Based on this study below, in 2018 there were 205,200 Australians with autism, a 25.1% increase from the 164,000 in 2015. This is roughly 7% per year increase compounded. Compare this against the overall population growth in AU being roughly 1.5% per year.
Now there is no way that the growth of autism is over 4 times the national growth rate. The only plausible answer is better detection of autism. What this means then is we really have no clue how many autistic there are in AU, nor what percentage of the population they represent. As the detection methods get better and better, watch the autism numbers increase considerably.
And they even admit it. Look at the prevalence graph in the study. Highest levels of autistic is the 10-14 year range and drops off considerably. That's because autism was vastly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for the older ranges.
It also says that almost half of the autistic indicated they need more support and/or school support than they are receiving, which is very concerning.
This study has a lot of very interesting data (and mis-data as well).
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