This report, collated by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), provides contemporary evidence of the ‘gap within the gap’. It shows that Stolen Generations survivors aged 50 and over are more likely to be worse off than other Indigenous Australians of the same age on a range of health and socioeconomic outcomes.
It builds off a previous report by the AIHW, released in 2018, which examined data from 2014-15. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Stolen Generations and descendants: numbers, demographic characteristics and selected outcomes report uncovered chronic health issues, disability, and alarming levels of economic and social disadvantage for the Stolen Generations and their descendants. The first demographic study of its kind, it provided comprehensive data to illustrate the direct link between the forced removal of tens of thousands of children from their families and the real-life symptoms of intergenerational trauma within today’s families and communities.
We now know that there are more than 33,000 survivors, all of whom will be aged 50 and over in 2022; and that, across the nation, a third of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults are descended from Stolen Generations.
In some States and Territories, descendants make up more than half of the population. This represents significant challenges for governments to address the growing needs in health, aged care, education, social justice, and equity.
