Description

This report sets out the evidence supporting the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) Report Card on the wellbeing of young Australians. The ARACY Report Card is unique, because it compares indicators of wellbeing for children and young people (aged 0-24 years) for the total Australian population, the Indigenous Australian population and international comparators. This comparison provides an international ‘barometer’ of the health and wellbeing of children and young people that can be used to guide policy direction in Australia. The ARACY Report Card indicates Australia’s strengths and weaknesses, and points to areas where policies are required to improve outcomes for children and young people. Overall the report shows that Australian children are faring relatively well in each of the reporting domains, although consistently not as well as children from the best international comparator. In Australia, Indigenous children do not fare as well as non-Indigenous children, and fare substantially less well than the best comparators internationally. This disparity holds true for nearly every indicator and every measure for which data were available. (About this report, Executive summary, edited.)