2900.0 - Census of Population and Housing: Understanding the Census and Census Data, Australia , 2016  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/11/2017  First Issue
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Usual Address Indicator (UAICP)

This variable Indicates whether a person was at home or elsewhere on Census night. It contains the answer to the Census question about usual residence, which asks if the person usually lived at the address on the front of the Census form (where they were on Census night), Elsewhere in Australia, or Overseas. It is applicable to all persons.

How this variable is created

The data is largely captured from mark box responses on the form so the risk of processing error is very low. Where the indicator mark boxes have been left blank by a respondent but they have reported a usual address, Usual Address Indicator is derived based on the address reported. Data may also be derived based on the relationship information reported on the form indicating that they are a visitor.

Usual Residence is a key demographic variable. If a person does not state where they usually live, Usual Residence and Place of Usual Residence are imputed. The proportion of persons that had their usual residence imputed in the 2016 Census was 5.3%, (3.7% in 2011). The majority of cases where usual residence was imputed are attributable to persons in occupied dwellings on Census night who did not return a form.

Variable history

A question relating to Usual Residence was first asked in the 1971 Census and has been asked at every census since then. The question instructions have been updated with 2016 dates.

Non-response rate

Item non-response rates are a measure of how many people did not respond to a particular question as a proportion of the total number of people the question was applicable to. In this instance the response is left as not stated.

The majority of item non-response is attributable to the people who did not respond to the Census at all. Refer to item non-response rates for more information. The second and smaller contributor to item non-response is when people return a Census form but may not answer a particular question(s). For more information, refer to Understanding Census data quality.

Usual Address Indicator does not have a non-response rate as there is no separate not stated category in the classification.

Further information

A definition for Usual Address Indicator is available in the 2016 Census Dictionary.
For more information on related items, see data quality statements for Place of Usual Residence/Imputation.

Household form question image

Question 8 as it appeared on the 2016 Census Household Paper Form:

Image: 2016 Household Paper Form - Question 8. Where does the person usually live?
A text only version of the online Census Household form is available from the Downloads tab.