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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Australia, 32% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households are made up of couples with children compared with 31% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Greater Capital Cities.
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 - Australia | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Households by type | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | Number | % | Greater Capital Cities % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Couples with children | 111,255 | 31.6 | 31.0 | 85,742 | 32.6 | 32.4 | +25,513 |
| Couples without children | 64,876 | 18.4 | 18.1 | 44,760 | 17.0 | 16.9 | +20,116 |
| One parent families | 94,733 | 26.9 | 26.9 | 73,300 | 27.9 | 27.7 | +21,433 |
| Other families | 7,456 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 6,020 | 2.3 | 2.2 | +1,436 |
| Group households | 18,987 | 5.4 | 6.6 | 14,507 | 5.5 | 6.9 | +4,480 |
| Lone persons | 54,734 | 15.5 | 15.4 | 38,692 | 14.7 | 13.9 | +16,042 |
| Total households | 352,041 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 263,021 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +89,020 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander household types in Australia in 2021 compared to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Greater Capital Cities shows that there was a higher proportion of couple families with child(ren) as well as a similar proportion of one-parent families. Overall, 32% of total families were couple families with child(ren), and 26.9% were one-parent families, compared with 31% and 26.9% respectively for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Greater Capital Cities.
There were a similar proportion of lone person households and a similar proportion of couples without children. Overall, the proportion of lone person households was 15.5% compared to 15.4% in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Greater Capital Cities while the proportion of couples without children was 18.4% compared to 18.1% in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Greater Capital Cities.
Emerging groups
The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in Australia increased by 89,020 between 2016 and 2021.
The largest changes in family/household types of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in Australia between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Couples with children (+25,513 households)
- One parent families (+21,433 households)
- Couples without children (+20,116 households)
- Lone persons (+16,042 households)
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