2026 Census topic review: Update on process (September 2024)

Key points

The ABS commenced testing potential content changes in late 2023.
Outcomes from testing informed the ABS recommendation to the Australian Government on topics for inclusion in the 2026 Census.
The Government has announced a new topic of ‘sexual orientation and gender’ will be included in the 2026 Census, for people aged 16 years and over.
One topic, Number of children ever born, will return to a decennial collection and be removed from the 2026 Census.
These changes to topics included in the Census will be reflected in an amendment to the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016.
The ABS will continue testing in 2024 and 2025 to finalise the question design for the topics included in the 2026 Census. This includes the new topic and enhancements to questions for existing topics.

Background

2026 Census content testing program

The ABS commenced testing potential content changes for the 2026 Census in late 2023.

Testing is designed to inform:

The ABS recommendation to the Australian Government on topics for inclusion in the 2026 Census.
The ABS decisions on the questions that will be on the 2026 Census form.
Communication, engagement and support materials to assist the public in completing the 2026 Census.

Testing helps the ABS determine whether high quality data on a topic can be collected in the Census. The Census is usually completed by one person on behalf of a household, and this person needs to be willing and able to answer questions for other household members.

Testing with a range of population groups, across different geographical areas, is important to explore the understanding of concepts and inform the design of questions. Testing activities have included:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
People with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, including people born overseas or whose parents were born overseas, people with English as a second language or people across a diversity of religious beliefs
People who identify as LGBTIQ+
People living in different household arrangements, such as living with children, shared houses or diverse family arrangements
People with disability or carers of people with disability
People with different employment arrangements
People who had moved in the past 12 months
People who completed the 2021 Census late or did not complete it.

The testing program has included focus groups, short web surveys and over 260 interviews (up to September 2024) to develop and test questions for the 2026 Census. Testing has been undertaken both virtually and face-to-face.

The ABS investigated motivators and barriers to Census completion, including the level of understanding and support for potential new questions on gender, sexual orientation and variations of sex characteristics. This research was conducted with 169 participants through focus groups and in-depth interviews, and a sample survey of over 2,000 participants, chosen to be representative of the Australian community.

The ABS has engaged extensively with the community throughout development and testing to help inform testing approaches. This includes engagement with the LGBTIQ+ Expert Advisory Committee for the 2026 Census and the ABS Round Table for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics.

The ABS had planned to undertake a large-scale public test in September 2024. On 26 August 2024, the Australian Statistician announced that this test would no longer form part of the 2026 Census content testing program.

The ABS has adjusted testing plans and is conducting additional testing through other approaches to continue to refine the list of content change being considered.

New content: status

As outlined in 2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions, there were five potential new topics that were still being considered for inclusion. These topics were assessed as having high public value.

After reviewing testing outcomes, sexual orientation and gender were recommended to the Australian Government in mid-2024 for inclusion in the 2026 Census.

On 8 September 2024, Assistant Minister Leigh announced that the Government had decided to include a new topic of ‘sexual orientation and gender’ in the 2026 Census, for people aged 16 years and older. An amendment to the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016 will be tabled in both houses of the Australian Parliament to implement this new topic in legislation.

The ABS will continue testing to determine the final questions to collect data on the topic of ‘sexual orientation and gender’ for people aged 16 years and older.

Status of potential new topics(a)
Theme	Topic	Status (as at September 2024)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity	No longer being considered for 2026 Census.
Location	Main reason for moving in last 12 months	No longer being considered for 2026 Census.
Population	Gender	To be included in the 2026 Census, for people aged 16 years and older.(b)
	Sexual orientation	To be included in the 2026 Census, for people aged 16 years and older.(b)
	Variations of sex characteristics	No longer being considered for 2026 Census.

Potential new topics that were still being considered in 2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions.
The Government has decided to include a single topic of 'sexual orientation and gender'. The ABS will include questions to collect data on this topic in the 2026 Census once the process to amend the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016 is finalised.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity

Main reason for moving in last 12 months

Variations of sex characteristics

Removal of existing content: status

As outlined in 2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions, three topics were still under consideration for removal. This was in addition to the Number of children ever born topic, which was recommended to move back to a ten-year collection cycle and be collected again in the 2031 Census.

The ABS has since considered consultation feedback and the relative priority of each topic against other content changes being considered for the 2026 Census. The ABS has identified that the topics of Number of motor vehicles and Unpaid work – domestic activities will be retained as alternative data sources do not currently meet data needs. The Income topic will also be retained for the 2026 Census, however the ABS will continue to investigate how administrative income data variables will be added to the 2026 Census outputs in addition to income data collected on the Census form. The ABS is considering feedback received through consultation on the Administrative Data Snapshot of Population and Housing (ADS) to enhance the value of income data.

The ABS will continue to investigate the use of alternative data source(s) to extend the value of the Census ahead of the 2031 Census.

