3412.0 - Migration, Australia, 2000-01 and 2001-02

ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/05/2003

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Explanatory Notes Glossary Abbreviations Data Source	INTRODUCTION 1 This publication contains statistics relating to changes in the Australian population resulting from migration. This includes estimates of the resident populations of Australia and of the states and territories, as well as components of population change such as permanent and long-term arrivals, and permanent and long-term departures. Normally, this publication contains information for the most recent available year, together with a 20-year time series for the major characteristics of migrants. However, in this issue, international and interstate migration statistics are presented for 2000-01 and 2001-02, as a publication for 2000-01 was not released due to problems with receipt of overseas arrivals and departures data from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA). 2 This publication also contains estimates for category jumping by Australian residents. Recently, deficiencies have been identified in the measurement of category jumping. This led to the decision to set category jumping to zero for ERP and migration statistics rebased using 2001 Census results by the ABS for the periods from September quarter 1997, pending a review. For information, see Chapter 5, 'Category Jumping', on page 77. 3 Information is also presented in this publication on estimates of the resident population by country of birth. Monthly and quarterly overseas migration statistics have previously been released in Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) and Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0). More detailed statistics can be made available on request (see paragraphs 27 and 28). NET OVERSEAS MIGRATION 4 Net overseas migration figures are based on net permanent and long-term overseas movements. Movements of less than twelve months (short-term movements) are excluded from the calculation of net overseas migration. 5 The estimates from July 1976 onwards include an adjustment for the net effect of category jumping. This adjustment is necessary because net permanent and long-term migration figures can be affected by changes in travel intentions from short-term to permanent/long-term or vice versa. For example, an Australian resident departing for a short-term visit overseas (stating that s/he intends to stay abroad for less than twelve months) in fact stays twelve months or more, thereby changing her/his travel category from short-term to long-term. Prior to December quarter 1989, adjustments for category jumping were only made to revised population estimates. These adjustments are now also included in preliminary estimates. For further details see Demographic Estimates and Projections: Concepts, Sources and Methods, on this site. NET INTERSTATE MIGRATION 6 Information about internal migration is available from population censuses, sample surveys of internal movements and administrative by-product data like the former Family Allowance Benefit or Medicare records. Prior to June 1986, quarterly estimates were derived from records of interstate changes of addresses advised to the Department of Social Security in connection with family allowance payments. Family allowance transfer data related to children only, and interstate migration for all ages was based on the expansion of these family allowance data using ratios of adult to child populations. These ratios, calculated for each interstate flow, were based on results from the latest available census. Data from the Internal Migration Survey were used to constrain total interstate moves to those revealed by the survey. Data derived from the ratio expansion method were subject to revision in the light of the more accurate census data. For more information on estimates of interstate migration prior to June 1986 see the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Occasional Paper: Postcensal Interstate Migration Estimates, 1966-1981 which was published in April 1984. Since June 1986, estimates of interstate migration have been derived using confidentialised information on interstate changes of address supplied by the Health Insurance Commission in the process of administering Medicare. Prior to June 1996, only Medicare transfers for persons aged 1-14 were used, as most other ages suffered from significant under-registration of transfers. The method used to expand the 1-14 year old movers was similar to the previous method, with adult to child expansion ratios based on information from the latest available census being applied to the Medicare movers data for ages 1-14 for each interstate flow. Since June 1996, the method used to estimate interstate migration was revised after investigations identified that coverage of Medicare had improved, and become more stable for those ages which still suffered from significant under-registration. Movers of each age are now used to directly estimate interstate migration for the same age. Estimates are then adjusted for undercoverage by Medicare for those ages which still had significant under-registration (i.e. males aged 16-29 years and females aged 18-24 years), by comparing census and Medicare data. This method also represents an improvement over the previous methods as it produces an age profile on interstate movers. In recent years an adjustment for defence force movements has been included. OVERSEAS ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES SOURCE OF STATISTICS 7 Persons arriving in, or departing from, Australia provide information in the form of incoming and outgoing passenger cards (see Appendix 2). Incoming persons also provide information in visa applications, apart from people travelling as Australian and New Zealand citizens. This and other information available to DIMIA serve as a source for statistics on overseas arrivals and departures. 8 Implementation of the Migration Reform Act 1992 (Cwlth) by the then Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA, which later became DIMIA) required that a health and character check be incorporated with the Incoming Passenger Card. The redesign of both passenger cards followed and new passenger cards were officially introduced on 1 September 1994 with minor alterations to the cards in March 1995. 9 The two main statistical changes affect 'Purpose of journey' and marital status and constitute a break in time series for these data items. The following changes were made to the 'Purpose of journey' question: on the Incoming Passenger Card 'In transit' was dropped; on the Outgoing Passenger Card 'Student vacation' was dropped; and on both cards 'Visiting relatives' was changed to 'Visiting friends/relatives', 'Convention' was changed to 'Convention/conference' and 'Accompanying business visitor' was dropped. The marital status question included 'Separated but not divorced' and 'Common law/de facto', but this question has since been deleted. 10 In July 1998, DIMA revised the incoming and outgoing passenger cards and associated procedures as well as computer systems. Following these changes, some questions on the passenger cards are not compulsory and answers to these questions are not checked by Customs officers. The question on marital status was deleted. Data on marital status is now derived from visa applications (only for certain visa classes) and is therefore not available for Australian or New Zealand citizens. The changes also affect the data for 'Previous country of residence' which is imputed for Australian and New Zealand citizens. For more information see the May 1998 issue of Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0). Since July 1998, there have been additional minor changes to both passenger cards. 