National Regional Profiles
People across Australia can now access the key social and economic statistics for their local region in the one location, following the release of National Regional Profiles.
National Regional Profiles contain a range of information about an area from both ABS and non-ABS sources.
People and organisations often need a comprehensive snapshot of their local region, and previously this was not easy to find. The Community Profile series from the 2001 Census provides extensive information about local areas, but can only report on information collected in the Census of Population and Housing - missing out on the vast amount of data collected by the ABS in other collections. In addition, a great deal of data is gathered by other Government Departments and other groups.
The National Regional Profiles bring together information on remoteness from the 2001 Census, the Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Advantage/Disadvantage, Estimated Resident Population (ERP) counts, building approvals, and births and deaths. They also contain average individual taxable income from the Australian Taxation Office, regional unemployment estimates from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), numbers of people on the various types of income support from the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCs), and even the sales of new motor vehicles from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
The availability of this broad range of data for regions such as Local Government Areas allows better informed decision-making, research and a higher level of discussion. By reducing the time spent searching for data from such disparate sources, National Regional Profiles allow users to spend more time analysing the data and developing policy.
It is planned that National Regional Profiles will be added to and expanded in the coming years. In early 2005, the profiles will be expanded to contain a five-year time series for each region, and the range of indicators will be extended and further developed over time.
The National Regional Profile for different Australian regions can be downloaded free from the ABS web site.
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