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As individuals and as a population we experience constant change, and these changes have important implications for our health and wellbeing. While some health and welfare concerns span all age groups, others tend to emerge at specific life stages as we move from infancy and childhood, to raising a family and caring for others, through to the latter years of growing older. These transition periods present new challenges and health and welfare needs.

Early disadvantage can have lasting effects—the first years of a child’s life provide lifelong foundations for health and wellbeing. Children who have a poor start in life are more likely to develop problems with health, development, learning and behaviours, and these problems can have a cumulative effect over their lives.

Specific groups within our population also experience disadvantages and higher rates of illness and death than the general population, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people who live in rural and remote areas, and prisoners.

Latest reports

Latest findings

Since 2020–21, the number of children with a substantiation of abuse in care has decreased by 6% from 1,300 to 1,200 Between 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2023, the rate of children in out-of-home care remained stable around 8.0 per 1,000 First Nations cataract surgery rate increased from 7,504 in 2015–16 to 9,297 per million in 2022–23, age adjusted