This variable indicates households which have at least one person who identified as being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. On Census Night the person needs to have been present and a usual resident at the dwelling.

Occupied private dwellings

This variable is created from the Usual address indicator (UAICP) variable, Indigenous status (INGP) variable and Household composition (HHCD) variable. It is created by identifying whether at least one person in an occupied private dwelling is:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Counted at home on Census Night.

Persons temporarily absent are excluded from this variable.

This variable was introduced in 2011. For previous censuses, information about households with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people was available on request. In 2016, there were some minor changes made to the wording of the output categories.

No changes have been made for 2021.

Changes in Indigenous status between censuses can affect the interpretation of Census data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is important to remember that Indigenous status is collected through self-identification and any change in how a person chooses to identify will affect the count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Census.

This variable does not have a non-response rate as it is created during Census processing by using responses from one or more questions on the Census form. 

• Indigenous status (INGP)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family indicator (INGF)
• Usual address indicator (UAICP)
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Household

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census

This variable indicates families with at least one person who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin, who is a usual resident in the dwelling, and was at home on Census Night.

Families in family households

This variable is created from Usual address indicator (UAICP), Indigenous status (INGP) and Family composition (FMCF). It is created by identifying whether at least one person in a family is:

• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander 
• Counted at home on Census Night.

Persons temporarily absent are excluded from this variable.

This variable is new for the 2021 Census. In previous censuses information about families was only available on request.

Changes between censuses can affect the interpretation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples data. It is important to remember that this variable is collected through self-identification and any change in identification will affect the count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This variable does not have a non-response rate as it is created during Census processing by using responses from one or more questions on the Census form. 

• Family composition (FMCF)
• Indigenous status (INGP)
• Indigenous household indicator (INGDWTD)
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Family

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census

This variable records the response of persons who identified themselves as being of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the Census.

All persons

Responses are captured automatically from mark box responses on the form, so the risk of processing error is minimised. Where respondents identify as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, they are instructed to mark both the 'Yes, Aboriginal' and 'Yes, Torres Strait Islander' boxes. In cases where a respondent marked both ‘No’ and ‘Yes’ boxes, their Indigenous Status is set to ‘Not stated’.

In Australia, the method for collecting information about indigenous status is through self-identification. The ABS Standard Indigenous question is used in all ABS data collections. It is also used across a wide range of government agencies and Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. For more information please see the Indigenous Status Standard, 2014, Version 1.5.

The term Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 'origin' is used in the 2021 Census question. When used in the context of the ABS Standard Indigenous question it relates to a person's Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identity.

Torres Strait Islander peoples come from the islands of the Torres Strait, between the tip of Cape York and Papua New Guinea.

Indigenous status data is available from the 1971 Census onwards. A question on origin has been asked in every Census. However, prior to the 1971 Census, Aboriginal peoples were counted in order to exclude them from population estimates for each state and territory.

The 1967 Referendum changed section 127 of the Constitution to allow Aboriginal people to be included in official Census population counts. The 1971 and 1976 censuses asked each person's racial origin. Since the 1981 Census the word 'racial' has been dropped from the question. The 1996 Census was the first Census to allow people's origins to be recorded as both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, prior to this only one or the other could be recorded.

No changes have been made for 2021.

Changes in Indigenous status between censuses can affect the interpretation of Census data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is important to remember that Indigenous status is collected through self-identification and any change in how a person chooses to identify will affect the count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Census.

The non-response rate for Indigenous status (INGP) was 4.9% in 2021. This is a decrease from 6.0% in 2016.

• Indigenous household indicator (INGDWTD)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family indicator (INGF)
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Ethnicity

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestries

This variable indicates whether a person reports using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home.

All persons

This variable is derived from the Census variable Language used at home (LANP), which is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL), 2016.

This variable defines a speaker of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language as a person who reported using a language that was coded to ASCL broad group 8 – Australian Indigenous languages.

This variable is new for the 2021 Census. Prior to this, data was obtained manually from the Language used at home (LANP) variable.

Additional instructional text was added to the Census form regarding Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander languages and stated, 'Include use of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander languages in the ‘please specify’ option.

An enhancement to the online form presented a check box for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language for those respondents who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the Indigenous status question. To improve the data collected on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, these respondents also had the option to provide a specific language in the ‘please specify’ box if they wished.

Additional instructions were added to the Interviewer Household Form question to improve the reporting of specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. The Interviewer Household Form is used in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Additional instructions included: 

• Where possible, write the full name of the language
• If the person speaks Creole, where possible provide more information. For example: Cape York Creole, Broome Kriol, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole). 

The Main language used at home Census question is designed to find out which languages other than English are spoken by people at home. This question only allows for one answer and therefore the number of responses shown in the category ‘Speaker of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language’ is not all persons who speak an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language.

Whether reported using an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander language at home (LNGP) is derived from Language used at home (LANP). The non-response rate for Language used at home (LANP) was 5.7% in 2021. This is a decrease from 6.5% in 2016.

• Language used at home (LANP)
• Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
• Interviewer Household Form

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census