Statistics for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples

This page contains demographic information about Gold Coast Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents. The information is sourced from:

  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) Census of Population and Housing

Key statistics

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents represented 2.2% (or 13,585 persons) of the city's total population – 50.9% (or 6,915 persons) were female and 49.1% (or 6,670 persons) were male.

There was a lower proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons in the city of Gold Coast’s population (2.2%) than Queensland (4.6%).

Age structure and distribution

  • On average, Gold Coast Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents are younger than non-Indigenous residents. Almost one third (31.2%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents were aged 0–14 years, compared with almost one-sixth (17.4%) of non-Indigenous residents.
  • Around 5.7% of Gold Coast Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents were aged 65 years and over, compared with 18.0% of non-Indigenous residents.

View an interactive map showing key statistics about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on the Gold Coast.

Family and living arrangements

  • A large proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households were single family households (74.6%).
  • Lone person Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households comprised 11.7% of total Gold Coast households.
  • On average, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander household size on the Gold Coast was larger than non-Indigenous households (3.27 persons compared with 2.58 persons respectively).
  • Less Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households owned their home outright, compared with non-Indigenous households (5.5% and 11.6%).
  • Less Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households owned their home with a mortgage, compared with non-Indigenous households (17.7% and 21.0%).

Need for assistance and long-term health

  • On the Gold Coast, a higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents reported a need for assistance with a core activity (8.4%), compared to non-Indigenous residents (5.6%). By comparison, 8.2% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents reported a need for assistance with a core activity, compared to 6.2% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.
  • Of the Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents. 21.7% had at least one long-term health condition, slightly higher than non-Indigenous residents (19.4%). By comparison, 19.8% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents had at least one long-term health condition, compared to 20.3% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.
  • A higher proportion (3.5%) of Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents had three or more long-term health conditions, compared to non-Indigenous residents (2.9%). By comparison, 3.9% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents had three or more long-term health conditions, compared to 3.5% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.
  • Mental health condition was the most common long-term health condition for Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents (14.9%), followed by “asthma” (13.8%), “other conditions” (9.7%), “arthritis” (6.8%) and “diabetes” (3.5%).
  • By comparison, Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents had different most common long-term health conditions: “arthritis” (8.8%), “mental health condition” (8.7%), “other conditions” (8.2%), “asthma” (8.0%) and “heart disease” (3.9%).

Labour force, industries of employment and occupations

Labour force

  • A higher proportion (68.9%) of Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years were in the labour force, compared to 66.9% of non-Indigenous residents. By comparison, 56.6% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years were in the labour force, compared to 65.4% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.
  • Around 90.8% of Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents in the labour force were employed, 48.3% full-time, 31.6% part time and 10.9% employed but away from work. 94.7% of Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents in the labour force were employed, 51.7% full-time, 33.5% part-time and 9.6% employed but away from work.
  • On the Gold Coast, 9.2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents in the labour force were unemployed, compared to 5.3% of Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents. By comparison, 13.3% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents in the labour force were unemployed, compared to 5.1% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.

Industries

Of the Gold Coast Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were employed, most worked in:

  • Health Care and Social Assistance industry (15.0%)
  • Construction (13.8%)
  • Retail Trade (11.0%)
  • Accommodation and Food Services (9.0%)
  • Education and Training (7.8%)

By comparison, the industries of employment for Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents were:

  • Health Care and Social Assistance (15.0%),
  • Construction (11.4%),
  • Retail Trade (10.4%),
  • Accommodation and Food Services (8.9%),
  • Education and Training (8.3%).

Occupations

Of the Gold Coast Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were employed, most had the occupation of:

  • Community and Personal Service Workers (16.4%)
  • Technicians and Trades Workers (15.8%)
  • Professionals (14.9%)
  • Labourers (11.8%)
  • Sales Workers (11.3%).

By comparison, the occupations of employment for Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents were:

  • Professionals (20.5%)
  • Technicians and Trades Workers (14.2%)
  • Managers (13.1%)
  • Community and Personal Service Workers (12.8%)
  • Clerical and Administrative Workers (12.7%).

Income

A higher proportion (28.8%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents were earning less than $400 per week, when compared to non-Indigenous residents (24.4%). By comparison, 33.8% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents were earning less than $400 per week, compared to 24.8% of non-Indigenous Queensland residents.

The median weekly individual income for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents was $720, compared with $816 for non-Indigenous residents. By comparison in Queensland, the median weekly individual income for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents was $547, compared with $792 for non-Indigenous residents.

Education institution

Of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents attending an educational institution, 71.8% were in pre-school, primary or secondary school – compared to 63.2% of non-Indigenous residents. This reflects the different age structures referred to above.

Around 20.6% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents attending an education institution in 2021 were attending university or other tertiary institution – compared to 28.4% of non-Indigenous residents.

Level of post-school education

Of the Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years, 10.3% had a Bachelor or Higher Degree as their highest educational attainment, compared to 21.1% of Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents. By comparison, 6.0% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years had a Bachelor or Higher Degree as their highest educational attainment, compared to 21.5% of Queensland’s non-Indigenous residents.

A slightly lower proportion (12.2%) of Gold Coast’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma as their highest educational attainment, compared to 14.1% of Gold Coast’s non-Indigenous residents. By comparison, 7.8% of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents aged over 15 years had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma as their highest educational attainment, compared to 12.5% of Queensland’s non-Indigenous residents.

Unpaid work

A slightly higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability (9.2%), compared with 9.1% of non-Indigenous residents.

A lower proportion (7.9%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents volunteered for an organisation or group, compared with 9.9% of non-Indigenous residents.

More information

For more information, please call 1300 GOLDCOAST (1300 465 326) or email communities@goldcoast.qld.gov.au.