Disability in Australia

Four million people in Australia (18.5%) reported having a disability in 2009, according to the results of the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers. Males and females were similarly affected by disability (18% and 19% respectively).

Just under one in five Australians (18.5%) reported disability in 2009. A further 21% had a long-term health condition that did not restrict their everyday activities. The remaining 60% of the Australian population had neither a disability nor a long term health condition. Of those with a reported disability, 87% had a specific limitation or restriction; that is, an impairment restricting their ability to perform communication, mobility or self-care activities, or a restriction associated with schooling or employment.

The disability rate increases steadily with age, with younger people less likely to report a disability than older people. Of those aged four years and under, 3.4% were affected by disability, compared with 40% of those aged between 65 and 69 and 88% of those aged 90 years and over.

Rates of disability and rates of profound or severe core-activity limitation for 5- to 14-year-old males (11% and 6.6% respectively) were close to double those for females in the same age group (6.1% and 3.0% respectively). In contrast, women aged 90 years and over had a higher rate of profound or severe core-activity limitations (75%) than men of the same age (58%).

In 2015, there were 2.1 million Australians of working age with disability. Of these, 1.0 million were employed and another 114,900 were looking for work rounding to 53.4% of working age people with disability were in the labour force which compares to 83.2% of people with no disability. In 2015, 25.0% of people with a profound or severe limitation were in the labour force, compared with 58.9% of those with a mild limitation. In 2012, the labour force participation rate was higher for people with profound or severe limitations at 29.7%. In 2015, almost one in five Australians reported living with disability (18.3% or 4.3 million people). A further 22.1% of Australians had a long-term health condition but no disability, while the remaining 59.5% had neither disability nor a long-term health condition.

In 2015, 18.6% of females and 18.0% of males had disability. Differences between males and females was most pronounced amongst people in older age groups with a 68.3% of females aged 90 years and over had a profound or severe limitation compared with 51.2% of males. At some ages there were higher proportions of males with disability such as for age groups 5 to 14 years (males 12.0% and females 7.0%) and 65 to 69 years (males 39.7% and females 36.0%).

The SDAC data on older people (those aged 65 years and over) from Australia's ageing population shows that there were around 3.5 million older Australians in 2015, representing one in every seven people or 15.1% of the population in which this proportion has increased from 14.3% in 2012. Older Australians living in households were more active, with the proportion that participated in physical activities for exercise or recreation increasing from 44.5% in 2012 to 49.2% in 2015. The majority of older Australians were living in households (94.8%), while 5.2% or one in twenty lived in cared accommodation such as nursing homes. While the proportion of older Australians has increased, the prevalence of disability amongst them has decreased. In 2015, 50.7% of older people were living with disability, down from 52.7% in 2012. Two-thirds of older Australians (67.3%) that reported their income lived in a household with an equivalised gross household income that was in the lowest two quintiles. This proportion has decreased from 74.6% in 2012.

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