2021 Census data corrections
| Product | Known error or issue | Date corrected |
|---|---|---|
| Community Profiles, DataPacks, GeoPackages, Census TableBuilder, detailed microdata and basic microdata | An overcount of step children and an undercount of natural or adopted children for couple families has been identified in Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Other Territories. Victoria was partially affected. South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory remain unaffected. Only step children in couple families where the spouse was temporarily absent were impacted. These children have been incorrectly categorised to the step child of male parent or female parent categories for both Child type (CTPP) and Child type (including grandchildren) (CTGP) variables. These children have also been incorrectly categorised to step child under 15, student step child or non-dependent step child for both Relationship in household (RLHP) and Relationship in household (including grandchildren) (RLGP) variables. This also means these families have been incorrectly categorised as step families in the Family blending (FBLF) variable. | Not corrected |
| Cultural diversity: Census | Census article - Religious affiliation in Australia, Table of Christian affiliation by generation, 2021: Corrected count of Interwar (75 yrs and over) in Other religions(a) (%) column to reflect accurate percentage of Interwar generation who are affiliated with other religions. | 26/07/2024 |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2016 and 2011-2016 Tablebuilder | The 2016 Engagement in employment, education and training female and male parent variables (EETP_FP_16 and EETP_MP_16) have 916 and 554 records respectively incorrectly coded to ‘Not applicable’ instead of ‘Engagement status undetermined/not stated’. | Not corrected |
| Same-sex couples living together in Australia | Same-sex couples living together in Australia. Table - Same-sex couples by state and territory, 2021: The count and proportion (%) data in the column labelled “2021 total all couples” was corrected to reflect total couples instead of total Australian population. | 05/04/2024 |
| Community Profiles, DataPacks and GeoPackages | In G01 of the General Community Profile, DataPacks and GeoPackages templates, footnote (e) incorrectly states that the counts for ‘Age of persons attending education institution’ includes ‘not further defined’ categories (‘Primary not further defined’, ‘Secondary not further defined’, ‘Tertiary not further defined’). These categories are not included in the counts. | Not corrected |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2016-2021 (acld1621d-g) detailed microdata | The Tenure and landlord type (TENLLD) variable had records coded to ‘Not applicable’ which have been corrected to ‘Rented: Person not in same household’. | 22/02/2024 |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2021 (acld0621d-g) detailed microdata | One hundred and thirty-one records in the 2021 Census data were erroneously included when their ages were outside the benchmark range, this led to a small negative weight for those individuals. These 2021 records have now been set to unlinked (with a weight of 0). | 22/02/2024 |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2021 (acld0621d-g), and 2011-2021 (acld1121d-g) detailed microdata | The 2016 Engagement in employment, education and training female and male parent variables (EETP_FP_16 and EETP_MP_16) had records coded to ‘Not applicable’ which have been corrected to ‘Engagement status undetermined/not stated’. | 22/02/2024 |
| New Census insights on income in Australia using administrative data | New Census insights on income in Australia using administrative data article, Total weekly income section, High income earners: corrected figure for proportion of high income earners for the applicable population. | 13/02/2024 |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2021 (acld0621d-g), and 2011-2021 (acld1121d-g) detailed microdata | Some minor metadata formatting issues were corrected. The variables and their fixed categories are:
| 06/02/2024 |
| Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset, 2006-2021 (acld0621d-g), and 2011-2021 (acld1121d-g) detailed microdata | An error of null values in the 2016 Place of Usual Residence 1 Year Ago (PUR1P_16) and the 2016 Place of Usual Residence 5 Years Ago (PUR5P_16) variables have been coded to ‘Not Stated’ values. | 19/12/2023 |
| TableBuilder and detailed microdata | For the Dwelling type (DWTD) and Dwelling indicator for persons (DWIP) variables there are a small number of people were incorrectly coded to migratory, off-shore, or shipping statuses. | Not corrected |
| Community Profiles and DataPacks | In the relevant Community Profile and DataPack, the following tables (listed by table number and name) had corrections made to some cells: General Community Profiles
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Community Profiles
Place of Enumeration Profiles
Working Population Profile
| 14/12/2022 |
| Australia's journey to work map | Corrected text in pop out boxes of the interactive map for Australia's journey to work to accurately represent the data displayed. | 06/12/2022 |
| Cultural diversity: Census | Census article Religious affiliation in Australia, Table of Religious affiliation of recent migrants: Corrected count of Not Stated in Number of migrants column and proportions of Christianity, Other religions and No religious affiliation in Proportions of migrants column to reflect counts and proportions of migrants who arrived in Australia from 2017 to 10 August 2021. | 15/11/2022 |
| Education and training: Census | Education and training data summary download, Table 2. Highest year of schooling, completed and current, by age by sex, 2021: Labelling error corrected on total rows. | 14/10/2022 |
| Service with the Australian Defence Force: Census | Census article - Australian Defence Force service, Graph - Household weekly income of people aged 15-64 years, by whether served in the ADF, 2021: Correction made to cell for Currently serving (Regular and Reserves) at $400-$499. | 11/08/2022 |
| Cultural diversity: Census | Census article - Religious affiliation in Australia, Graph - Count of people with Christian affiliation in 2016 and 2021, age at 2016 and graph - Count of people reporting No religion in 2016 and 2021, age at 2016: Corrected labelling of 2016 data in both graphs to make 'age at 2016' accurate and updated data points for persons at age accordingly. | 27/07/2022 |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census | Media release - 2021 Census finds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander older population continues to grow, number of people speaking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages at home in 2021 updated to address a minor error. | 21/07/2022 |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census | Census article – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population summary download, Table 9. Equivalised weekly household income for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households by state and territory: Median equivalised household income (weekly)($) for South Australia, Tasmania, and Australian Capital Territory were updated to fix a minor calculation error. South Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population summary, Households and families: The average size of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households in 2011 was updated to correct a rounding error. Australian Capital Territory: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population summary, Health: Data in graph for Long-term health conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people corrected. | 08/07/2022 |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people data summary download, Table 3. Housing suitability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander households by state and territory: 'Not overcrowded' was updated to include the following categories: 'Four or more bedrooms spare', 'Three bedrooms spare', 'Two bedrooms spare', 'One bedroom spare', 'No bedrooms needed or spare'. As a result, this has increased the counts in the 'Not overcrowded' and 'Total' column. | 01/07/2022 |
| Census QuickStats | All persons QuickStats and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people QuickStats have been updated for all geographies to address a minor error. The affected variable was Sex (SEXP), specifically percentages (%). No changes were made to total counts. | 30/06/2022 |