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Aborigines dying faster than white Australians

By Michael Perry

26 August 2005 - (Reuters) - Aborigines are dying at almost three times the rate of other Australians and have a life expectancy 17 years lower than the rest of the population, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in a report on Friday.

Despite small improvements in education, employment and a fall in overall mortality rate, indigenous Australians remain the country's most disadvantaged people, the bureau said.

The Aborigines along with the indigenous people of the nearby Torres Strait islands -- which are part of Australia -- are now estimated to be 492,700 in number, or 2.4 percent of the country's population.

"Indigenous people remain disadvantaged, compared to other Australians, across a range of areas of social concern," said the report, the latest in a series of reports over the last several decades on the condition of indigenous Australians.

Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have a life expectancy of 59.4 years for males and 64.8 years for females, compared with 76.6 years for males and 82.0 years for females in the rest of Australia, the report said.

"Over the period 1999-2003, indigenous males and females died at almost three times the rate of non-indigenous males and females," it said.

The Aborigines experience an earlier onset of most chronic diseases, with diabetes four times higher and hospitalisation rates 12 times more than the rest of Australians.

More than one third of indigenous people aged over 15 had a disability or long-term health condition. Several other reports have found that Aborigines have much higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse and imprisonment.

The report said that while there had been improvements in housing conditions for indigenous people, many were still living in overcrowded conditions which could contribute to the spread of infectious diseases.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard has taken a tough approach to aboriginal affairs in recent years, demanding that the aborigine people meet certain education and health standards to receive government funding.

But the report said the indigenous people received on an average 18 percent more health spending per person than white Australians.

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