Data by region methodology

Agricultural commodities data are estimates obtained from the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Agricultural Census. The scope of the 2016 and 2021 Agricultural Census was all businesses undertaking agricultural activity recorded on the ABS Business Register above a minimum size cut-off of $40,000. For the 2011 Agricultural Census, the cut-off was $5,000; 2011 data in Data by region was re-derived using the $40,000 threshold. The measure of size was based on the ABS' Estimated Value of Agricultural Operations or, if this was not available, a derived value based on Business Activity Statement turnover.

Since not all of the businesses that were selected provided data, there are estimated data components. The estimates are subject to sampling variability; that is, they may differ from the figures that would have been produced if all businesses had provided data. One measure of the likely difference is given by the standard error which indicates the extent to which an estimate might vary by chance because only a sample was taken or had responded. There are about two chances in three that a 'sample' estimate will differ by less than one standard error from the figure that would have been obtained if all businesses had responded, and about nineteen chances in twenty that the difference will be less than two standard error. In agricultural data, sampling variability of the estimates is measured by the relative standard error (RSE) which is obtained by expressing the standard error as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. In Data by region, agriculture data with an RSE greater than 50% are not presented.

For further information see Agricultural Commodities, Australia.

Births and deaths data are sourced from:

• the ABS Birth registrations collection, which includes all births that occurred and were registered in Australia, including births to mothers whose place of usual residence was overseas. 
• the ABS Death registrations collection, which includes all deaths that occurred and were registered in Australia, including deaths of persons whose place of usual residence was overseas. Deaths of Australian residents that occurred outside Australia may be registered by individual Registrars, but are not included in ABS death statistics. However, deaths of identified Australian diplomats while overseas are included. 

For further information see Births, Australia and Deaths, Australia.

Data for building approvals are compiled from:

• permits issued by local government authorities and other principal certifying authorities
• contracts let or day labour work authorised by Commonwealth, state, semi-government and local government authorities
• major building activity in areas not subject to normal administrative approval (e.g. building on remote mine sites)

Coverage includes:

• all residential building approvals valued at $10,000 or more
• all approved non-residential building jobs valued at $50,000 or more

Building Approvals data is subject to revisions monthly and therefore data published in Data by Region may differ slightly from source data.

For further information see Building Approvals, Australia.

This section includes information on selected Census data items included in Data by region. For further information on Census data items please see the Glossary, the Census of Population and Housing home page and the Census Dictionary.

Several Census data percentage calculations presented in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples theme exclude ‘Not stated’ responses from the total population count (the denominator). This applies to: Language; Engagement in employment, education and training; and Labour force status. For more information about ‘Not stated’ responses, please see Understanding supplementary codes in Census variables | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).

Statistics for Remoteness Areas are presented on their respective Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) boundaries at the time of data collection. For example, 2016 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 2 and 2021 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 3.

The National Agreement on Closing the Gap includes 19 national targets across areas that have an impact on life outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is based on four Priority Reforms that will change how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities. Progress toward the targets is monitored by the Productivity Commission and published in the Closing the Gap Information Repository. The Information Repository includes a data dashboard with the specifications and latest information on the 19 national targets and indicators, as well as the annual data report. Census data items inform five of these targets:

• Target 5: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20-24 years attaining Year 12 or an equivalent qualification to 96 per cent.
• Target 6: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-34 years who have completed a tertiary qualification (Certificate III and above) to 70 per cent.
• Target 7: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 15-24 years who are in employment, education or training to 67 per cent.
• Target 8: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-64 years who are employed to 62 per cent.
• Target 9A: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 88 per cent.

The ‘applicable population’ refers to the denominator for each target. Refer to the footnotes in the Data downloads for each target’s denominator specifications.

Statistics for the Closing the Gap targets are presented on the most recent ASGS edition except for Remoteness Areas. This may differ from timeseries data reported elsewhere. Further information about the use of ABS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data in national reporting is available in Closing the Gap and National Government Reporting.

Records whether a person has Australian citizenship.

Describes whether a person is currently serving or has previously served in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The Australian Defence Force includes:

• Australian Army (including NORFORCE (North-West Mobile Force))
• Royal Australian Navy
• Royal Australian Air Force
• This variable also includes people who previously served in the National Service and the Second Australian Imperial Force.

Regular service is considered a person’s main ongoing job, and most roles are full-time in nature.

Reserves service is normally part-time in nature and can include up to 200 days of service per year, depending on the role.

This variable does not capture people who have served in non-Australian defence forces.

Distance to work provides a measurement of the distance travelled between a person's Mesh Block of Place of Usual Residence and Mesh Block of Place of Work. An assumption in the calculation of this data is that a person has followed the shortest path with no stops when commuting to work. Component data for Distance to work (i.e. distance by sex, and by industry) is only available at ASGS levels. Detailed information on how the  distances were calculated can be found on the Understanding the Census and Census Data page.

Structure type of private dwellings. Other dwellings include caravan, cabin or houseboat, improvised home, tent, sleepers out, and house or flat attached to a shop or office etc.

Equivalised total household income is household income adjusted by the application of an equivalence scale to facilitate comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition. The 'modified OECD' equivalence scale is used. Equivalised total household income can be viewed as an indicator of the economic resources available to a standardised household.

Classified in terms of the relationships that exist between a single family reference person and each other member of that family. Different types of families are distinguished (in the following order of preference) based on the presence or absence of:

• couple relationships
• parent-child relationships
• child dependency relationships or other blood relationships

The family type is derived from people enumerated in the household who usually reside there and who share a familial relationship. Partners and dependent children usually present but temporarily absent are also included in this derivation. Boarders and other non-family members are excluded.

Describes the field of study of a person's highest completed non-school qualification for persons aged 15 years and over who stated that they had completed a qualification.

Highest level of primary or secondary schooling completed for people aged 15 years and over who are no longer attending primary of secondary school. Data is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001.

Homelessness estimates are based on the ABS Statistical definition of Homelessness, that is, when a person does not have suitable accommodation alternatives, they are considered as experiencing homelessness if their current living arrangement:

• is in a dwelling that is inadequate
• has no tenure, or if their initial tenure is short and not extendable
• does not allow them to have control of, and access to space for social relations

Population rates are presented as a rate per 10,000 of the total population. That is, the number of people experiencing homelessness per 10,000 persons based on their place of enumeration in the Census, excluding people at sea or in migratory or offshore regions and overseas visitors. Caution should be taken when interpreting data for smaller regions (i.e. regions with fewer than 10,000 persons). The homelessness rate includes persons:

• living in improvised dwellings, tents or sleeping out
• in supported accommodation for the homeless
• staying temporarily with other households
• living in boarding houses
• in other temporary lodgings
• living in 'severely' crowded dwellings

Further details can be found in Estimating Homelessness: Census, 2021.

Applicable to all employed people aged 15 years and over. Industry is coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 2006. The industry code assigned is based on the main job held during the week prior to Census night.

 Records a person’s labour force status for the week prior to Census Night. Applicable to persons aged 15 years and over.

Records the type of selected long-term health condition(s) a person has reported. Respondents can record multiple long-term health conditions including:

• arthritis
• asthma
• cancer (including remission)
• dementia (including Alzheimer’s)
• diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes)
• heart disease (including heart attack or angina)
• kidney disease
• lung condition (including COPD or emphysema)
• mental health condition (including depression or anxiety)
• stroke
• any other long-term health condition(s)

Records up to three methods, or means, of travel to work on the day of the Census for each person aged 15 years and over who was employed during the week before the Census. Allows for multiple responses across all categories except walked only, worked at home, and did not go to work. 

If a person walked some of the way to work and used other methods, it is not included as an additional method. For example, if they walked then caught the bus, then ‘Bus’ only should be recorded. Only if the person walked all the way to work, should ‘Walked only’ be recorded.

Describes the level of a person's highest completed non-school qualification (e.g. bachelor degree, diploma) for persons aged 15 years and over. The full classification for levels of education and fields of study, together with an explanation of the conceptual basis of the classification, can be found in the publication Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001.

Records the number in ranges of registered motor vehicles owned or used by household members that were garaged or parked at or near private dwellings on Census Night. It includes vans and company owned vehicles and excludes motorbikes, scooters and heavy motor vehicles.

Two occupation questions are used in the Census. The first of these asks for occupation title, while the second asks for the main tasks usually performed by the person in their occupation. Collecting both occupation title and task information ensures more accurate coding of occupations for employed people aged 15 years and over. Occupations are coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). The Occupation code assigned is based on the main job held during the week prior to Census Night.

