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Aborigines dying faster than white Australians |
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Aborigines dying faster than white Australians
Fri 26 Aug 2005 1:05 AM ET
By Michael Perry
SYDNEY, Aug 26 (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.
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=SYD37566
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