Geography, mobility and Indigenous wellbeing in Australia

This study investigates: (1) the effect of remoteness or rural areas on life satisfaction; (2) if the effect on life satisfaction is experienced locally (3) if the effect on life satisfaction differs between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians; (4) trends in life satisfaction for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in rural areas over time; and (5) whether or not moving between and within urban and rural areas is associated with different levels of life satisfaction for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The results indicate that across a range of measures living in a more remote or rural area is associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. Furthermore, we find evidence to suggest that unobserved local factors associated with more remote or rural living underpin the link to life satisfaction, although there is no evidence that this is experienced differently between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Similarly, we found no evidence to support declining life satisfaction in more remote or rural areas differs between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Finally, the results indicate that moving between and within rural and urban areas tends to be associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, especially for moving among rural areas and from urban to rural areas, independent of Indigenous status. Importantly, imprecise estimates such as those reported at times for Indigenous Australians in this study are not themselves evidence of a lack of heterogeneity, rather are a sign of a paucity of evidence of heterogeneity. We encourage future research efforts to extend these findings.