Our communities

Overview of the communities the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing works with and seeks to empower.
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Our communities reflect the diversity and strengths of Victoria. This diversity is essential to the social and economic strength of our state.

LGBTIQ+

  • Approximately 5.7% of Victorian adults identify as LGBTIQ+.1

Young people

  • There are around 775,000 young people aged 15 to 24 in Victoria, representing almost 12% of the community.2
  • Almost 12,000 young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in Victoria.3

CALD communities

  • More than half of all Victorians were born overseas or had a parent born overseas.4
  • Five in 10 Victorians follow one of more than 130 different faiths.5

Women

  • Women make up more than half of the Victorian population, at 50.8%.6
  • Women faced more job losses, more unpaid work and received less support during the COVID-19 pandemic.7
  • Older women make up the fastest growing group of homeless Australians.8

Veterans

  • About 500 new veterans move to Victoria each year.9
  • There are over 100,000 previous or current serving and reserve members of the Australian Defence Force living in Victoria10.

Senior Victorians

  • About one-quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2056.11
  • Over a million Victorians are aged over 65.12

Carers

  • Victoria has more than 730,000 carers.13
  • Women account for almost 70% of primary carers.14

People with disability

  • One in six Victorians (17% of the population) live with disability.15
  • Over 5% of Victorians experience severe or profound disability.16

People experiencing homelessness and housing stress

  • One in 57 Victorians access a state-funded homelessness service in 2018-19.17
  • Over 75% of these people could not be provided with long-term housing.18
  • More than 60,000 Victorians have applied to the social housing register. Of those applications, over 55% have an urgent housing need and are on the priority access list.19