Late last week the Minister for Early Childhood Education, Child Care and Youth released The State of Australia’s Young People Report, examining youth aged from 15-24 years of age.

The report was commissioned earlier this year by the Office for Youth to complete the State of Australia’s Young People report and will later be used to develop the National Strategy for Young Australians.

The wide ranging report presents a picture of youth in Australia based on studies, interviews, existing literature and focus groups. The report introduces itself as describing “who Australian young people are, how they fare in key domains of life, the major issues and challenges they face and the broad contributions they make to Australian society”.

The report highlighted a number of issues facing youth in Australia, including alcohol abuse, depression and motor vehicle accidents.

The report describes 1 in 4 young people as living with a mental disorder, and describes 1 in 3 young people as experiencing moderate to high levels of psychological distress. The report however also emphasises that 94% of young people report having friends they can confide in. Young people reported spending on average 20 hours per week with friends.

According to the report the leading cause of death in young people to be suicide, followed by motor vehicle accident with young men more likely to commit suicide than young women.  The report also mentions that almost 1 in 3 young people are either over or under weight.

According to the report, 55% males and 30% females 15–17 years consume 5 or more standard drinks on an average drinking occasion, and goes on to describe male and female teenagers aged 15–19 years as having the highest hospitalisation rates for alcohol poisoning among all Australian age groups.

The report additionally highlights the increasing threat of cyberbullying to young people.

Despite these issues and trends however the report emphasises the good health and well-being of many young Australians,  and concludes that “overall, the picture of Australia’s young people is generally positive.”

A PDF of the report can be found at www.youth.gov.au.

Writer Tristan Boyd, editor Dr Ramesh Manocha.

Late last week the minister for Early Childhood Education, Child Care and Youth released The State of Australia’s Young People Report, examining youth aged from 15-24 years of age.

The report was commissioned earlier this year by the Office for Youth to complete the State of Australia’s Young People report and will later be used to develop the National Strategy for Young Australians.

The wide ranging report presents a picture of youth in Australia based on studies, interviews, existing literature and focus groups. The report introduces itself as describing “who Australian young people are, how they fare in key domains of life, the major issues and challenges they face and the broad contributions they make to Australian society”.

The report highlighted a number of issues facing youth in Australia, including alcohol abuse, depression and motor vehicle accidents.

The report describes 1 in 4 young people as living with a mental disorder, the most common of which being depression, and 1 in 3 young people experience moderate to high levels of psychological distress. The report however also describes that 94% of young people report having friends they can confide in. Young people were seen as spending on average 20 hours per week with friends.

According to the report the leading cause of death in young people to be suicide, followed by motor vehicle accident with young men more likely to commit suicide than young women. The report also mentions that almost 1 in 3 young people are either over or under weight.

According to the report, 55% males and 30% females 15–17 years consume 5 or more standard drinks on an average drinking occasion, and goes on to describe male and female teenagers aged 15–19 years as having the highest hospitalisation rates for alcohol poisoning among all Australian age groups.

The report additionally highlights the increasing threat of cyberbullying to young people.

Despite these issues and trends however the report concludes that “overall, the picture of Australia’s young people is generally positive.”