4147.4.55.001 - Culture and Recreation News, Oct 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 21/11/2001   
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THE ‘MEASURING WELLBEING’ REPORT HAS BEEN RELEASED

A comprehensive explanation of the way social statistics are organised by the ABS was released recently to assist informed analysis of social issues. The publication, Measuring Wellbeing: Frameworks for Australian Social Statistics, covers nine areas of concern: population, family and community, health, education and training, work, economic resources, housing, crime and justice, and culture and leisure.

The ‘Culture and Leisure’ chapter of this publication was prepared by ABS staff in Canberra with the assistance of NCCRS staff. It incorporates: proposed definitions of culture and leisure; commentary on the connections between culture and leisure and the difficulties that exist with definitional boundaries; discussion of the importance of culture and leisure to individual and societal wellbeing; and commentary on key social issues related to culture and leisure. A framework of culture and leisure participation is presented and described; it could be viewed as a simplified component of the broader information model being developed by NCCRS. Details of the activity classification used in the ABS Time Use collections, the Australian Culture and Leisure Classifications and key measures used within the culture and leisure area are also provided. Finally, information is provided on a number of ABS and non-ABS culture and leisure data sources.

Measuring Wellbeing: Frameworks for Australian Social Statistics (Cat. no. 4160.0) is a 300-page volume available from ABS bookshops for $56.00, and is available on-line as an acrobat file free of charge in this site. It is expected to be made available in the Statistical Concepts Library on the web site within a few weeks.