Country of birth is the basis for determining if a person was born overseas. The Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC) was used to classify responses for birthplace of individuals. People are classified as Overseas-born on the Census of Population and Housing if it was stated:

• they were born in a country other than Australia
• they were born at sea
• their response was classified 'Inadequately described'
• their response was classified 'Not elsewhere classified'.

In Data by region persons born overseas is defined as born in a country other than Australia.

For the 2016 and 2021 Census, the definition of Australia includes the states and territories and the other territories of Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island. In 2011 and previous Censuses, Norfolk Island was not included in the definition of geographic Australia.

The Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG), 2016 was used to classify responses for a person's religious affiliation. Answering this Census question is optional.

Includes site fees if the dwelling is a caravan, or manufactured home in a caravan park, or a manufactured home estate.

For rental payments this variable records the individual dollar amounts of rent paid by households on a weekly basis for the dwelling in which they were counted on Census Night.

For mortgage payments this variable records the monthly mortgage repayments being paid by a household for the dwelling in which they were counted on Census Night. It is applicable to occupied private dwellings. 

Applicable to persons aged 15 years and over. If registered marital status is not stated it is imputed. All persons aged 15 years and over, who are usually resident and present in the household on Census night and who are not in a couple relationship are identified as 'Not married'. 

Identifies whether a person uses a language other than English at home and if so, records the main non-English language which is used. These data identify the language spoken at home and are coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Languages (ASCL). Only one language is coded for each person.

Applicable to classifiable occupied private dwellings i.e. excludes non-classifiable households such as visitors only. 'Owned with a mortgage' includes being purchased under shared equity scheme and 'Other tenure type' includes being occupied under a life tenure scheme, occupied rent free or other.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
Applicable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in classifiable occupied private dwellings who were at their place of usual residence on Census night.
 

Applicable to those born overseas who will be in Australia for more than one year. The year 2021 refers to the period from 1st January 2021 to 10th August 2021 only. The data shown exclude persons who did not state their country of birth and persons born in Australia (includes Other Territories).

Relates to persons aged 15-19 years and whether the person was working or attending a school or any other educational institution.
Data for 'Other - Fully engaged' includes:

• employed full-time or part-time, type of educational institution attending stated and student status (full-time/part-time) not stated
• employed full-time, both type of educational institution attending and student status (full-time/part-time) not stated
• employed away from work, student status part-time
• employed away from work, type of educational institution attending stated and student status (full-time/part-time) not stated
• employed, hours not stated, student status full-time or part-time
• employed, hours not stated, type of educational institution attending stated and student status (full-time/part-time) not stated
• employment status not stated, student status full-time 

Counts of Australian Businesses including Entries and Exits (CABEE) presents counts of actively trading businesses in the Australian economy, as at June 30 for the past five years. The data used to produce these counts are extracted from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register (ABSBR). The ABSBR is populated using administrative data from ABN registrations recorded in the Australian Business Register (ABR), and business data from the Australian Tax Office (ATO). Data on the structures of large and complex businesses are also collected (profiled) by ABS.

Counts of businesses include only actively trading businesses in the Australian market sector. Actively trading businesses are:

• Type of Activity Unit (TAUs) from the profiled population.
• ABNs from the non-profiled population that are actively remitting Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Businesses are considered to be engaging in productive activity where they have a Goods and Services Tax (GST) role and are actively remitting GST through Business Activity Statements (BAS). A business may still be counted as actively trading at the end of the financial year even if it has ceased operating if the associated ABN has not been cancelled and the business has remitted GST within the last five quarters (or three years for annual remitters).

Standard institutional sector classification of Australia (SISCA) is based on the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA08) institutional sector classification. Entities classified to the following categories of SISCA are excluded:

• 2110 Reserve Bank of Australia
• 3000 General Government
• 5000 Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households
• 6000 Rest of the World

Type of legal organisation (TOLO) indicates whether a business is part of the private or public sector, and the type of ownership structure it has. Entities classified to the following TOLO categories are excluded:

• 26 Other Unincorporated Entities
• 33 Foreign Government

Each business has been classified to a single ANZSIC 2006 industry class. The industry class allocated is the activity which provides the main source of industry value added (sales of goods and services, wages and salaries or number of employees as a proxy), which is generally based on a description provided by the business.

Entities classified to the following 4 digit ANZSIC classes are excluded:

• 6210 Central Banking
• 7711 Police Services
• 7713 Fire Protection and Other Emergency Services
• 9540 Religious Services
• 9551 Business and Professional Associations
• 9552 Labour Association Services
• 9559 Other Interest Group Services n.e.c.
• 9601 Private Households Employing Staff
• 9602 Undifferentiated Goods-Producing Activities of Private Households for Own Use
• 9603 Undifferentiated Service-Producing Activities of Private Households for Own Use

Businesses can operate in more than one geographical location and be represented by a single ABN/TAU. These are referred to as multi-location businesses. Multi-location businesses are attributed to one geographical classification to prevent double counting of businesses. The individual locations of businesses with multiple sites are not available in CABEE. The issues of geocoding multi-location businesses are more pronounced in counts at smaller geographies, as multi-location businesses will only be attributed to a single SA2/LGA. As such, it cannot be assumed that business counts at each geographical level reflect all business operations within that geography.

The data published have been confidentialised so as not to reveal the identity of any businesses. The confidentiality process randomly adjusts data in such a way that the sum of components will not always be equal to total counts.

CABEE contains snapshots of counts of actively trading businesses at regular points in time. While data presented in CABEE were produced on a broadly similar conceptual basis to data presented in previous releases, users seeking to analyse change over time should be aware that there may have been methodological, classificatory, definitional, administrative and content changes between the different releases of CABEE.

For further information see Counts of Australian Businesses, including Entries and Exits.

The disability and carers data are modelled estimates based on random effects logistic regression models fitted to data from the 2018 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, 2016 Australian Census of Population and Housing, 2018 Estimated Resident Population, and aggregated administrative data, such as from the Department of Social Services.

This data presents modelled count and percentage of persons living in households, with the following disability and carer characteristics:
1.    Persons with disability
2.    Persons with profound or severe core activity limitation
3.    Persons with moderate or mild core activity limitation
4.    Persons who are carers
5.    Persons aged 15 or over who are primary carers
6.    Persons who are non-primary carers
7.    Persons with disability aged 15 years and over who need assistance or have difficulty with household chores, meal preparation or property maintenance (accommodation support)
8.    Persons with disability who need assistance or have difficulty with personal/health care
9.    Persons with disability aged 16 years and over who need assistance or have difficulty with private transport
10.    Persons with disability aged 0-64 years whose need for assistance with core activities is fully met
11.    Persons with disability aged 0-64 years whose need for assistance with core activities is partly met or not met at all
 

Modelled estimates 1. – 6. above were originally produced as part of the ABS response to the COVID-19 pandemic to determine the location and size of vulnerable populations across Australia. The remaining modelled estimates were produced later for the Digital Atlas of Australia. Data has been produced for Statistical Area Level 2 regions and Local Government Areas. For further information see Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of findings.

Statistics on children aged 4 or 5 years who, as at 1 July in the collection year, were enrolled and attending preschool programs across Australia. Data is sourced from the National Early Childhood Education and Care Collection. The Collection is derived from administrative data provided by state and territory and Australian government departments and the Catholic Education Office of the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.

For the purposes of the collection, a preschool program is defined as a structured, play based learning program, delivered by a degree qualified teacher, aimed primarily at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling.  A preschool program can be delivered in a variety of settings such as stand-alone preschools, preschools co-located as part of a school (both government and non-government), and centre based day care (CBDC) services (formerly known as long day care). To be considered as enrolled, the child must have attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period, or be absent due to illness or extended holiday leave and expected to return. Data is presented as counts by place of usual residence of the children.

Note data published in Data by region is presented on ASGS Edition 3 (2021) boundaries. Data from the original publication, Preschool Education, Australia, is released on the boundaries relevant at that time. Therefore, care should be taken when comparing data across these publications.

Note that due to impacts of COVID-19, attendance counts for Victoria have been suppressed in 2020 and attendance counts for Victoria and NSW have been supressed in 2021. Any related Australia totals have also been suppressed. Suppression was not required for enrolment counts. See ‘Impacts of COVID-19 in this publication’ in the following links for further detail: Preschool Education, Australia, 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au), Preschool Education, Australia, 2020 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)

Further information on these statistics can be found in Preschool Education, Australia and Microdata: Preschool Education, Australia.

