ABSTRACT:In order to ensure that adequate and appropriate health care services are provided to rural inhabitants, it is vital to have a comprehensive understanding of their health care needs. The lack of conclusive evidence on the health status of rural inhabitants to date reflects problems associated with how best to measure health status, and the fact that insufficient research has been conducted to ascertain whether health status differs within rural Australia. This article evaluates different measures used to assess rural health status. It also reports the results of a study which investigates whether the pattern of ill health varies between farm and small rural town residents, and according to remoteness from health care services.