Population and patterns of residence

In 2016, the total counted Indigenous population of Australia was 649173 people - around 3 per cent of the Australian population. This population comprises 590 062 people who identified as Aboriginal, 32 344 people who identified as Torres Strait Islander and 26 767 people who identified as belonging to both Indigenous categories. These figures are conservative. Estimates taking into account those missed from the 2016 Census count put Indigenous population numbers closer to 785 000 people.