Estimated dwelling stock are based on adjusted counts from the 2021 Census, updated with quarterly estimates of dwelling additions and removals. Estimated dwelling stock and its components of change (additions and removals) includes all dwellings as defined by the Functional Classification of Buildings (FCB).

Additions are the number of dwellings added to stock. Dwellings can be added to stock by construction work or changes in building use (i.e. a short-term holiday apartment to a long-term residential dwelling). 

Removals are the number of dwellings removed from stock. Dwellings can be removed from stock by demolition work or natural disasters. Temporary removals from stock where dwellings may be uninhabitable for a period of time following a natural disaster are not in scope. 

Dwelling stock estimates are available for the following building types: 

• Houses - detached buildings consisting of one dwelling unit, including transportable houses and detached granny flats
• Townhouses - dwellings attached in some structural way to one or more other dwellings, with their own private grounds and no other dwelling above or below
• Apartments - blocks of dwellings that don't have their own private grounds and usually share a common entrance, foyer or stairwell, including attached granny flats
• Total - includes dwellings in non-residential buildings (e.g. caretaker/manager's residence and house/flat attached to a shop) 

For further information see Estimated dwelling stock.

Estimated resident population (ERP) as at 30 June in a Census year is calculated by adjusting Census counts of Australian usual residents to include Australian residents temporarily overseas and account for people missed or counted twice in the Census (based on the Post Enumeration Survey), and removing any births, deaths and migration movements that happened between 30 June and Census night. 

At the national and state levels, ERP is updated from the Census base every three months by taking the population estimate at the start of the quarter and adding the components of population change: natural increase (births minus deaths), net overseas migration and (in the case of state populations) net interstate migration.  For Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s) and Local Government Areas (LGAs), population estimates are updated from the Census base annually as at 30 June, by taking the estimate at the start of the financial year and adding natural increase and net overseas and internal (moves between and within the states) migration. The components for these sub-state areas are calculated by breaking down state-level component estimates, ensuring consistency between the state and sub-state population and component data.

ERP for Remoteness Areas is prepared by aggregating estimates from the Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) level. For a Census year, SA2 estimates are apportioned across SA1s using usual residence Census counts. SA1 estimates are then updated annually by taking into account population change implied by Medicare and electoral roll counts at the SA1 level.

For further information see Regional population or Regional population by age and sex.

Estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are based on the Census, Post Enumeration Survey (PES) and other demographic information. These estimates have been confidentialised. Note that, unlike confidentialised tables from the Census, confidentialised ERP cells here include artificial 1s and 2s. These are the result of a confidentialisation process and forced additivity being applied to original values, with the original values derived from multiple data sources. For further information see Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. 

Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are based on Census year population estimates and assumptions about future fertility, paternity, life expectancy and migration. Estimates and projections for 2011 to 2036 will be released in 2024. 

The value of agricultural production estimates are derived by the multiplication of price and quantity of individual agricultural commodities. Remaining commodity data (livestock disposals and livestock products excluding eggs) are obtained from other ABS collections with some information from non-ABS sources.

Price information refers to the average unit value of a given commodity realised in the market place. More specifically, price information for livestock slaughtering and wool is obtained from ABS collections. Price information for other commodities is obtained from non-ABS sources, including marketing authorities and industry sources.

The estimates of gross value are subject to sampling error. (See above for a discussion of sampling error in Agriculture data). In Data by region, agriculture data with a relative standard error (RSE) greater than 50% are not presented.

Further information on value of agricultural production can be obtained in the ABS publication Value of Agricultural Commodities Produced, Australia.

Internal migration is the movement of people between and within Australia's states and territories and is estimated using administrative data. The main source of data used to do this is Medicare change of address information provided to the ABS by the Department of Human Services. The Medicare data used is coded directly to the ASGS and aggregated to the SA2 and LGA levels. Interstate moves are constrained to published estimates of interstate migration.

Overseas migration including arrivals and departures are prepared by breaking down state/territory level net overseas migration (NOM) arrivals and departures into sub-state areas, using information from the most recent Census. For the purposes of NOM, a person is regarded as a usual resident if they have been (or expect to be) residing in Australia for a period of 12 months or more. This 12-month period does not have to be continuous and is measured over a 16-month period. It includes all people, regardless of nationality, citizenship or legal status, who usually live in Australia, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families.

For further information see Regional Population.

The Jobs in Australia statistics are sourced from the Linked Employer Employee Dataset (LEED) using Australian Tax Office (ATO) administrative data linked to ABS Business Longitudinal Analytical Data Environment (BLADE). 

The LEED covers all persons who either:

• submitted an individual tax return (ITR); or
• had a Pay as you go (PAYG) payment summary issued by an employer and then remitted to the ATO. 

Employees who did not submit a tax return and have not provided their Tax File Number to their employer will not appear in the LEED. Owner managers of unincorporated enterprises (OMUEs) who did not submit an ITR are also excluded.

Jobs in Australia job counts differ from the filled job estimates from other sources such as the Australian Labour Account and Labour Force Australia. The Jobs in Australia data provide insights into all jobs held throughout the year, while the Labour Account data provide the number of filled jobs at a point-in-time each quarter (and annually for the financial year reference period), and Labour Force Survey data measure the number of people employed each month. 

Number of employee jobs refer to jobs for which the occupant received remuneration in wages, salary, payment in kind, or piece rates. This excludes self-employment jobs held by owner managers of unincorporated enterprises.

The sum of the individual components will not necessarily add up to the total number of employee jobs as the total includes jobs where the industry was unknown or missing.

Regions with small numbers should be interpreted with caution as random adjustment has been applied to this data. Prior year data included in this release of Data by region may differ slightly from previous releases due to the introduction of a revised confidentiality approach.

For further information see Jobs in Australia.

Based upon the boundaries in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard Edition 3 (2021) and Local Government Areas Edition 3 (2021). The area of these regions were calculated on the Albers Projection using ABS standard Geographic Information Systems software using the digital boundaries of the regions.

Land cover refers to the observed physical and biological cover of the Earth's surface and includes natural vegetation and abiotic (non-living surfaces). Data was sourced from Digital Earth Australia (DEA) land cover spatial product. The DEA platform uses spatial data and images recorded by satellites orbiting our planet to detect physical changes across Australia. The land cover classification is based on the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Land Cover Classification Systems (LCCS, version 2). The spatial product was resampled to a 250m resolution to be consistent with the specifications for the National Land Account. Each 250m cell represents 6.25 hectares and was assigned to one land cover class. 

The 2016 ASGS boundaries were converted to match the 250m grid format. Differences between the total area covered in the land cover product and the total area in the ASGS product are due to the conversion of the ASGS boundaries to the 250m resolution. The total area belonging to a specific land cover class in a particular region is the count of cells belonging to the class within the region multiplied by 6.25. Area values are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Land parcel counts are produced with breakdowns by zoning and size, and cover all lot parcels (excluding strata/stratum/road parcels) that are titled, and have an area greater than 50 square metres. These counts are provided for Australia’s largest 21 significant urban areas at SA2 and LGA level.
 
Zoning associated with parcels is classified into one of ten groups based on the primary intended use. These are:

• Residential
• Business/commercial
• Industrial
• Mixed use/centre
• Transition/masterplan
• Conservation/limited use
• Community/public use
• Infrastructure/utilities
• Primary production
• Special use not elsewhere specified (n.e.s.)

 
Sizes are given as ranges in square metres. These ranges are:

• < 200sqm
• 200 – 400sqm
• 400 – 600sqm
• 600 – 800sqm
• 800 – 1000sqm
• 1000 – 10,000sqm
• > 10,000sqm

 
These datasets are produced using administrative data compiled into national datasets by Geoscape Australia.
 
For more information, see Land and Housing Supply Indicators methodology, 2022.
 

Land tenure is the manner in which a party holds or occupies an area of land. It is a way of identifying who has the right to use and occupy land in accordance with the different types of ownership. 

Data was sourced from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) and covers the 2015-16 financial year. The data combines jurisdictional land title information from digital cadastre databases and other sources into a national classification. The spatial product is raster format with a 250m resolution. Each 250m cell represents 6.25 hectares and was assigned to one land tenure class. The 2016 ASGS boundaries were then converted to match the 250m grid format. The differences in total area for a region in the land tenure product and in the ASGS product are due to the conversion of the ASGS boundaries to the 250m resolution. More information is available at Land tenure of Australia 2010-11 to 2015-16. The total area belonging to a specific land tenure class in a particular region is the count of cells belonging to the class within the region multiplied by 6.25. Area values are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Land use reflects both (i) the activities undertaken and (ii) the institutional arrangements put in place for a given area for the purpose of economic production, or the maintenance and restoration of environmental functions. 

