It is clear that the levels of health satisfaction in Australia differ drastically. Indigenous people living in Australia showed the higher mortality rate and the low number of elderly people, and poor general state of wellbeing compared to other citizens of Australia. The given paper is aimed to examine and clarify the reasons that led to these differences. Among these differences, it is possible to name the influence of environment and neighborhood, being undereducated or low literacy, low income.
Statistics Analysis: Indigenous People Living in Australia
While examining the wellbeing of Australian citizens, it is essential to pay attention to such group as indigenous people. According to ABS findings, Australia is the home for 798,400 Indigenous people as of 2016 (Australian Government, 2018). This statistical research shows that Northern Territory had the highest proportion of Indigenous people among the population (29.5%) (Australian Government, 2018). For the given paper, it would be useful to examine the data regarding the place of living most popular among indigenous people. According to the same study, indigenous people live mostly in regional areas (44.0%), major cities (37.4%), and pristine remote areas (18.6%) (Australian Government, 2018). As can be seen, there is a tendency to urbanization. However, there is still about 60 percent of indigenous people who prefer living in not urban destinations.
Statistics Analysis: The Average Age of Indigenous People
The second aspect to be analyzed is the average age of indigenous people. In Australia, the population of indigenous people is much younger compared to other citizens. Indigenous people have the median age of twenty three years old age compared to thirty seven years old age for non-Indigenous citizens of Australia (Australian Government, 2018). In fact, there is only 12% of Indigenous people that were aged according to the analyzed study: only 12 percent were fifty years old seniors, while there were 51% of fifty-year-old people among non-Indigenous population. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that Indigenous people showed 2.4 times higher mortality rate between 0 – 4 years old children compared to non-Indigenous ones (164 versus 68 deaths per 100,000 children) (Australian Government, 2020). These findings show the shorter life expectancy among Indigenous population of Australia.
The Most Common Reasons for the health level of Among Indigenous People
After analyzing the date, it can be assumed that the worse level of wellbeing is caused by neighboring and housing (surroundings), poor access and delivery of healthcare, poor education, socioeconomic status, health choices, and the income level. The main reason for such findings is the low income. However, according to for Keleher and MacDougall (2016), “people put a high value on health because while money and power provide the means they cannot buy health, although health services” (p.4). It is also evident that health starts in one’s surrounding (house, communities, and neighborhood). The surroundings and cleanliness of this surrounding (and environment) effects heath the most. In addition to that, low learning abilities and literacy are other pathways to poor health.
References
Australian Government. (2020). The annual report to Parliament on progress in Closing the Gap. Ctgreport.pmc.gov.au. Web.
Australian Government. (2018). The report on estimates of aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians Abs.gov.au. Web.
Keleher, H., & MacDougall, C. (2016). Concepts of health. In H. Kehler & C. MacDougall (Eds.), Understanding health (pp. 3-18). Oxford University Press.