Children of Australia

Population

At 30 June 2007, there were approximately 4.1 million children aged 0-14 years in Australia and these children made up almost 20% of the total Australian population.
Boys made up 51% of the child population and girls made up 49%
Infants (less than 12 months of age) accounted for 7% of the population.
Over the years, the share of children in the total population has been declining: In 1958, children made up over 30% of the total population and 19% in 2007. It is projected that the child population will fall to 17% by 2038.
32.6% of Australia's children lived in NSW in 2007.
Two thirds of Australian children aged 0-14 years lived in major cities in 2006, one-fifth lived in inner regional areas and 3% lived in remote and very remote areas.
Indigenous children comprised 4.8% of the total child population and overseas-born children constituted 7.2% of all Australian children aged 0-14 years.
30% of the Australia's Indigenous children live in NSW.
Almost 1% of all children had arrived under the Humanitarian Program for refugees and others in refugee-like situations.

The infant mortality rate in Australia halved over the last two decades, from 9.6 per 1,000 live births in 1983 to 4.7 in 2006.
In 2002 at birth, infants were expected to live to an average age of 78.1 years for males and 83.3 years for females.
Between 1986 and 2006, mortality among children aged 1-14 years declined by 55%.
Most deaths to children occur in the early childhood period of 1-4 years of age, and this group has also experienced a 45% decline in the death rate between 1983 and 2003.
Between 1986 and 2006, SIDS deaths declined by 88%.
In 2004-06 the leading causes of death among children aged 1-14 years were injuries (37%), cancer (17%) and diseases of the nervous system (10%).
Infant mortality rates were 3 times as high for Indigenous infants than for non-Indigenous infants.

In the 2004-05 National Health Survey, 41% of children aged 0-14 years were estimated to have at least one long-term condition.
Asthma was the most frequently reported long-term condition (12%), followed by hayfever and allergic rhinitis (8%) and undefined allergies (6%).
In 2006, the average annual rate of new cases of Type I diabetes was around 23 per 100,000 and cancer was 14 per 100,00 among children aged 0-14 years.
The overall five-year survival rate among children aged 0-14 years diagnosed with cancer in 1998-2004 was 79%. Leukaemia increased significantly since 1982-86 63% to 83%.
In 2003, there were approximately 320,000 children with a disability in Australia, accounting for 8% of the total child population aged 0-14 years. 4% of these children had a severe or profound core activity restriction.
While the majority of children aged 2-14 years were of acceptable weight, 22% were estimated to be either overweight or obese.

A Picture of Australia's Children, 2009. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
A Picture of Australia's Children, May 2005. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Report of the Chief Health Officer, December 2004. NSW Department of Health