Data was sourced from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) and covers the 2015-16 financial year. ABARES works in partnership through the Australian Collaborative Land Use and Management Program (ACLUMP) to develop nationally consistent land use information for Australia. The spatial mapping utilises the nationally standardised Australian Land Use and Management (ALUM) Classification (version 8), jurisdictional land use spatial products and agricultural commodity modelling based on the ABS Agricultural Census. The spatial products are in raster format with a 250m resolution. The 2016 ASGS boundaries were then converted to match the 250m grid format. The differences in total area for a region in the land use product and in the ASGS product are due to the conversion of the ASGS boundaries to the 250m resolution. The total area belonging to a specific land use class in a particular region is the count of cells belonging to the class within the region multiplied by 6.25. Area values are rounded to the nearest whole number.

Some data in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples theme comes from the 2018-19 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (2018–19 NATSIHS).

• It collected information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Funding for the survey was provided by the then Australian Government Departments of Health and Prime Minister and Cabinet.
• It collected a range of information about the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including long-term health conditions, health risk factors such as smoking and physical activity, use of health services, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.   It also included a hearing test.
• Previous health surveys were conducted in 2012–13 and 2004–05
• The most recent survey was conducted in 2022-23, with data released on 26 November 2024.

Statistics for Remoteness Areas are presented on their respective Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) boundaries at the time of data collection. For example, 2016 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 2 and 2021 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 3.

For information on NATSIHS items in this product, please see the 2018-19 NATSIHS Glossary. Information about guidelines and measures used to assess specific lifestyle and related factors that impact on health is included in the 2018-19 NATSIHS Appendix - assessing health risk factors.

Some data in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples theme comes from the 2014-15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (2014-15 NATSISS).

• It collected information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages in non-remote and remote areas of Australia, including discrete Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
• Funding was received from the then Australian Government Department of Health to enable the continued collection of data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–14 years.
• Funding was also received from the then Australian Government Department of the Prime Minster and Cabinet to enable the collection of new information relating to community strength and leadership.
• The survey collected information on a range of demographic, social, environmental, and economic characteristics.
• Previous social surveys were conducted in 2002 and 2008.

Statistics for Remoteness Areas are presented on their respective Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) boundaries at the time of data collection. For example, 2016 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 2 and 2021 statistics are presented on Remoteness Areas, ASGS Edition 3.

For information on NATSISS items in this product, please see the 2014-15 NATSISS Glossary.

Personal income tax data is supplied by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to the ABS under the Taxation Administration Act 1953, which requires that such data is only used for the purpose of administering the Census and Statistics Act 1905. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the data for statistical purposes, and is not related to the ability of the data to support the ATO's core operational requirements. Legislative requirements to ensure privacy and secrecy of this data have been adhered to. In accordance with the Census and Statistics Act 1905, results have been confidentialised to ensure that they are not likely to enable identification of a particular person or organisation.

Personal Income data is also compiled from the Linked Employer-Employee Dataset (LEED), which is built using ATO administrative data linked to ABS Business Longitudinal Analytical Data Environment (BLADE). The data in this release includes employee income, own unincorporated business income, investment income, superannuation and annuities income, other income (excluding Government pensions and allowances) - and total income from these component sources. See Personal Income in Australia for more information on these income types.

For the purposes of providing statistical measures for the entire population, the ATO database has some limits to its coverage. Persons who receive an income below certain levels  (the tax-free threshold) are not necessarily required to lodge a tax return, and some income can be exempt and therefore does not need to be reported in tax returns. As a result, Government pensions, benefits or allowances are excluded from the other income or total income. The ATO data should be regarded as an indicative but not complete picture of all individual income earned in Australia.

The Gini coefficients shown in this publication are subject to under-coverage for certain income groups and are calculated from gross personal income rather than equivalised disposable income. They can be regarded as indicative but not definitive and are not directly comparable to apparently similar ABS information at state/territory level, as per Household Income and Wealth, Australia.

Non-lodgers have been included in the Employee income data. The ABS defines non-lodgers as individuals that have a payment summary issued by an employer but have not lodged an income tax return within the 16 month period after each financial year. Note that as the sources of income other than employee income cannot be captured for the non-lodger population, they have been excluded from the estimates of total income.

The total number of individuals in receipt of income from at least one source should not be confused with the sum of the individuals in each income category, since people can have more than one source of income in any given year.

Net income from a specific source may be positive or negative. For example, an individual may have positive income from employee income but have negative net investment income. The number of individuals for each income source includes all persons with either positive or negative net income from that source.

Main source of earners is presented as a proportion of the population in that region. If a region is particularly reliant on one source, it may be susceptible to policy or economic changes that affect that income type - hence the inclusion. Where persons receive exactly the same amount across multiple sources of income, they have been excluded from the derivation of this indicator. Persons with negative or nil total income have also been excluded. The non-lodger population has also been excluded from this calculation as the sources of income other than employee income cannot be captured.

Further information on these statistics can be found in Personal Income in Australia.

This data is sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and relate to gifts or donations reported by taxpayers for the financial year.

This data is sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Capital gains cover the sale of assets such as:

• land
• units in a unit trust and other investment properties
• company shares
• licenses
• rights
• options and leases
• various collectables (paintings, antiques, coins, jewellery and similar) with an original market value of over $500
• personal use assets such as boats, furniture and electrical goods with an original value of over $10,000

Capital gains are not part of the existing ABS investment income, other income or total income framework, but are presented here as supplementary information of interest. Additional information on this topic is available from Capital Gains and Exemptions.

This data is sourced from the Australian Taxation Office and are a count of taxpayers who have made repayments on their HELP debt in the financial year.

For the compulsory HELP repayments to be made, taxpayers must be earning above the minimum repayment income threshold. Further information on repayment income thresholds for other years, and repayment rates can be found on the ATO website.

Private health data is sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and relates to taxpayers who report having private health insurance within the financial year. A full estimate of how many adults in Australia have private health insurance can be obtained from the ABS National Health Survey - see Health Service Usage and Health Related Actions, Australia.

Counts of business-related and non-business-related personal insolvencies by region are provided for reference year ended 30 June.

Data is provided by the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) from their extensive personal insolvency collection. Unless an individual declares their situation to be directly related to a proprietary interest in a business, all other insolvencies (even those for which details are not stated) are classified as Non-business related.

A confidentialisation process has been applied to these data. Official statistics and more information can be found on the AFSA website.

Refers to areas of land dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biodiversity. Sourced from the Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD), Commonwealth of Australia, maintained and updated by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). 

DCCEEW has analysed CAPAD data (based on Geographic Information System Area using an Albers Equal Area Projection for Australia) into ABS Statistical Geographies (ASGS Edition 3 Structures - Statistical Areas 2-4 (SA2), (SA3), (SA4), Local Government Areas (LGA), Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) and States/Territories - to match the geographic preferences of the ABS Data by Region dataset. CAPAD data used for the analysis has been filtered to use non-overlapping Protected Land Areas (PLAs) and that meet the criteria for inclusion in the National Reserve System. 

The process of intersecting CAPAD PLAs with geographic regions can generate many small fragment areas (slivers) of PLAs. Those slivers with an area of less than 1 hectare and which are less than 2 per cent of the unsplit PLA have been removed. Larger slivers present along state borders were also eliminated after cross-checking where the CAPAD source data 'State' is not the same as the assigned 'STE_NAME' resulting from the intersection analysis with the ABS Structures. Therefore there is a small difference between area totals for regions due to the elimination of these slivers, which vary in number and size depending on the geographic units analysed.

The totals of numbers of PLAs should also be considered as indicative only, for individual PLAs may be split across more than one ABS Statistical Geography and therefore counted more than once when totalled for all geographic regions. The numbers for individual geographic units is accurate.

Data is presented by PLA categories (Indigenous Protected Areas, National Parks, Nature Reserves, All other types) for:

• number of PLAs; 
• area of PLAs (hectares); 
• percentage area of PLA of total regional land area.

Other data, for example relating to PLA types, land governance arrangements and marine regions, are readily available from DCCEEW. For more information please refer to Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water CAPAD or the Australian Protected Areas Dashboard.

Data refers to median price and transfer counts of established houses and attached dwellings for year ended 30 June of each reference year.

All Australian residential property sales data are supplied to the ABS by research firm CoreLogic. This dataset is a combination of residential property sales data obtained from state and territory land titles offices or Valuers General offices, and real estate agents' data provided to CoreLogic. The ABS applies classifications to the dataset provided by CoreLogic to create the residential property sales dataset from which these statistics are produced. Caution should be taken when interpreting data for regions where there are a small number of transfers.

