Number of aged and disabled carers grew 72% in five years: Census

New 2021 Census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed around 15% of Australians are working in health care and social assistance, including more than 225,000 aged and disabled carers. The number of aged and disabled carers increased by 72% from 132,325 in 2016 to 227,535 in 2021, while Registered Nurses rose 18.9% from 220,982 to 262,742.

“There are now over 1
.7 million people working in Health Care and Social Assistance in Australia, of which 30% are working in hospitals,” said Dr David Gruen AO (pictured), Australian Statistician. “Census data shows over 40% of Registered Nurses and Aged and Disabled Carers were born overseas, with almost 40,000 arriving since 2016. A 40% share born overseas is significantly higher than the average across all occupations of 32% born overseas.”

The majority of Registered Nurses (88%) and aged and disabled carers (77%) are women, though the proportion of men has increased slightly in both since 2016. Image: Seniors and patients to benefit from fair workplace legislation by Province of British Columbia/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0