Estimates are for households and persons resident in private dwellings. Estimates are based on 1537 households in Sydney and 1093 households in the balance of NSW.
Source:
ABS Household Income and Income Distribution, Australia, 2003-04 (Catalogue no. 6523.0)
The family and family structure has a strong impact on the health and wellbeing of children and their parents. Inadequate family income is more common in single parent families, and family breakdown can also have adverse social and health consequences for children and their parents.
In 2003-04, couples with dependent children accounted for 27.9% of household types. In Sydney the proportion (28.8%) was higher than in the rest of NSW (26.4%). One-parent families with dependent children accounted for 6.5% of household types in NSW in 2003-04. In Sydney the proportion was lower (6.0%) than in the rest of NSW (7.5%). Households composed of couples only (25.4%) accounted for the second highest proportion of household types in NSW followed by those households occupied by lone persons (22.8%).
In NSW in 2003-04 the average number of persons per household was 2.7 in Sydney and 2.5 in the rest of NSW. The average number of dependent children per household was 0.7 and this was the same in both Sydney and the rest of NSW. The average number of persons per household (0.3) was lowest for persons aged 65 years. The average number of employed persons per household in NSW was higher in Sydney (1.4) than in the rest of NSW (1.1).
Average incomes were higher for households with non-dependent children, reflecting higher proportions of employed persons in these households, but were lower again for households comprising older couples and lone persons, where the numbers of employed persons were substantially lower. Households comprising one parent with dependent children had a mean income of $391 per week, similar to that of elderly couples ($396 per week), but only 11% of the one parent households fully owned their home and therefore a substantially greater proportion had to make mortgage or rental payments from their income. Of these households, 54% had government pensions and allowances as their principal source of income. On average they had 0.8 employed persons in the household (ABS, 2005).
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Population Health Division. The health of the people of New South Wales -
Report of the Chief Health Officer. Sydney: NSW Department of Health. Available at:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/public-health/chorep/soc/soc_household_loc.htm. Accessed (insert date of access).
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