TABLE 1.

Comparative statistics relating to nursing home care in Australia, New Zealand, England and the United States

	Australia (AIHW 2004)	New Zealand*	England**	United States***
Total population	20.8m	4.2m	50.6m	301.7m
Nursing home funding	Federal government plus consumer payments	Government and consumer payments	Government and consumer payments	State and federal government, private insurance, consumer payments
Nursing home service providers	Private	Private, religious and welfare sector (not-for-profit)	Public (statutory) and private	Public (government, not-for-profit) and private
Number of nursing homes	3,056	919	11,543	17,000
Number of places	156,580	35,000	206,395	∼1.9 million
Average number of places per home	51	38	∼30	∼105
Number of nursing home places per 1,000 persons over 70 years	84.2	108	Data not available for those > age 70	231

^*Ministry of Health 2003, Kiata et al. 2005 and Statistics NZ 2005.

^**Data obtained from Department of Health 2001b. Data for England only are included. Because of political changes resulting in devolution, there is no central agency from which all UK nursing home data can be accessed. However, the organization of care in the other countries (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) is somewhat similar. The definition of home will include facilities that provide nursing, personal or a combination of both types of care.

^***Data obtained from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 2006.