In July 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a report”, Disability Ageing and Carers: Summary of Findings.
The report summarizes national level data in relation to Disability, Carers and the Aged in comparison to previous statistics released in 2018.
In relation to Carers:
The report outlines key factors relating to carer profiles, including who they care for and whether they are compensated for their services.
One notable finding is the growing demand for carers that will be required due to the ageing population and substantial increase in people with disabilities.
One of our goals is to ensure that carers who qualify due to their circumstances and the care they provide are financially supported themselves in relation to the Carers Supplement and Carers Payment.
Key Statistics
Disability
5.5 million Australians (21.4%) had a disability.
15.0% of people aged 0-64 years had disability.
Disability prevalence was similar for males (21.0%) and females (21.8%).
7.9% of all Australians had a profound or severe disability.
Older people
17.1% of Australians were aged 65 years and over.
95.9% of older Australians were living in households, while 4.1% lived in cared-accommodation.
Carers
There were 3.0 million carers, representing 11.9% of all Australians living in households.
12.8% of all females were carers, compared with 11.1% of all males.
There were 391,300 young carers (under the age of 25).
Disability
In 2022, 5.5 million (21.4%) Australians had disability, an increase from 4.4 million (17.7%) in 2018.
In the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, a person is considered to have disability if they have any limitation, restriction or impairment which restricts everyday activities and has lasted, or is likely to last, for six months or more.
Factors contributing to the change in disability prevalence include growing awareness, increased long-term health conditions, introduction of an online questionnaire, and an ageing population.
Older People
More and more Australians are growing old.
In 2022, around 17% of the population, or 4.4 million people, were aged 65 years and over. This is a 52% rise from 2009.
Females are slightly more likely than males to be in this age group, with 13.3% of them aging 65-79 years and 4.7% over 80 years old, compared to 12.5% and 3.7% respectively for males.
In 2022, around 1.7 million older Australians living in households needed help with at least one personal or everyday activity. This help may come from friends, family, paid organizations, or individuals.
Most commonly, assistance was needed with property maintenance, health care, and household chores.
Older females were more likely than older males to require help with an activity.
As age increased, so did the need for assistance.
Carers
A carer is a person who helps or looks after people with disability illness or older people (aged 65 years and over).
There are different types of carers:
primary carers provide the most help with mobility, self-care and communication;
secondary carers help with at least one of these things for at least one hour per week, but not as much as primary carers;
other carers provide different kinds of help.
Being a carer can have a big impact on a person’s life.
In 2022 there were 3.0 million carers in Australia, an increase from 2.6 million in 2018.
In 2022:
around one in eight (11.9%) Australians provided unpaid care to people with disability and older people.
4.5% of all Australians (1.2 million people) were primary carers.
there were 383,600 secondary carers and almost 1.5 million other carers, indicating that a large amount of informal care is provided to supplement that provided by primary carers.
