[Extract] At one time, all individuals over the age of 65 were considered old. In the 2011 Australian census 3.1 million people were aged 65 years and over (ABS 2013a). With advancements in disease control, living conditions and health technology, people are living longer. As noted in Chapter 6, the life expectancy for non-Indigenous Australian males is 78.7 years and for females is 82.6 years; in contrast, the life expectancy for Indigenous males is 67.2 years and for females is 72.9 years (ABS 2011). This equates to, on average, 10.6 years less life expectancy for Indigenous Australians (ABS 2011). People aged 85 years and over are the fastest growing of all age groups in the country, with the number of people aged 85 and over having increased by 170% in the past two decades, compared with a total population growth of 31 % in the same period (ABS 2010). Older adults are as heterogeneous as any other age group that spans 40 years or more. As a result, the categories of older adults have expanded from one to four, with each one having a distinct set of interests and health care needs.
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Kozier and Erb's Fundamentals of Nursing [3rd Australian edition]
1
978-1-4860-1039-4
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25
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Pearson Australia
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Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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