Spatial Trends in the Risk of Social Exclusion for Australian Children: Patterns from 2001 to 2006

This paper compares small area estimates of the risk of social exclusion for Australian children aged 0–15 based on data from the 2001 and 2006 Censuses of Population and Housing conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Patterns of persistence and change in both the composite index and its underlying variables are analysed. The paper extends earlier work which focussed on 2001 data only. We find an overall tendency for child social exclusion risk to persist in small areas over time, although we also found some tentative support for a possible narrowing of the risk gap between the highest risk and lowest risk areas across the 5 year period. Children living outside the capital cities were at higher risk of social exclusion than those in capital cities across both periods, although most capital cities nevertheless contain areas of high risk in both years.

Justine McNamaraEmail: