Country of birth of person (BPLP)

This variable indicates in which country a person was born.

All persons

Country of birth of person is coded using the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2016. The categories are listed in groups below. The full list is available from the Data downloads on this page. 

Number of categories:

• One-digit level: 12
• Two-digit level: 39  
• Four-digit level: 293

See Understanding supplementary codes for more information.

This variable is created based on the response to the country of birth of person question. Respondents may either use a mark box to indicate the country of birth or write the name of the country in the text field.

The majority of responses for country of birth of person are captured automatically from the mark box response. Written responses are coded using a combination of automatic reading and coding processes. The remaining responses require manual coding processes when they cannot be coded or derived automatically.

If a person:

• uses a former country name, it is coded to the current country name (for example, Siam would be coded to Thailand)
• has marked Australia and given a text response, the responses are accepted in the order they appear on the form and the extra response is rejected.

In a small number of cases where country of birth is not stated, the category 'Born in Australia' is derived. This occurs when the person's father or mother was counted in the same dwelling and reported that they were born in Australia. If insufficient information was provided to derive a country response category, it remains as ‘Not stated’.

Country of birth is coded using the SACC. If a response is not listed in the classification, it is coded to 'Inadequately described'.

This variable was first reported in 1911, and prior to 2006, it was referred to as 'Birthplace' rather than 'Country of birth'.

For 2021, the order of the response categories has been updated to reflect the most common answers from the 2016 Census:

• ‘Philippines’ moved from 7th to 5th position
• ‘Italy’ moved from 5th to 7th position.

Although China is a country in which a large proportion of Australia's population were born, China does not have a response category on the form. This is to allow people to write in:

• China
• Hong Kong
• Macau, or
• Taiwan.

There have been changes to the SACC for 2021:

• 3302 'Czech Republic' has been changed to 'Czechia'
• 9226 'Swaziland' has been changed to 'Eswatini'
• 3206 'Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia' has been changed to 'North Macedonia'
• 2402 spelling of 'Faeroe Islands' has been changed to 'Faroe Islands'.

The measurement of the ethnic and cultural diversity of the Australian population, and the degree to which Australians retain their ethnic and cultural identity, is primarily based on the use of a number of Census variables related to a person's origin, including:

• Ancestry multi response (ANCP)
• Language used at home (LANP)
• Religious affiliation (RELP)

The non-response rate for Country of birth of person (BPLP) was 5.3% in 2021. This is a decrease from 6.9% in 2016. 

• Ancestry multi response (ANCP)
• Country of birth of mother (BPFP)
• Country of birth of father (BPMP)
• Language used at home (LANP)
• Religious affiliation (RELP)
• Year of arrival in Australia (YARP)
• Derivation
• Imputation

• People
• People and communities
• Standard Australian classification of countries (SACC), 2016
• Country of birth standard
• Cultural diversity: Census
• Understanding Migrant Statistics in the Census and other data sources