Disability statistics

• Australians with disability
• Carers and support
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability

Australians with disability

The 2022 Survey of disability, ageing and carers (SDAC) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics contains a number of interesting statistics about people with disability in Australia including:

• 5.5 million Australians are estimated to have disability or 21.4% of the population—the proportion is higher than the 2018 SDAC results (17.7%)
• approximately 1.2 million Queenslanders with disability make up 22.9% of the Queensland population—more than 1 in every 5 Queenslanders have a disability
• an estimated 435,700 (8%) of Queenslanders of all ages have a profound or severe disability—people with a profound or severe disability require assistance in everyday activities, including core activities such as self-care, mobility and communication
• Queenslanders with disability by age group
  • 0 to 4 years—5.9%
  • 5 to 14 years—15%
  • 15 to 24 years—16.7%
  • 25 to 34 years—10.7%
  • 35 to 44 years—14.7%
  • 45 to 54 years—19.3%
  • 55 to 59 years—28.1%
  • 60 to 64 years—34.5%
  • 65 to 69 years—41.9%
  • 70 to 74 years—45.4%
  • 75 to 79 years—54.7%
  • 80 to 84 years—68.8%
  • 85 to 89 years—71.6%
  • 90 and over—81.1%.

Carers and support

According to the SDAC, there are:

• an estimated 3 million carers in Australia helping people with disability, or the aged
• about 1.15 million are primary carers, offering the majority of informal help to people with disability or the aged
• almost 7 in 10 (67.3%) of primary carers are women
• more than 642,200 unpaid carers aged 15 years and over in Queensland—that’s 15.3% of Queenslanders aged 15 years and over providing long-term unpaid care for someone with a disability, a long-term health condition or who is frail and ageing
• nearly 1 in 4 carers is aged 65 years and over (23.4%)
• in Queensland 254,500 people aged 15 years and over are primary carers, and 68.2% are female.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability

The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that in 2018–19:

• approximately 36% of First Nations people in Queensland had some form of disability or long-term health condition
• about 8% or 18,300 First Nations people in Queensland had a severe or profound disability.

More information

The Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare can provide further statistics on disability in Australia.