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This is a text version of the article in FAMILY MATTERS no.27 November 1990, p.7
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Bird's-Eye-View of
Australia's Children
Peter McDonald
There are currently 3.75 million children aged less than 15
years in Australia, a figure which is projected to rise to 4.71
million by 2031 if present birth and immigration rates are
maintained. Under the same assumptions, the proportion of
the total population who are children will fall from 21.9 per
cent in 1990 to 17.6 per cent in 2031. Some other facts
about Australia's children are set out below.
- At the 1986 Census, 59 per cent of children lived in major
urban areas, 24 per cent in other urban areas and 17 per
cent in rural areas.
- New South Wales (34 per cent) and Victoria (25 per cent)
together account for 59 per cent of Australia's children.
- Eighty-two per cent of children live with both their own
parents, 6 per cent in step-families and 12 per cent in one-
parent families.
- In 1988, about 360,000 (10 per cent) of Australian
children were living in families with incomes below the
poverty line.
- In 1986, 26 per cent of children lived in rented
accommodation.
- One in every five Australian children are now born to
parents who are not married.
- About one in five children can expect to experience the
divorce of their parents before they reach majority.
- About one in every three children can expect to spend a
part of their childhood years in a one-parent family.
- In 1890, 20 per cent of children died before their 20th
birthday; now this figure is less than 2 per cent.
- If present birth rates are maintained, 13 per cent of
children will have no siblings, 26 per cent will have one
sibling and 61 per cent will have two or more. That is,
almost two-thirds of all children will come from families of
three or more children.
- In 1987, 30 per cent of children in one-parent families and
14 per cent in two-parent families had moved house in the
preceding 12 months.
- In 1989, 51 per cent of children aged 0--14 years had both
parents employed, 42 per cent had one parent employed
and, for 7 per cent, neither parent was employed.
- In 1985, 20 per cent of boys and 31 per cent of girls aged
14 years were regular smokers.
- In the early 1960s, the death rate from suicides among 15-
-24 year-old males was 10 per 100,000; in 1988, it was 28
per 100,000. In the same period, the rate for females of
the same age remained constant at 4 per 100,000.
- Australian children watch more than 13,000 acts of
violence on television over a ten-year period.
- Twelve per cent of students aged 5--14 years lose at least
one day of school in a two-week period through illness or
injury.
- Sixty per cent of children now complete high school
compared to 38 per cent ten years ago.
- In 1989, 93 per cent of Australian children had been born
in Australia.
Sources:
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1990), Australia's Children
1989: A Statistical Profile, Catalogue No.4119.0.
Szwarc, Barbara (1989), Australia's Children: Approaching
the Nineties: Some Facts and Figures, The Children's Bureau
of Australia Inc., Canberra.
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