Fed: Australians' health and wealth improving: ABS report

AAP General News (Australia)
04-21-2004
Fed: Australians' health and wealth improving: ABS report

CANBERRA, April 21 AAP - The health of Australians is improving and they are getting
richer but the environment is still being degraded, a new report has found.

The report, compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), examines a range
of measures of the nation's progress.

It found children born in 2001 were expected to live three years longer than those born in 1991.

A baby boy is expected to reach 77 years of age, while a baby girl should live to almost 83.

One of the explanations is a continuing improvement in Australia's infant mortality
rate, which dropped 29 per cent to seven babies per 1,000 during the past decade.

The story was not so good for indigenous Australians, with the infant mortality rate
estimated at 16 per 1,000 births.

The ABS said it did not have a definitive estimate of the life expectancy of indigenous
Australians, but said in all cases they were much lower than other Australians.

Australians have also enjoyed an improvement in their wealth, the report found.

Real net national disposable income per capita grew by about 2.8 per cent a year over
the past 10 years, while the real income of those people considered less well-off improved
by eight per cent.

But the incomes of better-off groups improved even more.

Real wealth per person, as opposed to income, increased overall by around 0.6 per cent
a year between 1993 and 2003.

Another area to have suffered during the past decade has been the nation's native fauna.

The number of birds and animals either extinct, endangered or vulnerable rose by 40
per cent during the past decade.

There has also been an increase in the number of invasive weeds and exotic animal species
that have found their way into the country.

On the plus side, the rate of land clearing decreased by 40 per cent between 1991 and 2001.

There has been a small increase in personal crimes, which include assaults. They increased
from 4.8 per cent of people experiencing a crime in 1998 to 5.3 per cent of people experiencing
a crime in 2002.

But there was little change in the proportion of house break-ins, attempted break-ins
and motor vehicle thefts.

AAP sw/cmc/tnf

KEYWORD: PROGRESS

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