A new report shows petrol sniffing in Indigenous communities has reduced by more than 95 per cent overall, with the rollout of odourless petrol credited with a large part of the reduction.

The University of Queensland study looked at 25 Indigenous communities across the country to get a broad indication of the rates of petrol sniffing.

Eleven of those communities had data going back to 2006 on rates of petrol sniffing, and the total estimated numbers of people currently sniffing petrol in those communities dropped by 95.2 per cent.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt has welcomed the findings which show a 95 per cent reduction in petrol sniffing in some indigenous communities. Credit:AAP

The study’s author Professor Peter d'Abbs said overall the results were positive, but nuanced - in some communities the rate of petrol sniffing was effectively zero, however other communities didn’t see as big a drop and one community saw its rate go up.