This study provides a comprehensive comparison of the Medicare and PBS utilisation levels in the Northern Territory compared to the other States/Territories for the eleven years from 1993/94 to 2003/04. The Medicare and PBS services, payments and expenditure data were obtained mainly from the Health Insurance Commission and Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing either via accessing on-line datacubes or by special requests. The estimated resident populations are from Australian Bureau of Statistics reports. Direct and indirect age standardisation methods were applied as part of the statistical analyses.