Australian governments have forked out $31.2bn on community services in the past financial year, with more than half tipped into the aged care sector.

Governments spent $17.4bn on aged care services in 2016-17, equating to $4,470 per older Australian, according to a Productivity Commission report released on Tuesday.

Disability services cost governments $7.8bn, child protection $5.2bn and youth justice $800m.

Four in five older Australians receive some form of government-funded aged care service, with the commonwealth footing most of the bill.

Roughly 70% of public money spent on aged care goes towards residential care, with the balance spent on in-home care and flexible support.

More than 200,000 older Australians were in residential aged care as of June 2017, including those in flexible places, while over 70,000 people received in-home care.

Almost one in three older people living in households and requiring assistance reported their needs were not fully met, with the proportion higher among those with a profound or severe disability.

Roughly 4.3 million Australians, or 18.3% of the population, live with a disability.

Outlays on income support payments and allowances to people with a disability and their carers totalled $24.5bn in 2016-17.

Two-thirds of the money ($16.3bn) went to 758,9000 recipients of the disability support pension, with $5.1bn spent on carer payments and $2.2bn on carer allowances.

Some 855,800 people, or 3.% of the population, are primary carers of people with disability or older Australians.

Social participation rates among Australians with disabilities have worsened over time. Less Australians with profound or severe core activity limitations are travelling to social activities or having face-to-face contact with family and friends.

The proportion who reported their disability or condition as the main reason for not leaving home as often as they would like has also increased.

Meanwhile, less than one-quarter of primary carers of people were disability were satisfied with their role.

Spending on child protection services across Australia increased by 8.5% in the past financial year, with the amount of money outlaid per child continuing to climb.

Nearly 50,000 Australian kids aged under 18 were found to have suffered abuse or neglect – or were at risk of such harm – in 2016-17.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were overrepresented in the child protection system, as well as in youth justice detention.