2037.0.30.001 - Microdata: Census of Population and Housing, Census Sample File, 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 12/12/2013   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

CHANGES FROM PREVIOUS CENSUS SAMPLE FILES

KEY CHANGES

There are three main changes to note in the production of the 2011 Census Sample File (CSF):

  • the methodology used for selecting large households
  • a new geography
  • the methodology used for selecting Ancestry categories.

HOUSEHOLD SIZE

To ensure the confidentiality of large households in occupied private dwellings, the maximum number of persons for each household is restricted to six usual residents on the 1% Basic CSF and eight usual residents on the 5% Expanded CSF. In 2006 this was achieved by removing ‘excess’ person records from large dwellings. After the removal of these records, data items such as Household Composition, Household and Family Income were re-derived to take into account the new structure. For 2011 a simpler approach has been used, where all dwellings with more than six usual residents for the 1% Basic CSF or eight usual residents for the 5% Expanded CSF have been replaced by dwellings of a similar size and from a similar region that do not have more than the maximum number of usual residents.

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

For 2011, geographic areas in the CSF have been based on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). This replaces the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) used in previous CSFs.

For further information on geographic areas refer to Using the CSF and File Structures section.

ANCESTRY

Ancestry data items in the CSF are based on the Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups, Second Edition, Revision 1 (which was released in 2011).

In 2006, the categories selected from the Ancestry classification for inclusion in the CSFs were based on the top 20 (1% CSF) and top 30 (5% CSF) ancestry responses from the Census. For 2011, only categories with a minimum of 50,000 (1% CSF) and 30,000 (5% CSF) responses have been reported separately. All other responses have been grouped to broader categories in the classification; 1 digit level for the 1% CSF and 2 digit level for the 5% CSF. This change aims to improve consistency in reported ancestry over time.

CHANGES TO DATA ITEMS

Content of the 2011 CSFs largely duplicates the content of the 2006 CSFs. The main differences are:
        • One new data item has been added: NPRD – Number of Persons usually Resident in a Dwelling.
        • Three data items have been removed: HIEPPD - Equivalised Household Income for Persons Present (weekly), HIPPD - Household Income for Persons Present (weekly) and FIPPF - Family Income for Persons Present (weekly). These items were derived for the 2006 CSF in response to the method used to select large households. The new methodology used to selected large households for 2011 removed the need to re-derive these variables, and household and family income data will again be reported through the standard Census income data items.
        • Four new data items have been added to replace
          • HLRD01 - Housing Loan Repayments (monthly) ranges has been replaced with new Mortgage Repayments (monthly) ranges (MRERD). Some codes have been amended.
          • IND06P - For the 2006 Census, Industry of Employment was coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006. For the 2011 Census, Industry is classified to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006 (Revision 1.0) This mnemonic has been changed for the 2011 Census to INDP.
          • LFS06 - 2006 Labour force status has been changed to LFSP for the 2011 Census.
          • OCC06P - For the 2006 Census, Occupation was coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification for Occupation (ANZSCO). For the 2011 Census, Occupation is classified to Occupations (ANZSCO), First Edition, Revision 1. This mnemonic has been changed to OCCP for the 2011 Census.
        • Categories within data items have been updated. This applies mostly to the ranges for income related variables, but also includes some minor cosmetic changes to labels (for example, where names have changed from singular to plural).
A complete list of all data items included on the Basic (1%) and Expanded (5%) CSF are provided in Excel spreadsheets located in the Downloads tab.