Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
AGE
PROPORTION OF POPULATION BY AGE, 2016 (a)
(a) Usual residence Census counts. Excludes overseas visitors. Includes Other Territories.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2016
Since the 1996 Census, median age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has been on the rise. Twenty years ago in 1996, the median age was 20. This had increased to 21 years in 2011, and increased again to 23 years in the five years to 2016. The median age for non-Indigenous people was 38 in 2016.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to have a much younger age profile and structure than the non-Indigenous population. In 2016, more than half (53%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were aged under 25 years. In comparison, almost one in three (31%) non-Indigenous people were aged under 25.
The difference between the two populations was also marked in the 65 years and over age group. The proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 65 years and over was considerably smaller than for non-Indigenous people (4.8% compared to 16%).