This month focuses on the following topics: intimate partner violence among 18–19 year olds, the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program and life expectancy in Australia.

Forthcoming releases

If you are interested in any of the forthcoming releases or datasets, please contact the Parliamentary Library to discuss in more detail.

(a) Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) Note: Release dates may be subject to change without notice.

After the latest key economic statistics? Visit the Parliamentary Library’s Key Economic and Social Indicators Dashboard (KESI).

Recent reports

Intimate Partner Violence Among Australian 18–19 year olds, 2023 (Growing up in Australia: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children)

Key points:

• Approximately 3 in 10 reported at least one experience of intimate partner violence in the previous year.
• 1 in 4 reported emotional abuse in the previous year.
• 1 in 12 experienced sexual abuse in the previous year, with sexual abuse more prevalent among females than males.
• 17% reported experiencing 1 type of intimate partner violence or abuse, 8% reported experiencing 2 types and 4% reported experiencing 3 types. Emotional abuse and physical violence were the most likely to co‑occur.
• High trust and good communication with parents during adolescence reduces the risk of later emotional abuse victimisation by 39% and sexual abuse victimisation by 77% compared to low trust.

National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, 2023 (Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission)

This report is based on data collected in December 2022 and February 2023. In December 2022 the Program covered 55% of the Australian population—about 14 million Australians.

• In the current reporting period, heroin has been overtaken by cocaine and is now the fourth most consumed illicit drug. Consumption of fentanyl exceeded oxycodone for the first time since April 2021, with consumption of fentanyl increasing since April 2022. There was record low consumption of oxycodone in regional areas in December 2022 and in capital cities in February 2023.
• Capital city methylamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, MDA, heroin and ketamine average consumption exceeded regional consumption.
• Regional alcohol, nicotine, oxycodone, fentanyl and cannabis average consumption exceeded capital city consumption.

Life Expectancy, 2020–2022 (Australian Bureau of Statistics)

This report presents life expectancy estimates based on the occurrence of deaths in the 2020–2022 period, making it the first to span all 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Life expectancy decreased in 2020–2022 for the first time since the mid 1990's.

• Life expectancy at birth for males was 81.2 years and 85.3 years for females, a decrease of 0.1 years for both.
• Over the past decade, life expectancy increased by 1.3 years for males and 1.0 year for females.
• The gap in life expectancy between males and females is 4.1 years, compared to 5.9 years in 1992 (74.5 years for males and 80.4 years for females).

By states and territories:

• The Australian Capital Territory had the highest life expectancy: males at 82.2 years and females at 86.0 years.
• The Northern Territory had the lowest for both males (76.2 years) and females (80.7 years), 5.0 years and 4.6 years lower when compared to the national data.

Internationally (based on United Nations estimates):

• Australia has the third highest life expectancy for persons in the world.
• Monaco (85.95) and Japan (84.78) have higher life expediencies than Australia.

Interested in finding out what the latest statistics are telling us about the Australian economy and population? Each month the Parliamentary Library publishes a Flag Post article listing new reports on a wide variety of topics. The list includes important upcoming ABS releases and reports from other research organisations and government departments.