Australia's welfare 2009 is the ninth biennial welfare report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It is a very comprehensive and authoritative source of national information on welfare services in Australia. Topics, and some of the key findings, include:

• Children, youth and families - 15% of Australia's children lived in jobless families in 2006


• Ageing and aged care - Home and Community Care (HACC) continues to reach the largest number of older clients in community care.


• Disability and disability services - The number of people with disability doubled between 1981 and 2003, to reach an estimated 3.9 million Australians.


• Carers and informal care - Most informal carers are women aged from 25-54 years, and they live with the person for whom they care.


• Housing and housing assistance - Current demand for affordable housing exceeds supply


• Homelessness - There are high rates of homelessness in regional and rural areas, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are over-represented in the homeless
  population.