2901.0 - Census Dictionary, 2001  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 24/04/2001   
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Contents

Parent
Parent-Child relationship
Partner
Pensions/benefits
Period of residence
Person variables
Personal form
Place of birth
Place of enumeration
Place of usual residence
Place of work
POA
Post Enumeration Survey (PES)
Post-school educational qualification
Postal Area
Postcode
Preliminary data
Primary family
Private dwelling
Product directory
Proficiency in Spoken English (ENGP)
Public Sector Mapping Agencies (PSMA)
Publications

Parent

A parent is a natural, step, adoptive or foster mother or father of a child who is usually resident in the same household as the child. See also Family, Family Type (FMTF), Relationship in Household (RLHP).

Parent-Child relationship

A parent-child relationship is one between two persons usually resident in the same household. The nominal child is attached to the nominal parent via a natural, adoptive, step, foster or child dependency relationship.

Partner

A person in a couple relationship with another person usually resident in the same household is a partner. The couple relationship may be in either a registered or de facto marriage, and includes same-sex couples.

See also Marital status, Married registered, Same-sex couple.

Pensions/benefits

The calculation of gross income includes any pensions or benefits received.

See also Individual Income (INCP).

Period of residence

See Year of Arrival in Australia (YARP).

Person variables

For a list of person variables see the Mnemonic Index in the front of this dictionary.

For Overseas Visitors only three person variables are available. They are Age (AGEP), Sex (SEXP) and Registered Marital Status (MSTP). In all other person variables, an Overseas Visitor category (code V) appears, in order to allow identification of overseas visitors when compiling tables.

Personal form

The Census Personal Form records details for one person only. It contains the same questions as the Household Form (Appendix A), but excludes the household questions.

The Personal Form is used:

  • for households with more than six people: the Household Form accommodates six people, so one Personal Form is required to be completed for each extra person;
  • for privacy: if any person in a household prefers, for privacy reasons, not to be recorded on the Household Form, then a Personal Form and a privacy envelope are issued for that person; and
  • in Non-Private Dwellings: one Personal Form is completed for each person in a Non-Private Dwelling on Census Night.

See also Household Form.

Place of birth

See Birthplace.

Place of enumeration

The ‘place of enumeration’ is the place at which the person was counted.

  • The population count for place of enumeration is a count of every person, who spent Census Night in Australia, based on where he/she was counted;  including people on board vessels in or between Australian ports, or on long-distance trains, buses or aircraft. People were counted where they spent Census Night, which may not be where they usually live. This count is also known as a de facto population count.
  • People entering Australia from overseas before midnight on Census Night were counted where they stayed on Census Night. Visitors to Australia were counted regardless of how long they had been in the country or how long they planned to stay. Australian residents in Antarctica were also within the scope of the Census.
  • People leaving an Australian port for an overseas destination before midnight on Census Night were not counted in the Census. Australian residents out of the country on Census Night, and overseas diplomatic personnel and their families in Australia were out of the scope of the Census.

This type of count provides a snapshot in any given area. Although the Census is timed to attempt to capture the typical situation, holiday resort areas, such as the Gold Coast and snow fields, may show a large enumeration count compared with the usual residence count.

Census counts based on place of enumeration can be provided for individual Collection Districts (CDs), and any aggregations of CDs, such as postal areas or SLAs.

The variables Family Type (FMTF) and Household Type (HHTD) are coded on a usual residence rather than place of enumeration basis. All visitors to dwellings are excluded when coding these variables and usual residents who are reported as 'temporarily absent' are included in the coding of Family Type (FMTF).

See also Place of usual residence, Australia, Census counts, Collection District (CD), Family, Household, Visitors to Australia.

Place of usual residence

This is the place where a person usually lives, rather than the place where they were counted on Census Night. Each person is required to state his/her address of usual residence in Question 7. The count of persons at their usual residence is known as the de jure population count.

Census counts compiled on this basis are less likely to be influenced by seasonal factors such as school holidays and snow seasons, and provide information about the usual residents of an area.

The 2001 Census is the first census where usual residence data will be available at Collection District (CD) level. Previously, place of usual residence was only coded to Statistical Local Area (SLA) level. Where the respondent has given insufficient address information their SLA will be imputed as in the past. Their CD however, will not be imputed in these cases. Characteristics of individuals are available for CDs and aggregations of CDs.

Most respondents who are enumerated at a place other than their usual residence provide sufficient information for a SLA code to be allocated for their usual residence. However, in some cases a code of 'Undefined State' or 'Undefined Capital City’ must be allocated, and in some cases no response is given.

If no adequate response is given for usual residence for persons enumerated in hotels, motels and hospitals, the SLA of Usual Residence Census Night (SLAUCP) is imputed. The imputed SLA is not the SLA of enumeration, as these dwellings are likely to contain non-permanent residents from elsewhere.

In other types of dwelling, including private households, where there is no information provided in response to this question, the person is assumed to be enumerated at their place of usual residence and the codes appropriate to that address are allocated. If the person indicates that he/she is a visitor, but does not give enough information to code to SLA, the SLA and Postal Area codes are imputed using population distribution patterns from the 1996 Census. The CD of usual residence will remain as Not Stated.

Family relationships can only be coded for usual residents of a dwelling, so in some cases ‘relationship’ is used to determine if a person is a usual resident.

Census usual residence counts form the basis of the Estimated Resident Population (ERP).

See also Census counts, Family, Household, Statistical Local Area (SLA), Usual residence, Visitors to Australia.

Place of work

See Address, Journey to Work (JTW).

POA

See Postal Area.

Post Enumeration Survey (PES)

Since the 1966 Census, each census has been followed by a Post Enumeration Survey (PES), conducted by specially trained interviewers. Each State and Territory is included, and a sample of two-thirds of 1% of private dwellings is chosen for the survey.

The main purpose of the PES is to measure the extent of undercount and overcount in the Census. This is achieved by asking respondents if they were included on a census form for the household being interviewed, and if there were any other addresses where they may have been included in the Census. At each of these addresses (including the interview address), the personal information is matched to any corresponding census forms for these addresses to determine whether a person is counted, is counted more than once, or not counted at all.

Results obtained in the PES are used to adjust census counts in the calculation of Estimated Resident Population (ERP) figures for Australia. The results also provide an assessment of the coverage of the census by field operations including the extent of dwellings which are missed by census collectors.

See also Estimated Resident Population (ERP),  Undercounting and/or underenumeration.

Post-school educational qualification

See Educational qualification.

Postal Area

Postal Areas are ABS approximations of Australia Post postcodes, created by allocating whole Collection Districts (CDs) on a 'best fit' basis to postcodes.

Census Postal Areas exclude non-mappable Australia Post postcodes such as:

  • post office box postcodes;
  • some delivery route postcodes, which are also covered by other postcodes (a situation which often occurs in rural areas); and
  • some postcodes which, because of the application of the 'best fit' principle, do not get a CD allocated to them.

    This means that there are more Australia Post postcodes than census Postal Areas.


Every CD is allocated one valid Australia Post postcode as the Postal Area for that CD. When a person is enumerated in that CD, the Postal Area is allocated to the person as their Postal Area of enumeration.

When a person's address is coded to their CD of Usual Residence, the Postal Area of the CD is allocated to the person as their Postal Area of Usual Residence.

See also Census counts, Collection District (CD), Digital boundaries.

Postcode

See Postal Area.

Preliminary data

There are no preliminary data released in the census. All data released are final counts. However, the data are released in two stages.

See also First release data, Second release data.

Primary family

A household can contain one or more families. In a multiple family household, one family is called the primary family.

Where there was more than one family in a household on Census Night, the family with dependent children is designated as the primary family. If there were more than one family, and no children were present in the household, then the first family identified on the census form becomes the primary family.

See also Child, Family, Household, Relationship in Household (RLHP).

Private dwelling

See Dwelling.

Product directory

See Directory of Census Statistics.

Proficiency in Spoken English (ENGP)

For each person who speaks a language other than English at home this variable classifies their proficiency in spoken English.

Responses to the question on Proficiency in English are subjective. For example, one respondent may consider that a response of 'Well' is appropriate if they can communicate well enough to do the shopping while another respondent may consider such a response appropriate only for people who can hold a social conversation. Proficiency in English is just an indicator of a person's ability to speak English and not a definitive measure of his/her ability.

For these reasons, census data on the levels of proficiency in English of people who speak a language other than English at home should be interpreted with care. Nevertheless, it is a useful indicator for the planning and provision of multilingual services and the ethnicity of the population.

Proficiency in Spoken English/Language (ENGP01). This variable encompasses ENGP, and applies to all persons i.e. people who speak English only, as well as those who speak a language at home other than English.

See also Language Spoken at Home (LANP).

Public Sector Mapping Agencies (PSMA)

The PSMA is a consortium of State and Commonwealth mapping agencies, which has been contracted to supply digital base maps of topographical and cadastral data to the ABS.

See also Digital base map data, Digital boundaries.

Publications

Census publications provide easily accessible and basic census information. They consist of a range of publications, including statistical (containing tables with some descriptive commentary), thematic (presenting data on a particular theme with significant amount of analysis and commentary) and reference (explaining census concepts and procedures).

For the 2001 Census, there are three sets of statistical publications available for Australia, and each State and Territory.

2001 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Social and Housing Characteristics for Statistical Local Areas (Cat. nos 2015.0–8). This is the first set of 2001 Census publications to be released, and contain selected characteristics of persons and dwellings from first release data, and some comparable 1996 data. It also includes first release Basic Community Profiles (BCP) and maps.

The State/Territory publications provide data for the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) areas of Statistical Division (SD), Statistical Subdivision (SSD) and Statistical Local Area (SLA). The Australian publication provides data at the State/Territory, SD and SSD levels.

2001 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Educational and Labour Force Characteristics for Statistical Local Areas (Cat. nos 2017.0–8). The second set of Census publications contain selected characteristics from the 2001 Census second release data, and some comparable 1996 data.

The State/Territory publications contain characteristics which are available for the geographic levels of  SD, SSD and SLA. They also contain second release BCPs at the State/Territory level.

The Australia publication provides data at the State/Territory, SD and SSD levels. It also contains second release BCPs for Australia.

2001 Census of Population and Housing: Selected Characteristics for Urban Centres and Localities (Cat. nos 2016.0–7). This is the third and final set in the series of Census publications and contain data for Urban Centres/Localities (UC/L). There is a separate publication for each State/Territory (except the ACT) and Australia. There are no BCPs in this set of publications.

The State/Territory publications contains a combination of first and second release data items for UC/L and Section of State. They also include a number of tables ranking each UC/L by a particular characteristic e.g. population size.

The Australian publication contains tables ranking Urban Centres by particular characteristics.

Other tables, specific to client requirements, are available through ABS Information Consultancy. Contact details for Information Consultancy are provided on the back cover of this publication.

See also ‘Census Update’.




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