This variable records the geographic area in which a person usually lived five years before the Census. The base area that is output for Place of usual residence five years ago (PUR5P) is Statistical area level 2 (SA2). These can be aggregated to form higher Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) areas:
Used to code place of usual residence one and five years ago. Used where a respondent has given incomplete address information on the Census form but has given enough information to allow coding to a capital city. There is a category for each capital city:
Capital city (Greater Sydney) nfd
Capital city (Greater Melbourne) nfd
Capital city (Greater Brisbane) nfd
Capital city (Greater Adelaide) nfd
Capital city (Greater Perth) nfd
Capital city (Greater Hobart) nfd
Capital city (Greater Darwin) nfd
Capital city (ACT) nfd
State/Territory nfd
Used to code place of usual residence one and five years ago. Used where a respondent has given incomplete address information on the Census form but has given enough information to allow coding to a state/territory. There is a category for each state/territory:
State/Territory nfd (NSW)
State/Territory nfd (Vic.)
State/Territory nfd (Qld)
State/Territory nfd (SA)
State/Territory nfd (WA)
State/Territory nfd (Tas.)
State/Territory nfd (NT)
State/Territory nfd (OT)
Migratory
Used to code people who are in transit on long distance trains, buses, aircraft and long-haul road transport vehicles on Census Night.
Off-shore
Used to code people who are on oil rigs and drilling platforms etc. on Census Night. Also used for expeditioners in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
Shipping
Used to code people who are on board vessels in Australian waters, in or between Australian ports on Census Night.
No usual residence
Used to code people who have no fixed address, such as travellers who move across Australia.
Not applicable
Used to code a person’s place of usual residence one and five years ago, for children who had not been born one or five years ago.
Overseas
Used to code a person’s place of usual residence one and five years ago, for people who lived overseas one and five years ago.
Question(s) from the Census form
Where does the person usually live?
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Description
Where does Person 1 usually live?
For people who usually live in another country and who are visiting Australia for less than one year, select 'Other country'.
For other people, 'usually live' means the address at which the person has lived, or intends to live, for a total of six months or more in 2021.
For people who have no fixed or return address (for example, due to family conflict or eviction), select 'Elsewhere in Australia' and write 'None' in the 'Suburb/Locality' box.
For boarders at boarding school, provide the address of the boarding school or college.
More information
Person's usual address
1 Smith Street Belconnen ACT 2617
Elsewhere in Australia (please specify address)
Other country
More Information
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Description
Where does Person 1 usually live?
For people who usually live in another country and who are visiting Australia for less than one year, select 'Other country'.
For other people, 'usually live' means the address at which the person has lived, or intends to live, for a total of six months or more in 2021.
For people who have no fixed or return address (for example, due to family conflict or eviction), select 'Elsewhere in Australia' and write 'None' in the 'Suburb/Locality' box.
For boarders at boarding school, provide the address of the boarding school or college.
More information
If you have written 'None' in the 'Suburb/Locality' box, make sure the other boxes are empty.
If the person is providing an address for 'Elsewhere in Australia' and they usually live in Norfolk Island or other external territories, such as Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Jervis Bay, please select 'Other external territory' in the State/Territory box.
Where did the person usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?
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Description
Where did Person 1 usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?
For people who had no usual address on 10 August 2016, select 'Elsewhere in Australia' and provide the address at which they were then living.
More information
Person's usual address five years ago
1 Smith Street Belconnen ACT 2617
Elsewhere in Australia (please specify address)
Other country
Example
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Description
Where did Person 1 usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?
For people who had no usual address on 10 August 2016, select 'Elsewhere in Australia' and provide the address at which they were then living.
More information
Person's usual address five years ago
1 Smith Street Belconnen ACT 2617
Elsewhere in Australia (please specify address) (selected response)
Fill in the address details
Apartment/Flat/Unit number (if any)
Street number
Street name
Suburb/Locality
State/Territory
Postcode
Other country
More Information
Image
Description
Where did Person 1 usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?
For people who had no usual address on 10 August 2016, select 'Elsewhere in Australia' and provide the address at which they were then living.
More information
If the complete address is not known, please provide as much of the address as possible.
If the person is providing an address for 'Elsewhere in Australia' and they usually live in Norfolk Island or other external territories, such as Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Jervis Bay, please select 'Other external territory' in the State/Territory box.
How this variable is created
PUR5P is coded to SA2 based on the response to the question 'Where did the person usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?'. If PUR5P cannot be coded to the SA2 geography, it is assigned to a 'Capital city nfd' category, or a 'State/Territory nfd' category.
For people whose place of usual residence five years ago was the same as their place of usual residence on Census Night, their PUR5P is automatically derived from Place of usual residence (PURP). People who lived overseas five years ago are coded to ‘Overseas’. For people who lived elsewhere in Australia five years ago, the address details provided on the form are coded using automatic or clerical processes.
People who did not answer the question 'Where did the person usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)?' are coded to ‘Not stated’.
History and changes
This question relating to place of usual residence five years ago was first asked in the 1971 Census and has been asked at every Census since then.
In 2021, Geographic classifications have been changed to reflect the updated ASGS used for the 2021 Census. Supplementary code ‘Undefined state’ has been updated to ‘State/Territory nfd’ to better reflect the category.
Data use considerations
There are no data use considerations for this variable.
The non-response rate for Place of usual residence five year ago (PUR5P) was 6.9% in 2021. This is a decrease from 8.0% in 2016.
