Rural
Around 1 in 4 Australians lives in a rural or regional area. We treat all areas outside of major cities as regional and rural areas. About 7 million people (29% of the population) live in regional and rural Australia. People in regional, rural and remote areas generally face challenges accessing health care. Compared with those in metropolitan areas, people living in rural areas have: * shorter lives * higher levels of disease and injury * poorer access to and use of health services. This is often due to difficulty accessing health services. Lifestyle differences, along with disadvantage related to education and employment opportunities, also contribute.