The Index of Wellbeing for Older Australians builds on and increases the increasing the accessibility and usefulness of public data to researchers and for policy development.
Where people live affects their wellbeing at all ages. But location has particular importance for older people as they tend to be less mobile than younger people, especially in the later years when health problems can become more common and they may be more dependent on public or community transport to access services.
The IWOA gives us an otherwise unavailable insight into the locational impacts of getting older across Australian communities (down to the SA2 level), including the ability to analyse the particular data points that impact positively or negatively on older peoples' overall wellbeing in that particular location.
The IWOA builds upon data from the ABS Census, ABS Household Expenditure Survey and the National Aged Care Clearinghouse of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to create an overall picture of wellbeing for older people on a local community level, allowing us to learn from the communities experiencing strong wellbeing and identify the needs of communities who are struggling, and design community level responses.
