Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

More aged-care residents than ever before are demanding higher levels of attention, and they are staying in nursing homes longer.

As at June 2007, 70 per cent of permanent residents needed high-level care, compared with 58 per cent a decade ago, according to a snapshot of aged care in Australia.

Almost 30,000 permanent residents required high-level care, while more than 18,000 were classified as low-dependency residents.

The average stay in aged care facilities has jumped from 131 weeks in 1998 to 146 weeks in 2006-07, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report showed.

Men stayed an average of 110 weeks, while it was 167 weeks for women.

Almost two thirds of people being admitted to aged-care facilities needed high care.

"The dependency profile of newly-admitted residents during 2006-07 provides a useful indication of possible future trends in residential aged care," the report said.

"The dependency levels of admitted permanent residents during the period suggest that we may expect similar proportions of people in aged care at high-care levels in the future."

Three quarters of residents were aged over 80, while four per cent were aged under 65.

At the end of June last year, there were 170,071 residential aged-care places, which was an increase of 3,780 on the previous year.

There were 87 residential places for every 1,000 people aged over 70, just one short of the 2011 target.

Provision ratios were highest in the Northern Territory (94.1), South Australia (93.2) and Victoria (87.6).

Tasmania (84.9) and the ACT (72.6) had the lowest aged-care provision ratios.

Religious organisations provided 29 per cent of aged-care services, while private operators contributed 27 per cent.

Community-based organisations and charities provided the remainder of services.

Victoria had by far the highest private sector involvement, which provided more than one third of services in the state, compared with 6.1 per cent run by charities.

The NT (53 per cent), ACT (48 per cent) and Queensland (44 per cent) had the highest proportions of services operated by religious organisations.