Status of existing topics identified for potential removal following phase two
Theme	Topic	Status (as at September 2024)
Income, work and service with the Australian Defence Force	Income	Will be retained.
Population	Number of children ever born	The Government has accepted the ABS recommendation to return to a decennial collection with removal for 2026 Census.(a)
Transport	Number of motor vehicles	Will be retained.
Unpaid work and care	Unpaid work – domestic activities	Will be retained.

The ABS will have the authority to remove this topic from the 2026 Census once the process to amend the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016 is finalised.

Changes to existing content: status

As outlined in 2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions, changes to 12 existing topics proceeded to the development and testing stage following the phase two consultation. Some topics had more than one change being considered.

The ABS has continued to refine the list of content changes being considered throughout the 2026 Census content testing program. The ABS has also continued to consult on data needs and the impact of changes for questions on marital status and religious affiliation.

The ABS will consider feedback from consultation and continue testing to determine the final questions for the existing topics being considered for change. Not all changes that are tested will be included in the 2026 Census.

Potential content changes being considered (as at September 2024)(a)
Theme	Topic	Potential change being considered(b)
Cultural diversity	Ancestry	Increase the number of ancestries collected from two to four to better reflect cultural diversity.
	Country of birth of parents	Update the question design by introducing terms such as parent 1 and parent 2 to be more inclusive.(c)
	Religious affiliation	Update the question wording to ‘Does the person have a religion?’ and using a free text field for responses to support accurate data collection and make the question more equitable.
Education and training	Attendance at an educational institution	Update response categories to count the number of children who are home schooled.
Health	Long-term health conditions	Update response categories to include ‘liver disease’ and ‘migraine’ to collect a wider range of long-term health conditions.
Household and families	Household and family relationships(d)	Update to introduce non-gendered terms to be more inclusive.
	Marital status	Update the response categories to collect de facto relationship status (in addition to the Household and family relationship topic).
	Persons temporarily absent on Census night(e)	Update the question on sex to collect ‘sex recorded at birth’.
Income, work and service with the Australian Defence Force	Industry of employment	Update the question wording to improve alignment with the Labour Force Survey.
Income, work and service with the Australian Defence Force	Labour force status(f)	Update response categories to improve alignment with the Labour Force Survey.
Population	Sex	Update to the question wording to specifically collect ‘sex recorded at birth’ and update response categories to improve data quality.
Transport	Mode of travel to work(g)	Update response categories to include ‘Bicycle (including e-bike)’ to include more contemporary modes of travel.

Excludes changes to ordering of questions, sequencing, and minor changes that occur every Census for online supplementary questions (used to improve coding of Industry and Occupation topics) and instructional or explanatory text included on the form.
Further information on potential changes, including feedback received through the phase one and two consultation, is available in 2026 Census topic review: Phase one directions and 2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions.
The ABS also tested removing gendered language from the question wording. Testing identified potential risks to data quality with incomplete or incorrect data being provided. The introduction of terms such as ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’, alongside ‘mother’ and ‘father’, is being considered for the 2026 Census.
The ABS also investigated including additional questions on the online form to collect more information to better reflect the diversity of family and household structures. There was a limited ability to sufficiently test changes as the additional questions were only asked when specific relationships were reported. There were also significant complexities identified for implementation. For these reasons, this change is no longer being considered for the 2026 Census.
Questions on the new Census topic of ‘sexual orientation and gender’ will not be asked of persons temporarily absent on Census night.
The ABS also tested changes to the design of the question ‘Last week, did the person have a job of any kind?’ to improve alignment with the Labour Force Survey. Due to data quality concerns identified during testing, changes to the design of the question are no longer being considered for the 2026 Census.
The ABS also investigated collecting other contemporary modes of travel, in addition to the 14 response categories already included in the question design. There were significant concerns identified for implementation, and for these reasons, the introduction of ‘(including e-bike)’, alongside ‘Bicycle’, is only being considered for the 2026 Census.

Next steps

Following the Government decision on topics for the 2026 Census, an amendment to the Census and Statistics Regulation 2016 will be tabled in both houses of the Australian Parliament for their consideration. The Government has announced this instrument will be tabled before the end of the year. The Parliament has 15 sitting days to consider the amendments before they are considered final. Once this process is finalised, the ABS will implement the topic changes in the 2026 Census.

The ABS has the authority to determine the wording of the final questions that will be on the 2026 Census form.

The ABS will continue testing activities in 2024 and 2025 to determine the final questions for the 2026 Census. This includes the testing of forms used in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and for people who are ‘sleeping rough’ on Census night. Not all changes that are tested will be included in the 2026 Census.

The ABS will also continue to engage with the community to help inform testing and communication, engagement and support materials to assist the public in completing the 2026 Census. This includes engagement with the LGBTIQ+ Expert Advisory Committee for the 2026 Census and the ABS Round Table for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics.

The ABS will provide an update on the status of content changes being considered in mid-2025 and the final questions for the 2026 Census will be published on the ABS website in late 2025.