Gaps in Indigenous disadvantage not closing: a census cohort study of social determinants of health in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand from 1981–2006

BMC Public Health

Stephen R Zubrick¹  Eric Guimond²  Elena Mobilia¹  David Povah¹  David Lawrence¹  Martin Cooke³  Francis Mitrou¹ 

[1] Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia, PO Box 855 West, Perth, WA 6872, Australia;Department of Sociology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada;School of Public Health and Health Systems & Department of Sociology and Legal Studies, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

关键词: Income;    Unemployment;    Education;    Social determinants of health;    Inequality;    Indigenous;   

Others  :  1132446
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-14-201

 received in 2013-08-20, accepted in 2014-02-19,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are all developed nations that are home to Indigenous populations which have historically faced poorer outcomes than their non-Indigenous counterparts on a range of health, social, and economic measures. The past several decades have seen major efforts made to close gaps in health and social determinants of health for Indigenous persons. We ask whether relative progress toward these goals has been achieved.

Methods

We used census data for each country to compare outcomes for the cohort aged 25–29 years at each census year 1981–2006 in the domains of education, employment, and income.

Results

The percentage-point gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons holding a bachelor degree or higher qualification ranged from 6.6% (New Zealand) to 10.9% (Canada) in 1981, and grew wider over the period to range from 19.5% (New Zealand) to 25.2% (Australia) in 2006. The unemployment rate gap ranged from 5.4% (Canada) to 16.9% (Australia) in 1981, and fluctuated over the period to range from 6.6% (Canada) to 11.0% (Australia) in 2006. Median Indigenous income as a proportion of non-Indigenous median income (whereby parity = 100%) ranged from 77.2% (New Zealand) to 45.2% (Australia) in 1981, and improved slightly over the period to range from 80.9% (Canada) to 54.4% (Australia) in 2006.

Conclusions

Australia, Canada, and New Zealand represent nations with some of the highest levels of human development in the world. Relative to their non-Indigenous populations, their Indigenous populations were almost as disadvantaged in 2006 as they were in 1981 in the employment and income domains, and more disadvantaged in the education domain. New approaches for closing gaps in social determinants of health are required if progress on achieving equity is to improve.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Mitrou et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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