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Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Community Insights
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Target 2

Target 2: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are born healthy and strong

By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies with a healthy birthweight to 91 per cent.

Description



  • Proportion of First Nations babies born with a healthy birthweight (between 2,500 and 4,499 grams).

  • Proportion non-Indigenous babies born with a healthy birthweight (between 2,500 and 4,499 grams).


Data period



  • 2021

  • 2019

  • 2018

  • 2017


Data source


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) analysis of the National Perinatal Data Collection.


Region types reported



  • Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2021 Main Structure regions: Statistical Areas Level 4 (SA4), States and Territories, Australia.

  • ASGS 2021 Indigenous Regions (IREG).


Suppression rules



  • Percentages with a numerator of less than 5 have been suppressed for confidentiality reasons. Consequential suppression has also been applied where required to prevent back-calculation.

  • Data have been suppressed if the denominator for the percentage was less than 100, due to concerns about the reliability of percentages based on small denominator.


Notes



  • Data relate to live births. Data excludes multiple births, stillbirths and births of less than 20 weeks gestation. Births both less than 20 weeks gestation and less than 400 grams birthweight are not included in the National Perinatal Data Collection.

  • Healthy birthweight is defined as babies who weighed between 2,500 and 4,499 grams at birth.

  • Indigenous status is based on the baby’s Indigenous status.

  • Birthweight data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies born to mothers residing in the ACT should be viewed with caution as they are based on small numbers of births.

  • Data are by geographic area of usual residence of the mother.

  • The data associated with each record in the NPDC include the Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) of residence of the mother. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4. Includes Australian non-residents, residents of external territories and records where state/territory of residence was not stated.

  • In the NPDC, data for 2019, 2020 and 2021 are based on the 2016 ASGS. For this analysis, SA2 were concorded to IREG before being aggregated. Data were aggregated and apportioned to the reported region types.


Reference material


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2023a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 31 October 2023.


AIHW (2023b) Australia’s mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 29 June 2023.


Productivity Commission (2023) Socioeconomic outcome area 2, Productivity Commission website, accessed 13 November 2023.

Description


Proportion of First Nations women who reported smoking during pregnancy


Data period


3 year period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021 (2019–2021)


Data source


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) analysis of the National Perinatal Data Collection.


Region types reported



  • Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2021 Main Structure regions: Statistical Areas Level 4 (SA4), States and Territories, Australia

  • ASGS 2021 Indigenous Regions (IREG).


Suppression rules



  • Percentages with a numerator of less than 5 have been suppressed for confidentiality reasons. Consequential suppression has also been applied where required to prevent back-calculation.

  • Data have been suppressed if the denominator for the percentage was less than 100, due to concerns about the reliability of percentages based on small denominator.


Notes



  • Mother’s tobacco smoking status during pregnancy is self-reported.

  • All valid data for women with a recorded smoking status who gave birth in 2019, 2020 and 2021 were included.

  • The denominator for the percentages excludes mothers for whom smoking status at anytime during pregnancy was not stated.

  • First Nations women who gave birth multiple times following multiple pregnancies during the three years from 2019 to 2021 were counted multiple times. Women who gave birth to multiple babies following one pregnancy were only counted once.

  • The data associated with each record in the NPDC include the Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) of residence of the mother. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4. Includes Australian non-residents, residents of external territories and records where state/territory of residence was not stated.

  • In the NPDC, data for 2019, 2020 and 2021 are based on the 2016 ASGS. For this analysis, SA2 were concorded to IREG before being aggregated. Data were aggregated and apportioned to the reported region types.


Reference material


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2023a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 31 October 2023.


AIHW (2023b) Australia’s mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 29 June 2023.

Description


Proportion of First Nations women who reported attending 5 or more antenatal care visits during pregnancy


Data period


3 year period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021 (2019–2021)


Data source


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) analysis of the National Perinatal Data Collection.


Region types reported



  • Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2021 Main Structure regions: Statistical Areas Level 4 (SA4), States and Territories, Australia

  • ASGS 2021 Indigenous Regions (IREG).


Suppression rules



  • Percentages with a numerator of less than 5 have been suppressed for confidentiality reasons. Consequential suppression has also been applied where required to prevent back-calculation.

  • Data have been suppressed if the denominator for the percentage was less than 100, due to concerns about the reliability of percentages based on small denominator.


Notes



  • Data are for women who gave birth at 32 weeks or more gestation (excluding unknown gestation).

  • The denominator for the percentages excludes mothers with unknown number of antenatal visits.

  • First Nations women who gave birth multiple times following multiple pregnancies during the three years from 2019 to 2021 were counted multiple times. Women who gave birth to multiple babies following one pregnancy were only counted once.

  • For the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and regions within the ACT, first antenatal visit is often the first hospital antenatal clinic visit. In many cases, earlier antenatal care provided by the woman’s general practitioner is not reported.

  • The data associated with each record in the NPDC include the Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) of residence of the mother. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4. Includes Australian non-residents, residents of external territories and records where state/territory of residence was not stated.

  • In the NPDC, data for 2019, 2020 and 2021 are based on the 2016 ASGS. For this analysis, SA2 were concorded to IREG before being aggregated. Data were aggregated and apportioned to the reported region types.


Reference material


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2023a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 31 October 2023.


AIHW (2023b) Australia’s mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 29 June 2023.

Description


Proportion of First Nations babies who were born preterm (with a gestational age of less than 37 weeks).


Data period


3 year period 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021 (2019–2021)


Data source


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) analysis of the National Perinatal Data Collection.


Region types reported



  • Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2021 Main Structure regions: Statistical Areas Level 4 (SA4), States and Territories, Australia

  • ASGS 2021 Indigenous Regions (IREG).


Suppression rules



  • Percentages with a numerator of less than 5 have been suppressed for confidentiality reasons. Consequential suppression has also been applied where required to prevent back-calculation.

  • Data have been suppressed if the denominator for the percentage was less than 100, due to concerns about the reliability of percentages based on small denominator.


Notes



  • Data relate to live births. Data excludes multiple births, stillbirths and births of less than 20 weeks gestation. Births both less than 20 weeks gestation and less than 400 grams birthweight are not included in the National Perinatal Data Collection.

  • The denominator for the percentages excludes babies gestational age was not stated.

  • Indigenous status is based on the baby’s Indigenous status.

  • The data associated with each record in the NPDC include the Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2) of residence of the mother. The SA2 variable was used to aggregate and concord data as necessary to IREG and SA4.

  • In the NPDC, data for 2019, 2020 and 2021 are based on the 2016 ASGS. For this analysis, SA2 were concorded to IREG before being aggregated. Data were aggregated and apportioned to the reported region types.


Reference material


Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) (2023a) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 31 October 2023.


AIHW (2023b) Australia’s mothers and babies, AIHW website, accessed 29 June 2023.