As the ABS receives more unit record residential property sales data for previous financial years, the median prices and the number of house and attached dwelling transfers are revised as necessary. 

Dwellings in scope comprise:

• ordinary detached houses
• houses with offices
• houses with flats
• rural residential houses (not part of a farming business) 
• semi-detached, row and terrace houses
• townhouses
• flats, units and apartments

For further information see Total Value of Dwellings.

Department of Veterans' Affairs' data have been extracted from the June Quarterly Client dataset. 

Where a person could not be allocated to a region within a state or territory, they have been included in the totals for the states and territories, and where a person could not be allocated to a state or territory, they have been included in the total for Australia. For privacy reasons, data have been confidentialised before being supplied to the ABS. 

Pensions are described in further detail in the Glossary. More information about specific payments can be accessed from the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

SEIFA is an ABS product that ranks areas in Australia according to relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage. The indexes are based on information from the five-yearly Census of Population and Housing. SEIFA 2021 consists of four indexes which are a summary of a different subset of Census variables focused on a different aspect of socio-economic advantage and disadvantage:

• Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD)
• Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD)
• Index of Education and Occupation (IEO)
• Index of Economic Resources (IER)

Deciles divide a distribution into ten equal groups. In the case of SEIFA, the State deciles data compares the region with all the other regions in that State or Territory. The Australian deciles data compare every region across Australia. The distribution of scores is divided into ten equal groups with the:

• lowest scoring 10% of areas are given a decile number of 1
• second-lowest 10% of areas are given a decile number of 2 and so on
• highest 10% of areas which are given a decile number of 10

For further information see: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia.

Small-scale solar panel installations and solar water heater installations data have been sourced from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER). The Clean Energy Regulator administers the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) as part of the federal governments Renewable Energy Target (RET). The SRES is governed by the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 and the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Regulations 2001.

Installation counts include new, upgraded, and replacement installations, and includes stand-alone (off-grid) installations. The data only represent installations that have passed the CERs auditing process and relevant standards, and have had Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs) validly created under the SRES. The data do not include installations that have resulted in failed STC creation, or are pending STC creation. Installations under the SRES may include residential and commercial systems, and include installations of no more than 100 kilowatts in panel array capacity.

CER data is based on the postcode of the installation. A geographic correspondence has been applied by ABS to create data on ASGS and LGA boundaries. See Correspondences for further information.

Solar installations data is subject to small random adjustments to prevent any identifiable information being released. These adjustments result in small introduced random errors, however the value of the data as a whole is not significantly affected. While the adjustments are only small, they do show a greater relative impact on small counts. These small counts should be used with caution. Counts may also vary from previous published data due to revised source data and small random adjustments.
 

Sourced from Agricultural Census data. Data was collected from agricultural businesses on the ABS Business Register undertaking agricultural activity above a minimum size cut off of $40,000. The estimates are based on responses to the Agricultural Census and since not all of the businesses that were selected provided data, the estimates are subject to sampling variability. That is, estimates may differ from figures that would be produced if all businesses had provided data. In Data by region, Water Use data with a relative standard error (RSE) greater than 50% are not presented.

Area of agricultural land (ha) and Area irrigated (ha) may not correspond entirely to the region the data is assigned to. In some circumstances a farm may be across more than one region; the agricultural land and area irrigated will be typically assigned to the region where the address of the farm is located.

For further information see Water Use on Australian Farms.

People who identified their origin as being Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, or both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

The ABS Standard Indigenous Question is based upon the Commonwealth working definition but does not include the third element of the Commonwealth definition, namely that ‘an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is a person who is accepted as such by the community in which he or she lives'. Collecting information on the basis of community acceptance is often impractical in a survey or administrative data collection setting and can lead to inaccuracies. For these reasons, it is not included in the ABS Standard. The definition of Indigenous Status is therefore operationalised as whether or not a person identifies as being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin.

The term 'origin', when used in the context of the operational definition, is considered to relate to a person's Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identity.

The Accommodation and Food Services industry is engaged in providing short-term accommodation for visitors, in providing food and beverage services, such as the preparation and serving of meals and the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by customers, both on and off-site.

The Administrative and Support Services industry engages in performing routine support activities for the day-to-day operations of other businesses or organisations. This includes office administration, hiring and placing personnel for others, preparing documents, taking orders for clients by telephone, providing credit reporting and collection services, and arranging travel and travel tours.

Certain veterans and their partners who receive a Disability Compensation Payment (DCP) from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs can also have their Social Security Age Pension paid by DVA.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing industry is engaged in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish or other animals from farms or their natural habitats.

A risk level assessed using the 2009 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines for the consumption of alcohol.

Annuities are guaranteed regular and recurring receipts, generally from an insurance company, the right to which was purchased with a lump sum or regular contributions at some point in the past.

The Arts and Recreation Services industry engages in the preservation and exhibition of objects and sites of historical, cultural or educational interest; the production of original artistic works and/or participation in live performances, events, or exhibits intended for public viewing; and the operation of facilities or the provision of services that enable patrons to participate in sporting or recreational activities, or to pursue amusement interests.

An entity of a financial or non-financial nature, owned by the household or its members, and from which economic benefits may be derived by holding or use over a period of time.

Dwellings which share a structural component with one or more other buildings. This may include walls, ceiling, floor or roofing. For example, flats, units and apartments and semi-detached, row and terrace houses.

A child is considered to be attending a preschool program if the child was enrolled and present for at least one hour during the reference period. Children who did not attend a preschool program during the reference period (e.g. children who were absent due to illness or extended holiday leave) are not considered to have attended a preschool program.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics Business Register is a register of all Australian businesses and contains identifying and classificatory data for each business. Information to populate the register is largely sourced from the Australian Business Register.

An Australian Business Number is a unique business entity identifier introduced in July 2000 by the Australian government as part of a major tax reform which included the introduction and administration of the Goods and Services Tax.

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) is used by the ABS for the collection and dissemination of geographically classified statistics. The ASGS replaced the Australian Standard Geographic Classification from July 2011. Data in Data by region is presented on ASGS Edition 3 (July 2021 - June 2026).

All births that occurred and were registered in Australia, including births to mothers who usually lived overseas.

A building is a rigid, fixed and permanent structure which has a roof. Its intended purpose is primarily to house people, plant, machinery, vehicles, goods or livestock.

A business for this purpose is defined as a legal entity engaged in productive activity and/or other forms of activity in the market sector. Business counts derived from the ABSBR exclude some entities, such as those without an active Australian Business Number, those without an active Goods and Services Tax (GST) role, those no longer actively remitting GST, and those not operating in the market sector.

A business which has newly registered for an Australian Business Number (ABN) and which has a GST role allocated.

A business for which the ABN or GST role has been cancelled and/or which has ceased to remit GST for at least five consecutive quarters.

Motor vehicles constructed for the carriage of passengers. Included are all motor vehicles with 10 or more seats, including the driver's seat.

Business related insolvencies occur where an individual's situation is directly related to his or her proprietary interest in a business.

Capital gains is the profit that results from the sale of a capital asset, where the sales price exceeds the purchase price and attracts capital gains tax. Conversely, a capital loss can arise if proceeds from a sale are less than the original purchase price.

A person who provides any informal assistance (help or supervision) to people with disability or older people (aged 65 years and over). Carers can be split into two groups:

• Primary carer - a person aged 15 years and over who provides the most informal assistance to a person with disability for the core activities of mobility, self-care and communication.
• Other carer - a person of any age who provides unpaid care with one or more of the core activity tasks but is not the main provider of informal care (i.e. not a primary carer); or a person who only provides assistance with non-core activities.

A supplementary payment for carers who provide daily care and attention at home for a person with a disability, severe medical condition or who is frail and aged. Carer Allowance (CA) may be paid in addition to income support payments.  If a person does not qualify for Carer Allowance (Child) based on the level of care required, the child they are caring for may still qualify for a Health Care Card (HCC) if at least 14 hours a week of additional care and attention is provided. Data includes recipients who are determined to be current (i.e. entitled to be paid) or suspended on the Centrelink payment system. 

Carer Payment provides income support for carers who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves through substantial paid employment. Data includes recipients who are determined to be current (including those entitled to be paid or in receipt of zero rate of payment) or suspended from payment on the Centrelink payment system.

Clerical and Administrative Support Workers provide support to Managers, Professionals and organisations by organising, storing, manipulating and retrieving information.

