Socioeconomic indexes
A socioeconomic index is a way to measure how advantaged or disadvantaged a community or group of people is. It is a composite measure which takes into account a number of economic and social indicators – including income, employment, education and housing - that affect a person’s level of advantage or disadvantage.
First Nations-specific indexes reveal greater advantage in cities and regional areas than in remote areas. Whole-population indexes reveal First Nations people were over-represented in the lowest socioeconomic areas nationally in 2021, and under-represented in the other areas.
In 2021, 30% of First Nations people lived in areas ranked in the most disadvantaged decile (the lowest ranked 10% of areas) based on the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD), compared with fewer than 1 in 10 (8%) non-Indigenous Australians. In contrast, 2% of the First Nations population lived in the most advantaged decile, compared with 11% of non-Indigenous Australians.
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