As part of the National Plan to Respond to the Abuse of Older Australians (Council of Attorneys‑General, 2019), the Attorney-General’s Department commissioned the National Elder Abuse Prevalence Study (NEAPS) to investigate elder abuse. This snapshot provides the key findings of the Survey of Older People (2020), a nationally representative survey of 7,000 people aged 65 and over living in the community (i.e. they did not live in residential aged care settings). The full report on the NEAPS is available here >

The findings on the prevalence of elder abuse among older people with cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds were based on a subsample of participants who reported speaking a language other than English at home in the Survey of Older People. The prevalence of elder abuse for CALD participants was considered from two aspects: the overall prevalence of the five core subtypes (physical, financial, sexual, and psychological abuse, and neglect); and the prevalence of abuse relating to language and culture (here called the CALD-specific subtype).

How common is elder abuse among Australians with CALD backgrounds?

The Survey of Older People indicated that 15% of community-dwelling people aged 65 and older from CALD backgrounds reported an experience of at least one of the five core subtypes of elder abuse and CALD‑specific subtype in the 12 months prior to the survey (Table 1). Fourteen per cent of CALD older people reported experiencing at least one of the five core subtypes, and 4% reported experiencing the CALD‑specific subtype (with or without experiencing any of the five core subtypes). The prevalence patterns across subtypes and overall were similar between the CALD and non-CALD groups.