Generally, to qualify for Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) a person must be eligible for an income support payment, ABSTUDY, Family Tax Benefit Part A, or a Veteran's service pension or income support supplement. To receive CRA, a person must pay or be liable to pay private rent (excludes rent paid to specified state housing authorities) above the applicable rent threshold, for their usual home.

Community and Personal Services Workers assist Health Professionals in the provision of patient care, provide information and support on a range of social welfare matters, and provide other services in the areas of aged care and child care, education support, hospitality, defence, policing and emergency services, security, travel and tourism, fitness, sports and personal services.

The Construction industry is engaged in the construction of buildings and other structures, additions, alterations, reconstruction, installation and maintenance and repairs of buildings and other structures.

The Core Activity Need for Assistance variable has been developed to measure the number of people with a profound or severe disability. As with the ABS Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers, the Census of Population and Housing defines the profound or severe disability population as: 'Those people needing help or assistance in one or more of the three core activity areas of self-care, mobility and communication, because of a long-term health condition (lasting six months or more), a disability (lasting six months or more), or old age'.

The number of dependent and non-dependent children in the family. It includes up to three children who were temporarily absent from the household on Census night. Applicable to families with children in family households.

Deaths that occurred and were registered in Australia, including deaths of persons whose place of usual residence was overseas.

Persons with Business related or Non-business related insolvency.

A person has a disability if they have an impairment which restricts their everyday activities and has lasted, or is expected to last, for at least six months. A person with a disability is classified by whether they have:

• a specific limitation with any core activities (mobility, communication and self-care)
• a specific restriction when participating in schooling or employment activities, or
• no specific limitation with core activities or restriction with schooling or employment activities.

A person has a specific limitation with a core activity if they need help from another person, have difficulty or use an aid or other equipment to perform at least one selected task. The level of limitation for each core activity is based on the amount of help a person needs with a selected task:

• profound — unable to do or always needs help with a core activity task
• severe — sometimes needs help or has difficulty with a core activity task
• moderate — does not need help but has difficulty with a core activity task
• mild — does not need help and has no difficulty, but uses aids or equipment or has other limitations with a core activity task

A person's overall level of core activity limitation is determined by their highest level of limitation in any of these activities. For example, if a person has a profound limitation with a communication task and a moderate limitation with a self-care task, the person is categorised as having a profound disability.

A person has a schooling restriction if, because of their disability, they:

• are not attending school/undertaking further study
• need time off school or study
• attend special classes or a special school
• have other related difficulties.

A person has an employment restriction if, because of their disability, they:

• are restricted in the type of job they could do
• are restricted in the number of hours they can work
• have difficulty finding suitable work
• need time off work
• are permanently unable to work.

A person with a ‘schooling/employment restriction only' is someone who reported no limitations with any of the core activities but reported having difficulty with schooling and/or employment activities.

Dividends may be the main source of income for people who run their own incorporated business. They can be either:

• 'franked' which are shares of company profit paid or credited by an Australian resident public company from profits on which Australian company tax has been paid
• 'unfranked' which are those shares of company profit paid by an Australian resident company from profits on which Australian company tax has not been paid

A dwelling is a self-contained suite of rooms, including cooking and bathing facilities and intended for long-term residential use. A dwelling may comprise part of a building or the whole of a building. Regardless of whether they are self-contained or not, units within buildings offering institutional care (e.g. hospital) or temporary accommodation (e.g. motels, hostels and holiday apartments) are not defined as dwelling units. Such rooms are included in non-residential building approvals. Dwellings can be created in one of four ways: through new work to create a residential building; through alteration/addition work to an existing residential building; through either new or alteration/addition work on non-residential building or through conversion of a non-residential building to a residential building.

Estimated dwelling stock includes all dwellings as defined by the Functional Classification of Buildings (FCB). This defines a dwelling as a permanent and fixed structure intended for long-term residential use, including cooking and bathing facilities. This differs from the definition of a dwelling used by the Census (a structure which is intended to have people live in it, and which is habitable on Census night), which can include non-permanent structures such as caravans, houseboats and tents.

For the 2016 Census, records whether any member of the household accesses the internet from the dwelling. This includes accessing the internet through a desktop/laptop computer, mobile or smart phone, tablet, music or video player, gaming console, smart TV or any other devices. It also includes accessing through any type of connection for example ADSL, fibre, cable, wireless, satellite and mobile broadband (3G/4G). Please note, in the 2011 Census, the question asked, 'Can the Internet be accessed at this dwelling?'. If there was more than one type of internet connection in the dwelling, respondents were asked to report the most frequently used type.

The Education and Training industry engages in the provision and support of education and training, except in the training of animals (e.g. dog obedience, horse training).

Electricity, Gas Water and Waste Services industry is engaged in the provision of electricity; gas through mains systems; water, drainage; and sewerage services. Also includes units mainly engaged in the collection, treatment, and disposal of waste materials; remediation of contaminated materials (including land); and materials recovery activities.

All people aged 15 years and over who met one of the following criteria during the reference week:

• Worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (employees and owner managers of incorporated or unincorporated enterprises).
• Worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (contributing family workers).
• Were owner managers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.
• Were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
  • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
  • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
  • on strike or locked out; or
  • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job.

Employee income includes the following data items on the individual income tax return:

• Total income from wage and salary (before tax and application of Medicare levy) as shown on the 'PAYG payment summary - individual non-business'.
• Allowances, earnings, tips, director's fees, etc.
• Employer lump sum payments (adjusted to gross value).
• Employment termination payments.
• Attributed personal services income.
• Employee share schemes.
• Reportable fringe benefits (gross value not adjusted).
• Reportable employer superannuation contributions (superannuation contributions (within concessional cap limits) from pre-tax income, usually made under salary sacrifice agreements).
• Exempt foreign employment income.
• Other net foreign employment income.

Classifies a person's self-assessed proficiency in spoken English for persons who speak a language other than English at home.

A child is considered to be enrolled if they were offered a place, formally enrolled or registered in the preschool program and either:

• attended the preschool program for at least one hour during the reference period
• were absent during the reference period due to illness or extended holiday leave, but were expected to return

A child is not considered to be enrolled if they were absent during the reference period and not expected to return to the preschool program.

Estimated Resident Population is the official measure of the population of Australia, based on the concept of usual residence. It refers to all people, regardless of nationality or citizenship, who usually live in Australia, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families. It includes usual residents who are overseas for less than 12 months and excludes overseas visitors who are in Australia for less than 12 months.

Equivalised total household income is household income adjusted by the application of an equivalence scale to facilitate comparison of income levels between households of differing size and composition, reflecting that a larger household would normally need more income than a smaller household to achieve the same standard of living. For a lone person household it is equal to household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the household income that would be needed by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic wellbeing.

A person who reported at the time of interview that they did not currently smoke but had either: 

• regularly smoked daily
• smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, or
• smoked pipes, cigars or other tobacco products at least 20 times in their lifetime.

A family is defined by the ABS as two or more persons, one of whom is at least 15 years of age, who are related by blood, marriage (registered or de facto), adoption, step or fostering, and who are usually resident in the same household.

An asset whose value arises not from its physical existence (as would a building, piece of land, or capital equipment) but from a contractual relationship. Financial assets are mostly financial claims (with the exception of shares and value of own unincorporated business). Financial claims entitle the owner to receive a payment, or a series of payments, from an institutional unit to which the owner has provided funds. Examples include accounts held with financial institutions (including offset accounts), ownership of an incorporated business, shares, debentures and bonds, trusts, superannuation funds, and loans to other persons.

The Financial and Insurance Services industry engages in financial transactions involving the creation, liquidation, or change of ownership of financial assets, and/or in facilitating financial transactions.

The Gini coefficient is a single statistic that lies between 0 and 1 and is a summary indicator of the degree of inequality in income, where values closer to 1 represent greater inequality. For more information see Methodology.

Income support payments from government to persons under social security and related government programs. Included are pensions and allowances received by aged, disabled, unemployed and sick persons, families and children, veterans or their survivors, and study allowances for students.

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA) are geographical areas that are designed to represent the functional extent of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. Within each state and territory, the area not defined as being part of the greater capital city is represented by a Rest of State region. There are 16 GCCSA regions covering the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps. These consist of 8 regions representing each of the Australian State and Territory capital cities, and 8 regions covering the rest of each State and the Northern Territory. The ACT only has one GCCSA region for the entire Territory. The category of Other Territories in GCCSA includes the Other Territories of Jervis Bay, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island.

