About the Life Course Data Initiative

The pilot Life Course Data Initiative (LCDI) is being delivered, over the period 2023-24 to 2026-27, in partnership between the ABS and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government and with South Australia (SA) through the SA Government and University of Adelaide’s BetterStart.

The Treasury and Department of Social Services are leading the implementation of the Targeting Entrenched Disadvantage package, with a focus on intergenerational disadvantage and improving child and family wellbeing. 

As part of the commitment to Targeting Entrenched Disadvantage, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) received funding to deliver the Life Course Data Initiative (LCDI) pilot over four years from July 2023. The ABS in collaboration with its partners will create an evidence-base, bringing together data from a range of early childhood, health and community services, and associated data insights, to inform long term policy responses to address disadvantage. The LCDI focuses on addressing evidence gaps about the early years of Australians’ lives, particularly ages 0-14 years, to better understand and target disadvantage. 

The LCDI is expected to help: 

• understand children’s outcomes and the impact of early life experiences
• researchers explore the social, economic and wellbeing outcomes in geographic locations, and how the different strengths in communities can help people thrive
• inform public policy response to improve the outcomes for people in areas and populations who are more likely to experience disadvantage. 

The ABS is consulting with a range of experts to inform research and data priorities related to disadvantage. Stakeholders have expressed the importance of considering cross-domain life course outcomes with a focus on both wellbeing and disadvantage. 

The LCDI pilot is being delivered in partnership between the ABS and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government and with South Australia (SA) through the SA Government and University of Adelaide’s BetterStart. 

Over the four-year pilot, the ABS is working with the partners, across all aspects of the pilot LCDI, including data integration and broader data sharing, governance processes, research and understanding community data needs. This will include safely linking a range of ACT and SA datasets to the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA) and building research partnerships to demonstrate its value in addressing disadvantage. 

The pilot Life Course Dataset involves safe linking of the existing PLIDA to a selection of ACT datasets, University of Adelaide BetterStart’s Better Evidence Better Outcomes Linked Data, state and territory births registry data, and Commonwealth Childcare data.  

The Life Course Dataset enables analysis of experiences over the life course, with phased access to data from March 2025. It is accessible to LCDI researchers who have an approved project and who have approval from data custodians, including ethics approvals as required.

For more information, refer to Life Course Dataset.

The ABS is facilitating research projects with external organisations to demonstrate the value of the pilot Life Course Dataset, including:

• research projects led by the ACT and by the SA governments
• a limited number of additional research projects to be delivered as part of the LCDI pilot, to be determined in collaboration with LCDI partners from 2025.

For more information, refer to Research program.

Using the Life Course Dataset, the ABS will publish statistics and analysis to support a better understanding of children’s experiences and outcomes across Australia. Some of these will include a new child-level composite indicator, and a series of community and national indicators relevant to social, economic and wellbeing outcomes.

For more information, refer to ABS statistical program. 

Two Community Data Liaison Officers (CDLOs) have been engaged to understand data requirements and data accessibility which meets specific community needs. The CDLOs will engage with community-led or place-based projects and help local decision-makers gain access to data which meets their specific needs and to support local decision-making.

For more information, refer to Community program. 

The ABS will conduct an evaluation of the LCDI to inform government and partners about possible future directions. The evaluation will aim to collect and understand the changes brought by the pilot, in real-time as possible, to help guide the work program and understand what is working and what isn’t. 

For more information about the LCDI please email life.course@abs.gov.au.