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Home  Rural psychiatry Population distribution
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Most Australians live in the capitals and other major cities, with the exception of Indigenous Australians (Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders) who are more likely to live in rural and remote regions. However, the distribution of the population is not equivalent with the distribution of psychiatrists. While 81% of psychiatrists service 66% of the total population in major cities, 19% of psychiatrists service 34% of the total population in regional and remote areas. The more remote the location, the worse the access is to psychiatrists.
The following table indicates the distribution of the Australian population, and the distribution of the indigenous population, compared to the distribution of psychiatrists. | | Total Australian population | Total Indigenous population | Total psychiatrists | Major Cities
Capitals plus large coastal towns like Geelong and Wollongong | 66% | 30% | 81% | Inner Regional Areas
Regional towns close to major cities, e.g. Bendigo, Toowoomba, Launceston | 21% | 20% | 16% | Outer Regional Areas
Smaller or more distant rural towns e.g. Coffs Harbour, Emerald, Albany | 10% | 23% | 3% | Remote Areas
Population centres far removed from larger cities e.g. Alice Springs, Broken Hill, Port Hedland | 2% | 9% | 0.25% | Very Remote Areas
Small, very isolated towns and sparsely populated regions | 1% | 18% | 0% | | | 100% | 100% | 100% |
In addition to psychiatrists living and working in a rural area, about 4% of psychiatrists located in cities or inner regional areas also do outreach to outer regional and remote areas. Source: AIHW population database, based on data from the Bureau of Statistics. www.aihw.gov.au.
RANZCP Workforce Survey 2005
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