Total current year capital gains as reported by taxpayers for the financial year. Capital gains is the profit that results from the sale of a capital asset, where the sales price exceeds the purchase price and attracts capital gains tax. Conversely, a capital loss can arise if proceeds from a sale are less than the original purchase price.

Income from all sources, whether monetary or in kind, before income tax, the Medicare levy, the Medicare levy surcharge, and the temporary budget repair levy are deducted.

The Health Care and Social Assistance industry provides human health care and social assistance.

An area of land with which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have ancestral and/or cultural links.

A detached building primarily used for long term residential purposes consisting of one dwelling unit. Includes detached residences associated with a non-residential building, and kit and transportable homes.

A household is defined as one or more persons, at least one of whom is at least 15 years of age, usually resident in the same private dwelling.

Net worth (or wealth) refers to economic resources in the form of the balance of assets and liabilities held by members of a household.

The type of household within a dwelling. Family households can contain non-family members (unrelated persons and visitors). A maximum of three families can be coded to a household. Lone person households can contain visitors.

This variable is a measure of housing utilisation based on a comparison of the number of bedrooms in a dwelling with a series of household demographics, such as:

• the number of usual residents
• their relationship to each other
• age
• sex

The criteria are based on the Canadian National Occupancy Standard. It can be used to identify if a dwelling is either under or over utilised.

Compares the rent and mortgage payments of households against the total household income, and determines whether the household is spending less than, or equal to or greater than 30 percent of their income. Applicable to occupied private dwellings.

Income share held by the top 1%, 5% and 10% of all earners has been presented in this publication. The aggregate income of the units in each percentile is divided by the overall aggregate income of the entire population to derive income shares.

An income support pension paid to: eligible war widows and widowers under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986, and persons receiving wholly dependent partners' compensation under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004.

The annual tax return submitted by individuals to the Australian Taxation Office.

The Information Media and Telecommunications industry engages in:

• creating, enhancing and storing information products in media that allows their dissemination
• transmitting information products using analogue and digital signals (via electronic, wireless, optical and other means)
• providing transmission services and/or operating the infrastructure to enable the transmission and storage of information and information products

Investment income includes the following data items on the individual income tax return:

• Gross interest.
• Dividends unfranked amount.
• Dividends franked amount.
• Dividends franking credit.
• Distribution from trusts less net capital gains, foreign income and franked distributions- non-primary production.
• Franked distributions from trusts - non-primary production.
• Australian franking credits from a New Zealand company.
• Net foreign rent.
• Net rent.

Labourers perform a variety of routine and repetitive physical tasks using hand and power tools, and machines either as an individual or as part of a team assisting more skilled workers such as Trades Workers, and Machinery Operators and Drivers.

For any group, people who were employed or unemployed, as defined.

The observed physical and biological cover of the land surface and includes natural vegetation, inland waters and abiotic (non-living) surfaces. Coastal waters are excluded. The land cover is a function of natural changes in the environment and of previous and current land use, particularly in agricultural and forestry areas. The land cover classes included in this release are:

•   Artificial surfaces
•   Cultivated terrestrial vegetated: Herbaceous
•   Natural terrestrial vegetated: Herbaceous
•   Natural terrestrial vegetated: Woody
•   Natural surfaces
•   Natural aquatic vegetated: Herbaceous
•   Natural aquatic vegetated: Woody
•   Water: Perennial
•   Water: Non-perennial
•   Tidal area

Descriptions of these classes can be found in the Classifications section of the National Land Account, Experimental Estimates.

Relates to the nature of a person's, income unit's or household's legal right to occupy a parcel of land. The land tenure classes included in this release are:

•   Freehold
•   Freeholding lease
•   Pastoral perpetual lease
•   Other perpetual lease
•   Pastoral term lease
•   Other term lease
•   Other lease
•   Nature conservation reserve
•   Multiple-use public forest
•   Other reserve
•   Other Crown land

Descriptions of these classes can be found in the Classifications section of the National Land Account, Experimental Estimates.

Refers to the lifetime risk guideline from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) guidelines 2009 Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol. A person is considered to have exceeded the guideline if they consumed more than two standard drinks per day on average in the last week.

Local Government Areas (LGAs) are spatial units which represent the geographical areas of incorporated local government councils. The major areas of Australia not administered by incorporated bodies are the northern parts of South Australia, most of the Northern Territory and all of the Australian Capital Territory and the Other Territories. LGA boundaries can change from year to year.

An illness, injury or disability which has lasted at least six months, or which the person expects to last for six months or more.

• Asthma is classified as current if the person reported at the time of interview they were having symptoms or treatment. To be current, symptoms of asthma or treatment for asthma must have occurred in the last 12 months.
• Asthma, arthritis, cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), sight and hearing problems are assumed to be long-term.
• Heart attack, angina, heart failure and stroke are assumed to be both current and long-term.

Machinery Operators and Drivers operate machines, plant, vehicles and other equipment to perform a range of agricultural, manufacturing and construction functions, move materials, and transport passengers and freight.

The income source from which the most income is received. For more information see concept, sources and methods section.

Managers plan, organise, direct, control, coordinate and review the operations of government, commercial, agricultural, industrial, non-profit and other organisations, and departments.

The Manufacturing industry is engaged in the physical or chemical transformation of materials, substances, or components into new products (except Agriculture and Construction).

For any distribution, the median value is that which divides the relevant population into two equal parts, half falling below the value, and half exceeding it.

That age which divides the units in a group into two equal parts, one half having ages above the median and the other half having ages below the median.

That level of income which divides the units in a group into two equal parts, one half having incomes above the median and the other half having incomes below the median.

The midpoint of dwelling values in the reference period. Half of all properties bought/sold in the period did so at a price below the median, the other half had a price above the median.

Derived from the question about how the person got to work on the day of the Census.

The Mining industry extracts naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. The term mining is used in the broad sense to include underground or open cut mining; dredging; quarrying; well operations or evaporation pans; recovery from ore dumps or tailings as well as beneficiation activities (i.e. preparing, including crushing, screening, washing and floatation) and other preparation work customarily performed at the mine site, or as part of mining activity.

A person who at the time of interview reported they had: 

• never regularly smoked daily,
• smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, and
• smoked pipes, cigars or other tobacco products less than 20 times in their lifetime.

Newstart Allowance was an income support payment paid to recipients aged between 22 years to Age Pension age while they looked for work. It was the main working age payment paid in Australia. Newstart Allowance ceased on 20 March 2020 and was replaced by the JobSeeker Payment.
 

Unless an individual declares their situation to be directly related to a proprietary interest in a business, all other insolvencies, even those for which details are not stated, are classified as non-business related. Some changes to the collection method for this data affect the causes of insolvency items.  For more information see Methodology.

A non-residential building is primarily intended for purposes other than long-term residential purposes.

Other income (excluding Government pensions and allowances) includes the following data items on the individual income tax return:

• Foreign entities - transfer or trust income.
• Foreign investment fund and/or foreign life assurance policy income.
• Controlled foreign company income.
• Net foreign pension/annuity income.
• Other net foreign source income; and other income.

The Other Services industry includes a broad range of personal services; civic, religious, profession and other interest group services; selected repair and maintenance activities; and private households employing staff.

Own unincorporated business income includes the following data items on the individual income tax return:

• Distributions from partnerships and trusts (including any franked distributions) for primary production activities.
• Distributions from partnerships (including any franked distributions) for non-primary production activities, less foreign income.
• Net personal services income.
• Net income (or loss) from business.

When all persons in the population are ranked from the lowest to the highest on the basis of some characteristic such as their income, they can then be divided into equal sized groups. Division into 100 groups gives percentiles. The highest value of the characteristic in the twentieth percentile is denoted P20. The median or the top of the 50th percentile is denoted P50. P20, and P80 denote the highest values in the 20th, and 80th percentiles. Ratios of values at the top of selected percentiles, such as P80/P20, are often called percentile ratios.

Percentile ratios summarise the relative distance between two points in a distribution. To illustrate the full spread of the income distribution, the percentile ratio needs to refer to points near the extremes of the distribution, for example, the P80/P20 ratio. The P80/P50 and P50/P20 ratios focus on comparing the ends of the income distribution with the midpoint.

Refer to Business related insolvency and Non-business related insolvency in this Glossary.

The population density for a region is calculated by dividing Estimated Resident Population data by the Land Area to obtain the number of persons per square kilometre.

The Public Administration and Safety industry engages in central, state, or local government legislative, executive, and judicial activities; in providing physical, social, economic and general public safety and security services; and in enforcing regulations. This industry includes military defence, government representation and international government organisations.

