1386.0 - What's New in Regional Statistics, Dec 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 03/12/2008   
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EXPLORE YOUR REGION WITH THE NATIONAL REGIONAL PROFILE


Using the NRP

Explore your region's economy

Explore your region's population/people

Explore your region's industry

Further information about the NRP


Using the NRP

This article uses examples to illustrate how data from the National Regional Profile (NRP) can be used to show changes over time in your region or show how your region compares to other regions. We have used the Local Government Areas of Greater Bendigo in Victoria and Mackay in Queensland in the examples.

To learn more about what data is in the NRP, and how to find and navigate around the profiles of the regions you are interested in, go to the NRP Welcome Page and look for the Help on the left menu bar.

All of the following examples use data viewed on the NRP web pages, or downloaded from Excel spreadsheets or SuperTABLE datacubes. Once data for your region(s) of interest is downloaded to your computer, you can create your own tables, or use the graph package in your spreadsheet program to create different styles of graphs.


Explore your region's economy

The NRP contains a number of series related to the economy of regions, including estimates of the unemployment rate, a range of taxation data, and counts of businesses.

Say you want to look at the taxable income data for Mackay. After selecting the region of Mackay, go to the Economy page in the profile and view the data:

TAXATION STATISTICS - year ended 30 June
2002
2003
2004
2005

Non-taxable individuals (no.)
8 236
8 538
9 181
8 828
Taxable individuals (no.)
33 219
34 999
36 721
39 740
Taxable income ($m)
1 237
1 375
1 544
1 830
Average taxable income ($)
37 231
39 278
42 044
46 051
Net tax ($m)
287
329
375
457
Average net tax ($)
8 629
9 394
10 206
11 489
Average net tax ratio (%)
23
24
24
25

Source: ABS National Regional Profile


If you now want to compare the average taxable income in Mackay with the averages for Queensland and Australia, you could download the data (from the Excel spreadsheets for each region or from one of the SuperTABLE data cubes) and create a graph, for example:

Average Taxable income: Mackay, Queensland & Australia
Graph: Average Taxable income: Mackay, Queensland & Australia


For further information about using the Excel spreadsheets and SuperTABLE data cubes in the NRP, see the NRP Video Demonstration (Video Segments 2 and 3) available from the Help section on the NRP Welcome Page.


Explore your region's population/people

The NRP contains a number of series related to the population/people of regions, including estimated resident population, occupation of employed persons, internet access, and births and deaths.

Say you want to compare the percentage of employed persons who are managers and professionals in Mackay in 2006, with the percentages for Queensland and Australia. The data for Mackay, for example, can be viewed in the Population/People page.

You could download the data (from the Excel spreadsheets or one of the SuperTABLE data cubes) and create a table, or create a graph like the following example:

Managers & Professionals as a Percentage of Total Employed Persons
Graph: Managers & Professionals as a Percentage of Total Employed Persons


Another way of comparing regions using graphs is shown in the example below, where we have compared the data on household access to the internet in 2006 for Greater Bendigo, with Victoria and Australia.

Broadband, Dial-up & Total Internet Connections
Graph: Broadband, Dial-up & Total Internet Connections


Explore your region's industry

The NRP contains a number of series related to the Industry of regions, including building approvals, registered motor vehicles, and agriculture data.

Say you want to look at the number of building approvals in Mackay over time.

To find Building Approvals information for Mackay, go to the Industry page to view the data:

BUILDING APPROVALS - year ended 30 June
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006

Private sector houses (no.)
541
529
804
745
707
Total dwelling units (no.)
621
585
931
913
786
Value of total residential building ($m)
91
103
168
181
193
Value of total non-residential building ($m)
66
42
58
110
72
Value of total building ($m)
157
144
226
291
265

Source: ABS National Regional Profile


Say you now want to look at only the number of private sector houses and total dwelling units in a graph. Once we have downloaded the Excel spreadsheet for Mackay, we can create a graph, like the following example:

Building Approvals for Mackay: Private sector houses and total dwelling units
Graph: Building Approvals for Mackay: Private sector houses and total dwelling units



Further information about the NRP

For further information about what data is in the National Regional Profile, how to find your region of interest, and using the National Regional Profile, go to the National Regional Profile Welcome Page and look for the Help information on the left menu bar.