The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA). This index ranks areas in Australia according to relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.
The most advantaged local government area is Ku-ring-gai according to new data released today from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.
The SEIFA data shows the 10 most advantaged LGAs in Australia are all located around the Northern and Eastern areas of Sydney Harbour and in coastal Perth.
Lane Cove (with a population of 36 051) was ranked 8th (behind other north shore suburbs such as Mosman and North Sydney). Our Hunters Hill neighbours were ranked 10th. In the Cove has always said Lane Cove is one of the best places to live and now we have the stats to prove it.
The most disadvantaged LGA is Cherbourg, approximately 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane (QLD), followed by West Daly (NT). The 10 most disadvantaged LGAs in Australia can be found in Queensland and the Northern Territory.
SEIFA can help governments, communities and businesses determine areas needing additional funding and improved services, identify potential business opportunities, and research the relationship between health and education outcomes and the socio-economic conditions of an area.
The latest data has found that more than 30 per cent of people born in China, South Africa and Malaysia live in advantaged areas and less than 10 per cent reside in disadvantaged areas. Meanwhile, 40 per cent of Vietnamese-born live in disadvantaged areas and only a small proportion (11 per cent) live in advantaged areas.
People of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin are more likely to live in the most disadvantaged areas with 48 per cent living in the bottom fifth most disadvantaged LGAs, compared to 18 per cent of non-Indigenous people. Overall, only 5.4 per cent of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people live in areas of high relative advantage compared with 22 per cent of non-Indigenous people.
Factors taken into account when determining a suburbs advantages or disadvantages include:
- Access to infrastructure, which impacts on people’s ability to participate in society. Examples include access to schools, community services, shops, transport and medical facilities.
- Wealth information (such as the value of assets) directly impacts on the economic resources of households and the ability of people to participate in society.