11 There were significant delays in the receipt of final OAD data from August 2000 to June 2001 from DIMIA. This caused the withdrawal of the 2000-01 issue of this publication (see Explanatory Notes paragraph 1). SCOPE AND COVERAGE 12 All permanent movements and all movements with a duration of stay of one year or more are completely enumerated. 13 The statistics in this publication relate to the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers (i.e. the multiple movements of individual persons during a given reference period are each counted separately). The statistics exclude the movements of operational air crew and ships' crew, of transit passengers who pass through Australia but are not cleared for entry, and of passengers on pleasure cruises commencing and finishing in Australia aboard ships not then engaged on regular voyages. ESTIMATED RESIDENT POPULATION SOURCE OF STATISTICS 14 Australia's population estimates for the period since 1971 are compiled according to the place of usual residence of the population. An explanation of the conceptual basis for population estimates is given in Demographic Estimates and Projections: Concepts, Sources and Methods, in the Statistical Concepts Library on this site. METHOD OF ESTIMATION 15 The estimates of the populations of Australia and the states and territories at the date of the Census of Population and Housing are the adjusted (for under-enumeration) census counts on a place of usual residence basis, to which are added the number of Australian residents estimated to have been temporarily overseas at the time of the Census. 16 Quarterly estimates of the Australian population are obtained by adding to the population at the beginning of each period components of natural increase (on a usual residence basis) and net overseas migration. For the states and territories, account is also taken of estimated interstate movements involving a change of usual residence. After each census, estimates are made for the preceding intercensal period by incorporating an additional quarterly adjustment (intercensal discrepancy) to ensure that the total intercensal increase agrees with the difference between the estimated resident population at the two respective census dates. NATURAL INCREASE 17 Natural increase is the excess of births over deaths. For the compilation of population estimates births and deaths by state or territory of usual residence are used. For preliminary population estimates, births and deaths by quarter of registration are used, but for revised and final estimates year and quarter of occurrence data are used to ensure the accuracy of the single year of age population estimates. COUNTRY CLASSIFICATION 18 The classification of countries used throughout most of this publication is the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), except where footnoted. This replaces the Australian Standard Classification of Countries for Social Statistics (ASCCSS) used in previous issues of this publication, which is only used where information on regions is presented in tables for periods prior to 30 June 2000. The SACC consolidates within one document the three previous revisions to the ASCCSS (revisions 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03), which were made necessary by political developments in Europe, the former USSR and Africa. It also makes a number of changes to the main structure of the classification which improve the statistical balance of the classification and make it more useful for the analysis of data. For more detailed information refer to the ABS publication Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 1998 (cat. no. 1269.0). 19 Statistics on country of birth, citizenship, residence or main destination have certain limitations because of inadequate reporting on passenger cards. For instance, it is not possible to identify separately England, Scotland and Wales. Similarly Korea includes both the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The United States of America includes 'America (undefined)'. STATE AND TERRITORY CLASSIFICATION 20 Following the 1992 amendment to the Acts Interpretation Act to include the Indian Ocean Territories of Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as part of geographic Australia, population estimates commencing with the September quarter 1993 include estimates for these two territories. To reflect this change, another category of the state or territory level has been created, known as Other Territories. Other Territories includes Jervis Bay Territory as well as Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Where information is presented by state and territory, information for Other Territories is not presented separately but is included in Australia totals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 21 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated: without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905. RELATED PUBLICATIONS 22 Users may also wish to refer to the following ABS publications: Demographic Estimates and Projections: Concepts, Sources and Methods, in the Statistical Concepts Library Australian Demographic Statistics (cat. no. 3101.0) - issued quarterly Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia (cat. no. 3401.0) - issued monthly Census of Population and Housing: Australia in Profile - A Regional Analysis, 1996 (cat. no. 2032.0) Estimated Resident Population by Country of Birth, Age and Sex, Australia (cat. no. 3221.0) - issued annually to 1994 23 Related statistics are also published by DIMIA, all available on the department's web site: (http://www.immi.gov.au): Population Flows-Immigration Aspects Immigration Update Fact Sheet 74: Unauthorised Arrivals by Air and Sea Fact Sheet 86: Overstayers and People in Breach of Visa Conditions The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia: results from this survey are available from DIMIA-see Appendix 1, 'The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia'. 24 AusStats is a web based subscriber information service which provides the full standard ABS product range on-line. It also includes companion data in multidimensional datasets in SuperTABLE format, and time series spreadsheets. 25 Current publications produced by the ABS are listed in the Catalogue of Publications and Products (cat. no. 1101.0). 26 As well as the statistics included in this and related publications, additional demographic information is available at Themes/Demography. UNPUBLISHED STATISTICS 27 The ABS can make available information that is not published. Generally, a charge is made for providing unpublished information. For information about related unpublished statistics or data concepts, contact Ian Appleby on Canberra 02 6252 6141. 28 The following variables are available for overseas arrival and departure data: Citizenship (nationality) Country of birth Age (date of birth) Sex Category of travel Permanent migrant Previous/future country of residence State of intended address/lived Overseas visitor Intended/actual length of stay Main reason for journey Country of residence State of intended address/in which most time was spent Australian resident Intended/actual time away from Australia Main reason for journey Country spent/intend to spend most time abroad State of intended address/lived Occupation Flight number or name of ship Country of embarkation/disembarkation Airport/port of arrival/departure Arrival/departure date Intention to live in Australia for next twelve months Document Selection These documents will be presented in a new window.