately 22% of all children counted in Australia had at least one parent born in a non-English speaking country.[17] As a result, many children in Australia speak a language other than English at home. The 1996 census counted 633 352 children (13.1% of all children counted in Australia) who spoke a language other than English at home.[18] Approximately 17% of these children (107 267) were identified as speaking English ‘not well’ or ‘not at all’.[19]

Table 2.4 Most common language spoken at home by children in Australia[20]

Language

Number of children

English

4 084 893

Chinese (incl Mandarin and Cantonese)

81 666

Arabic (incl Lebanese)

67 521

Vietnamese

47 448

Greek

47 808

Italian

44 793

Serbian, Croatian and other languages spoken in the former Yugoslavia

41 809

Children with disabilities

2.9 According to the latest ABS disability survey in 1993, approximately 267 600 children aged 0 to 14 were identified as having a disability.[21] Of these children, 223 200 were identified as having a handicap.[22] The most common dis-abling conditions for children aged 5 to 14 were intellectual and mental disorders (2.3% of the child population of that age suffered from this disability) and respiratory diseases (2.2% of the child population of that age suffered from this disability).[23]

[1] ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997.

[2] ibid. The total population counted in Australia on 6 August 1996 was 17 267 825: ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics — Australia ABS Canberra 1997, 1.

[3] ABS Australian Social Trends 1997 ABS Canberra 1997, 8-9; ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997.

[4] ABS Australian Social Trends 1997 ABS Canberra 1997, 8-9.

[5] ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics — Australia ABS Canberra 1997, 1.

[6] id 36.

[7] ibid.

[8] ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997.

[9] ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics — Australia ABS Canberra 1997, 1.

[10] Derived from ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997; ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics — Australia ABS Canberra 1997, 1.

[11] Compared to only 7.3% of the total Australian population: ibid.

[12] ibid.

[13] ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997.

[14] ABS 1996 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics — Australia ABS Canberra 1997, 1.

[15] ABS unpublished data prepared for the Inquiry 22 July 1997.

[16] ibid.

[17] ibid.

[18] ibid.

[19] ibid.

[20] ibid.

[21] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Australia’s Welfare Services and Assistance 1995 AGPS Canberra 1995, 244. Disability is defined as the presence of one or more specified limitations, restrictions or impairments which had lasted or was likely to last for 6 months or more.

[22] id 246. Handicap is defined as a limitation or restriction in performing certain specified tasks associated with daily living, due to a disability.

[23] id 244.