Indigenous Australia Today

Closing the Gap?

Health, incarceration, education & work for

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Life expectancy

Incarceration

Imprisonment and suicide rates

Education, Work & Incarceration Risk

8+ years lower than non-Indigenous Australians

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

years

years

years

years

years

years

Non-Indigenous Australians

Gap

1

2

3

4

Male

Female

3.8%

71.9

80.6

8.8

75.6

83.8

8.1

of total population

37%

of prison population

18,272

average number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Prisoners during the first 4 months of 2026

Close the Gap initiative:

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​

Targets a 15% decrease in adult incarceration by the year 2031

37%

First Nations women make up

39%

of all Australian women in prison (2022)

Imprisonment rate

Suicide rate

The percentage of Indigenous men, by past incarceration status, who:

Are a part of the labour force

Have completed year 10

Poor educational resources, leading to poor performance and high dropout rates

Sources: ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Life Expectancy 2020–2022; ABS Prisoners in Australia 2025; Productivity Commission Closing the Gap Data; Indigenous Health Performance Framework; Shepherd et al. 2020.

Inability to find employment with a livable wage, low labour-oforce attachment

Higher crime rates and risk of incarceration

Life Expectancy

(years)

<68

68-72

72-76

76-80

>80

Indigenous life expectancy at birth (years), 2018-2022

Life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is lowest in remote areas, especially in the Northern Territory, remote Western Australia, and far North Queensland.

Despite decades of policy efforts, there are still significant disparities between the quality of life of Indigenous peoples within Australia and the quality of life of non-Indigenous demographics. Differences in life expectancy, incarceration, education and employment show how disadvantages persisting from the colonial era continuet o shape the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders within Australia today. The infographic below depicts various indicators the to highlight where the “gap” currently exists. In order for meaningful progress to be made, the broader social conditions behind these numbers have to be addressed, not only externally through policy making, but also internally by communities themselves.