Matabele
Journey Man
According to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's report, A statistical overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia:
* Aboriginal life expectancy is around 20 years lower than for other Australians. The gap actually increased between 1997 and 2001, from 20.6 to 20.7 years for men and 18.8 to 19.6 for women. For men, this is a lower life expectancy than in Papua New Guinea, Burma or Cambodia. For women, it is the same as sub-Saharan Africa, with AIDS factored out.
* The Aboriginal infant mortality rate is 2.5 times that of the rest of Australia, with the rate in the Northern Territory four times the national average. Moreover, the number of babies of low birth weight is double the non-Aboriginal average and actually increased over the late 1990s. The figure is higher than those for Ethiopia, Senegal, Mexico and Indonesia.
* The unemployment rate for Aborigines is about three times higher than that of the non-Aboriginal population.
* Aborigines are imprisoned at 16 times the rest of the population and, consistently since 1999, have made up 20% of the prison population a rise of 6% since 1991.
* In 1990-99, 115 Aborigines died in custody, representing 18% of custody deaths.
* Indigenous people also suffer higher rates of crime. A 2001 study in New South Wales found that Aborigines are 5.5 times more likely to suffer domestic violence, 3.4 times more likely to suffer assault, 2.8 times more likely to suffer sexual assault, and 2.5 times more likely to be murdered.
* Aboriginal households on average earn about $200 less per week than non-Aboriginal households.
* Aborigines are half as likely to have completed schooling and only about 40% are employed.
* A January 2004 study by the Australian National University's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research found that labour market discrimination is more likely to manifest in an inability of Indigenous individuals to secure a job, rather than in being paid low wages.
The HREOC report also found that the life expectancy of indigenous people in the USA, Canada and New Zealand had fallen since the mid 1990s, but the deterioration had been sharper for Indigenous people in Australia.
* Aboriginal life expectancy is around 20 years lower than for other Australians. The gap actually increased between 1997 and 2001, from 20.6 to 20.7 years for men and 18.8 to 19.6 for women. For men, this is a lower life expectancy than in Papua New Guinea, Burma or Cambodia. For women, it is the same as sub-Saharan Africa, with AIDS factored out.
* The Aboriginal infant mortality rate is 2.5 times that of the rest of Australia, with the rate in the Northern Territory four times the national average. Moreover, the number of babies of low birth weight is double the non-Aboriginal average and actually increased over the late 1990s. The figure is higher than those for Ethiopia, Senegal, Mexico and Indonesia.
* The unemployment rate for Aborigines is about three times higher than that of the non-Aboriginal population.
* Aborigines are imprisoned at 16 times the rest of the population and, consistently since 1999, have made up 20% of the prison population a rise of 6% since 1991.
* In 1990-99, 115 Aborigines died in custody, representing 18% of custody deaths.
* Indigenous people also suffer higher rates of crime. A 2001 study in New South Wales found that Aborigines are 5.5 times more likely to suffer domestic violence, 3.4 times more likely to suffer assault, 2.8 times more likely to suffer sexual assault, and 2.5 times more likely to be murdered.
* Aboriginal households on average earn about $200 less per week than non-Aboriginal households.
* Aborigines are half as likely to have completed schooling and only about 40% are employed.
* A January 2004 study by the Australian National University's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research found that labour market discrimination is more likely to manifest in an inability of Indigenous individuals to secure a job, rather than in being paid low wages.
The HREOC report also found that the life expectancy of indigenous people in the USA, Canada and New Zealand had fallen since the mid 1990s, but the deterioration had been sharper for Indigenous people in Australia.