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Birthplace of Parents

Birthplace of Parents (BPPP)

This variable indicates if a person's mother and/or father was born in Australia or overseas.

Birthplace of Parents (BPPP) is new for 2011 and combines data from the questions asking for the birthplace of a person's father/mother (questions 14 and 15). These were first asked in the 1921 Census, but not repeated until 1971. Since then, they have been asked in every Census.

The non-response rate for this variable in 2011 (where respondents failed to answer one or both of the questions about the birthplace of their parents) was 6.87%. More information is available from the 2011 Census non-response quality statement.

Responses to these questions are captured automatically from mark box responses on the form so the risk of processing error is minimal. Sample checks are undertaken to ensure an acceptable level of quality. In a small proportion of cases (testing has indicated that this is less than 1.0%), respondents provided an incorrect number of responses (for both questions, respondents were asked to only mark one response). In these cases, responses were accepted in the order they appeared on the form and the extra responses were rejected.

For more information, see the data quality statements for Birthplace of Male Parent (BPMP) and Birthplace of Female Parent (BPFP).

More information on BPMP is available in the 2011 Census Dictionary (cat. no. 2901.0)

Questions 14 and 15 as they appeared on the 2011 Census Household Form

Image of question 14 from the 2011 Census
Image of question 15 from the 2011 Census
Text only versions of these questions are available.

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2011 Census Dictionary

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