Home > Our Publications > Australian Outlook> 2004 > November

Migrants healthy

MIGRANTS enjoy better health and are more computer-savvy than the rest of the population.
Results collected from the 2001 Census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that while migrants chose to live in the nation's cities - continuing a trend that has existed since the 1970s - they had reported better health than the rest of the population.
Only 8 per cent of recent migrants complained of fair or poor health, compared with 16 per cent of the total population, and fewer recent migrants had a disability or long-term health condition - 19 per cent compared with 40 per cent.
New Zealanders made up 80 per cent of the 477,700 recently arrived migrants who in 2001 had been living in Australia for six years or less.
ABS researchers concluded the health differences reflected the youth of recently arrived migrants and the standards they had to meet as part of the migration process.
Of the nine out of 10 recent migrants who chose to live in large Australian cities, more than a third were in Sydney, followed by Melbourne with 22 per cent.
Brisbane and Perth each took a 10 per cent share.