2074.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Mesh Block Counts, Australia, 2016  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/07/2017   
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These datasets contain counts of the total usual resident population and total dwelling count from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing for Mesh Blocks.
Mesh Blocks are the smallest geographical area defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and form the building blocks for the larger regions of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). All other statistical areas or regions are built up from, or approximated by, whole Mesh Blocks. The Mesh Block is the smallest geographical unit for which Census data are available and are identified with a unique 11 digit code. In 2016, there were approximately 358,000 Mesh Blocks covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. They broadly identify land use such as residential, commercial, primary production and parks, etc.

Mesh Block boundaries are available to download from Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (cat no. 1270.0.55.001)

The minimum dwelling count of Mesh Blocks has been designed to be small enough to aggregate accurately to a wide range of spatial units and to enable a ready comparison of statistics between geographical regions, while also being large enough to protect against accidental disclosure of confidential information. The majority of populated Mesh Blocks contain between 30 to 60 dwellings.

For 2016, Mesh Block counts are available by usual residence for basic person counts and dwelling counts.

  • Persons Usually Resident: This is the count of people where they usually live, which may or may not be where they were on Census Night. This data is coded from the address supplied to the question "Where does the person usually live?". For more information about usual residence, see Place of Usual Residence in the Census Dictionary, 2016 (cat. no. 2901.0).
  • Dwellings: A dwelling is a structure which is intended to have people live in it, and which is habitable on Census Night. Some examples of dwellings are houses, motels, flats, caravans, prisons, tents, humpies and houseboats. All occupied dwellings are counted in the Census. Unoccupied private dwellings are also counted with the exception of those in caravan parks, marinas and manufactured home estates. For more information about dwellings, see Dwelling Type in the Census Dictionary, 2016 (cat. no. 2901.0).