2011 Census Fact Sheet

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER

• The Census will be held on Tuesday 9 August, 2011 in urban areas.
• The Census will be conducted in discrete communities throughout August 2011.
• Local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will be employed to help conduct the Census.
• Community Coordinators and Collector Interviewers will be employed in some discrete Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander communities for the Census.
• Collector Interviewers will visit households and conduct the Census using an interviewer based form. Community Coordinators will supervise a group of Collector Interviewers.
• Census information is used for planning housing, health clinics, hospitals, roads, schools and universities.
• Community organisations like co-ops, land councils and local health services use Census data in their everyday work and to apply for funding.

Key Statistics (based on 2006 Census data)
• 2.3 per cent of Australia’s population is Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
• Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is relatively young, with a median age of 20 years compared with 37 years for the non-Indigenous population.
• 3.8 per cent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population are attending TAFE or university.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are spoken in the home by 12 per cent of Indigenous Australians (aged five years and over).
• The top five Indigenous languages spoken at home are Torres Strait Creole, Arrernte, Djambarrpuyngu, Pitjantjatjara and Warlpiri.