2011 Census Fact Sheet

GENERAL

• The Census will be held on Tuesday 9 August, 2011.
• This is the 16th Census and marks 100 years of national Census taking in Australia.
• The Census is held once every five years. The last one was held in August 2006.
• Australia has a population of 22,493,120 people.
• Census forms will be distributed to every one of Australia’s 9.8 million households.
• Approximately 14.2 million Census forms have been produced.
• The main Census forms are the Household form and the Personal form. The Household form has 61 questions and the Personal form has 55.
• It takes about 20-25 minutes to complete a Census form, depending on the individual.
• The 2011 Census will cost about $440 million, or about $19 per person.
• The largest single cost is $159 million in salaries paid to around 43,000 people to help deliver and collect the Census forms.
• Population estimates based on Census data are used to determine the allocation of around $45 billion worth of GST funding to the states and territories.