A preschool program is a structured, play-based learning program, delivered by a degree qualified teacher, aimed at children in the year or two before they commence full-time schooling. This is irrespective of the type of institution that provides it or whether it is government funded and/or privately provided. Preschool programs are often referred to by other terms such as early childhood education, early learning or kindergarten.

Houses, flats, home units, garages, tents and other structures used as a private places of residence.

A house is a detached building primarily used for long term residential purposes. It consists of one dwelling unit. Building ownership is classified as either public or private sector and is based on the sector of intended owner of the completed building at the time of approval.

The Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry engages in providing professional, scientific and technical services, applying common processes where labour inputs are integral to the production or service delivery. This industry specialises and sells its expertise. Services in this industry include scientific research, architecture, engineering, computer systems design, law, accountancy, advertising, market research, management and other consultancy, veterinary science and professional photography.

Professionals perform analytical, conceptual and creative tasks through the application of theoretical knowledge and experience in the fields of arts, media, business, design, engineering, the physical and life sciences, transport, education, health, information and communication technology, the law, social sciences and social welfare.

Protected Land areas are areas of land especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity.

Quartiles are groupings that result from ranking all persons who lodged tax returns in ascending order according to total income, and then dividing them into four equal groups, each comprising 25% of the reference population. In this publication Australia's quartile ranges are used to compare the income distributions of regions to Australia.

Registered Marital Status records a person's formal registered marital status.

The errors associated with the modelled estimates for small areas fall into four categories. Sampling error, non-sampling error, modelling error, and prediction error. The relative root mean square error (RRMSE) provides an indication of the deviation of the modelled estimate from the true value. The RRMSE is primarily a measure of prediction error, but in its calculation it also inherits some aspects of modelling and sampling error.

The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of sampling variability which is obtained by expressing the standard error as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. For example, if the estimate is 0.5 and the standard error is 0.05, then the relative standard error will be 10%. The relative standard error is a useful measure in that it provides an immediate indication of the percentage of errors likely to have occurred due to sampling and thus avoids the need to refer also to the size of the estimate.

The Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services industry engages in renting, hiring, or otherwise allowing the use of tangible and intangible assets (except copyrights), and providing related services.

Buildings primarily used for long-term residential purposes. Residential buildings are categorised as houses or other residential buildings.

Under the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS), Rest of State is any area not defined as being part of the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs). In the case of Australian Capital Territory, there is no Rest of State balance.

The Retail Trade industry is engaged in the purchase and/or on-selling, the commission-based buying, and the commission-based selling, of goods, without significant transformation, to the general public. The Retail Trade industry also purchases and on sells goods to the general public using non-traditional means, including the internet.

Sales Workers sell goods, services and property, and provide sales support in areas such as operating cash registers and displaying and demonstrating goods.

A person's general assessment of their health as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor.

A service pension can be paid to war veterans on the grounds of age or invalidity, and to eligible partners, widows and widowers.

A share is a contract between the issuing company and the owner of the share which gives the latter an interest in the management of the corporation and the right to participate in profits. The "value of shares" excludes the value of shares held by individuals in their own incorporated business. Such shares are included in "value of own incorporated business".

A residential or commercial installation that generates electricity from solar energy, is no more than 100kW in capacity and has met the appropriate regulations.

Social marital status records a person's relationship status based on their current living arrangements - where a couple relationship exists in the household and the type of relationship is identified.

A system that is installed, has met the appropriate regulations and is capable of generating hot water from the sun.

States and Territories are geographic areas and political entities with fixed boundaries. States and Territories consist of one or more Statistical Area Level 4. In aggregate, they cover Australia without gaps or overlaps.

Statistical Areas Level 2 are a medium-sized general purpose areas. SA2s aim to represent a community that interacts together socially and economically. Most are designed to have a population of between 3,000 and 25,000 people.

Statistical Areas Level 3 (SA3) are geographical areas built from whole SA2s. SA3s are designed to provide a regional breakdown of Australia. They generally have a population of between 30,000 and 130,000 people. In the major cities, they represent the area serviced by a major transport and commercial hub. In regional areas, they represent the area serviced by regional cities that have a population over 20,000 people. In outer regional and remote areas, they represent areas which are widely recognised as having a distinct identity and have similar social and economic characteristics.

Statistical Areas Level 4 are geographical areas built from whole SA3s. The SA4 regions have been designed for the output of a variety of regional data, including data from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. SA4s tend to have populations of between 100,000 to 300,000 people. In metropolitan areas, SA4s tend to have larger populations (300,000 – 500,000 people).

A long-term savings arrangement which operates primarily to provide income for retirement.

Superannuation and annuity income includes the following data items on the individual income tax return:

• Australian annuities and superannuation income streams.
• Australian annuities and superannuation income streams - lump sum in arrears.
• Australian superannuation lump sum payments.
• Bonuses from life insurance companies and friendly societies.

Expressed per 1,000 or 100,000 persons, the standardised death rate enables the comparison of death rates between populations with different age structures by relating them to a standard population.

Technicians and trade workers perform a variety of skilled tasks, applying broad or in-depth technical, trade or industry specific knowledge, often in support of scientific, engineering, building and manufacturing activities.

Whether a household rents or owns the dwelling in which they were enumerated on Census night, or whether the household occupies it under another arrangement.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
Whether an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person lives in a dwelling which is rented or owned, or whether the dwelling is occupied under another arrangement.
 

Sum of age-specific fertility rates (live births at each age of mother per 1,000 females of the estimated resident population of that age) divided by 1,000. It represents the number of children a female would bear during her lifetime if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates at each age of her reproductive life.

Total income is the sum of all income derived from employee income, own unincorporated business, superannuation and annuities, investment and other income (excluding Government pensions, benefits or allowances).

Indicates the total income that the person usually receives each week for all employed people aged 15 years and over.

Total residential building is comprised of houses and other residential buildings. it does not include dwellings in non-residential building.

The record of sale for established houses and attached dwellings taken from the residential property sales dataset.

The Transport, Postal and Warehousing industry is engaged in providing transport of passengers and freight by road, rail, water or air. Other transportation activities such as postal services, pipeline transport, and scenic and sightseeing transport are included in this industry.

Any type of managed fund which involves the pooling of investors' money in order for a trustee or professional manager to administer that fund. Examples include listed and unlisted public unit trusts, cash management trusts, property trusts and family trusts used only for investment purposes.

People aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and:

• had actively looked for full time or part time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or
• were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

For any group, the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force in the same group.

Persons aged 15 years and over who in the previous two weeks spent time providing unpaid care, help or assistance to family members or others because of a disability, a long-term health condition or problems related to old age. This includes people who are in receipt of a Carer Allowance or Carer Payment. A long-term illness is one that has lasted or is likely to last for six months or more. The care could have been provided to family members or other people, but excludes care given through an organisation or club. Care provided by recipients of Carer Allowance or Carer Payment is included as unpaid care.

This consists of time spent in the previous two weeks caring for a child or children aged less than 15 years without being paid. This includes people caring for their own children, whether they usually live with them or not. It also includes people looking after other children, such as grandchildren, the children of other relatives, or the children of friends or neighbours. Care for a child given through an organisation or club is excluded. Respondents were asked to indicate whether care was given for their own child and/or another child.

Usual residence within Australia refers to that address at which the person has lived or intends to live for six months or more in a given reference year i.e. the calendar year around the 30 June reference date.

Statistics on the value of building work approved are derived by aggregating the estimated 'value of building work when completed' as reported on building approval documents provided to local councils or other building approval authorities. Conceptually these value data should exclude the value of land and landscaping but include site preparation costs. These estimates are usually a reliable indicator of the completed value of 'houses'. However, for 'other residential buildings' and 'non-residential buildings', they can differ significantly from the completed value of the building as final costs and contracts have not been established before council approval is sought and gained.

This includes help willingly given in the form of time, service or skills, to a club, organisation or association in the previous twelve months. Unpaid work involving the care of a child or a person who has a disability, a long-term illness or problems with old age, where that care was given through a club, organisation or association, is included. Voluntary work excludes unpaid work done through a club, organisation or association in order to qualify for government benefits such as Newstart Allowance, to obtain an educational qualification or due to a community work order. It also excludes any activity which is part of a person's paid employment or working in a family business. Unpaid work in a family business is regarded as employment rather than voluntary work.

The Wholesale Trade industry is engaged in the purchase and on-selling, the commission-based buying, and the commission-based selling of goods, without significant transformation, to businesses.

The working age population (aged 15-64 years) measure is used to give an estimate of the total number of potential workers within a region.