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Cairns Regional CouncilCommunity profile
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In Cairns Regional Council, 28% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households are made up of couples with children compared with 32% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Regional QLD.

The household and family structure of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is one of the most important demographic indicators. It provides insights into the level of demand for services and facilities targeted at particular household types, and the structure of the First Nations community. Across Australia, First Nations households are more likely to be larger families and one parent families, but this varies from area to area, so it is important to compare to the populations across geographic benchmarks.

Please note that this is a household topic. Households are counted as First Nations if they contain one or more Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander persons present on Census night, who are usual residents of the household.

First Nations households cannot be visitor only or other non-classifiable households, so those categories are excluded from this topic. For that reason, percentage distributions may not match those in the main household types page of profile.id, which includes these categories.

To continue building the story, First Nations household type should be viewed in conjunction with Household Size, Age Structure and Number of Bedrooms .

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

‘What is the person’s relationship (to each other person in the household)?’

Household types
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households - Cairns Regional Council20212016Change
Households by typeNumber%Regional QLD %Number%Regional QLD %2016 to 2021
Couples with children1,79228.531.91,46227.833.4+330
Couples without children93214.818.171213.616.4+220
One parent families2,00631.927.51,80434.328.3+202
Other families1422.32.31172.22.4+25
Group households3225.14.92795.35.1+43
Lone persons1,09817.515.388016.714.5+218
Total households6,292100.0100.05,254100.0100.0+1,038
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Dominant groups

Analysis of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander household types in Cairns Regional Council in 2021 compared to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Regional QLD shows that there was a lower proportion of couple families with child(ren) as well as a higher proportion of one-parent families. Overall, 28% of total families were couple families with child(ren), and 31.9% were one-parent families, compared with 32% and 27.5% respectively for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Regional QLD.

There were a higher proportion of lone person households and a lower proportion of couples without children. Overall, the proportion of lone person households was 17.5% compared to 15.3% in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Regional QLD while the proportion of couples without children was 14.8% compared to 18.1% in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Regional QLD.

Emerging groups

The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Cairns Regional Council increased by 1,038 between 2016 and 2021.

The largest changes in family/household types of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Cairns between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Couples with children (+330 households)
  • Couples without children (+220 households)
  • Lone persons (+218 households)
  • One parent families (+202 households)

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