Sport in Australia

Australian sport issues and sporting programs are now featured in a new publication: Perspectives on Sport (cat. no. 4156.0.55.001).

The first issue includes articles on:

• What motivates Australians to participate in sport?


• Involvement in Organised Sport as a Coach, Instructor, Referee or Umpire


• Sports and Physical Recreation Volunteers

Find further sport-related data in the October 2008 edition of Sports and Physical Recreation: a Statistical Overview (cat. no. 4156.0)

Mental Health & Wellbeing

One in five Australians aged 16–85 years had a mental disorder in 2007, according to figures released today in the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results, 2007 (cat. no.4326.0).

This survey provides information on the prevalence of mental disorders by three major disorder groups:

• Anxiety disorders (eg Social Phobia)
• Affective disorders (eg Depression)
• Substance Use disorders (eg Alcohol Harmful Use)

It also provides information on :

• level of impairment
• health services used for mental health problems
• physical conditions
• social networks and caregiving
• demographic and socio-economic characteristics

Respondents were asked about experiences throughout their lifetime.

The survey is based on an international survey instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use by participants in the World Mental Health Survey Initiative. Therefore, it has been designed to provide data that are internationally comparable, rather than to provide comparisons with the previous 1997 ABS Mental Health and Wellbeing survey.

CDATA Online

A new way of accessing and customising 2006 Census data will be released on 27 October 2008.
2006 CDATA Online will allow you to create your own tables of Census data on a range of different topics such as - age, education, housing, income, transport, religion, ethnicity, occupation and more. All Census geographies will be available, from a single Collection District to an entire State/Territory or total Australia.

You will even be able to make your own custom areas and view your Census data in tables, graphs and maps. CDATA 2006 is more powerful than ever before because the data used to construct your table is the same data used to create outputs inside the ABS. The CDATA Online Product Brief provides a full description of this product which will be available free online.

Marriage in Australia

2007 saw the highest number of marriages registered in a single year since 1990. The crude marriage rate (marriages per 1000 population) has however, decreased in the last 20 years from 7.1 in 1988 to 5.5 in 2007.

People are getting married at an older age, with the median age for first time marriage being 29.6 for males and 27.6 for females. This is in comparison to 26.1 years and 24.0 years back in 1989.

Civil celebrants were the preferred officiators throughout 2007, with 63% of couples choosing this service over marriages conducted by a Religious Minister.

Couples who lived together prior to marriage grew to 76.8%, and March was the most popular month to marry. To find out more, see Marriages, Australia 2007 (cat. no. 3306.0.55.001).