Data by region methodology

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Reference period
2011-23
Released
22/11/2023

Overview

This release of Data by region presents various data for 2011-2023, including the Census of Population and Housing (Census) data for 2011, 2016 and 2021. Data by Region is a visual compendium of regional data, enabling users to find data for over 4,500 regions across Australia.  It contains over 800 data items, covering a range of themes including Population, Economy and Industry, Income, Education, Employment and Land and Environment.

To access the Data by region map interface, refer to Data by region. This interface enables users to search and explore data for regions across Australia.

Geographical Coverage

Data is available for:

  • Australia
  • States and Territories
  • Greater Capital City Statistical Areas
  • Statistical Areas 2, 3 and 4
  • Indigenous Locations, Indigenous Areas, and Indigenous Regions
  • Remoteness Areas
  • Local Government Areas

This issue of Data by region presents data on Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 (2021) for Main Structure, Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA), Indigenous Structure, Remoteness Areas and Local Government Areas (LGAs). For more information see; 

For more information about ASGS geographies see ABS maps, an online mapping tool to view and compare statistical boundaries.  

LGAs are an ABS approximation of gazetted local government boundaries as defined by each state and territory. ABS approximations of administrative boundaries do not match official legal boundaries and should only be used for statistical purposes.

LGA data are presented on LGA 2021 boundaries, and significant effort is made to align boundaries across all datasets. Please note that a small number of source datasets were created on 2022 or 2023 LGA boundaries, requiring them to be aligned to LGA 2021. Given boundary changes between 2021, 2022 and 2023 were minimal, the impact on the data is likely to be negligible.

Data for 'Other Territories' have been included for some but not all of the data series in Data by region, depending on availability in the source data. In some cases Other Territories contribute to the totals for Australia but are not presented separately (due to availability). For this reason, summing data at lower geographic levels to State or Australia totals may result in figures that don't align to the published values.

Source

Data is sourced from a wide variety of collections, both ABS and non-ABS. When analysing these statistics, care needs to be taken as time periods, definitions, methodologies, scope, and coverage can differ across collections.

Collection method

Data presented in this product are sourced from administrative datasets, the Census of Population and Housing, and various ABS surveys.

Income data comparisons

Care should be taken in comparing income data from different sources. Some of the differences between the personal income data sourced from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and income data sourced from the Census of Population and Housing are highlighted in the table below:

 
DifferencePersonal Income (ATO)Census of Population and Housing
PopulationIndividuals with income reported to the ATO (approximately 13 million records per year), either through a personal income tax form, or through a PAYG statement.All persons aged 15 years and above (approximately 20 million records).
Method of reportingReporting in a personal income tax return, often with a group certificate or other supporting evidence of income, where required by ATO. Reporting is in more detail, showing different sources, and dollar values.Self reported income is reported in ranges on a Census form.
Missing incomeSome income is not reported to the ATO. People who earn less than the tax free threshold or receive payments that are not assessable (such as some Government benefits and allowances) may not report to the ATO.No missing income - the Census form asks people to include all income when answering income questions.

Updated data series

Care should be taken in comparing data within previous and current releases of Data by region as:

  • some data have been revised
  • releases prior to May 2024 may use earlier editions of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Updated data in this release are summarised in the tables below. 

31 May 2024 updated content
Data SeriesChange from previous data by region release
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples2021 Census second release data added. 2011, 2016 and 2021 Census Tenure type data revised to exclude people who weren’t at home on Census night. 2011, 2016 and 2021 Census Homelessness data added. 2011, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2021 Remoteness Areas data added on respective ASGS boundaries at the time of collection.
Births and deaths2022 data added and 2021 data revised for ASGS main structure and GCCSA.
Building approvals2023 data added, 2021 and 2022 data revised.
Counts of Australian businesses, entries and exits2023 data added, 2019-2022 data revised.
Selected Government pensions and allowances (Department of Social Services) Data series removed.
Estimated resident population and population density2023 data added, 2022 data revised.
Gifts and donations2022 and 2021 data added, 2020 data revised.
Gross capital gains2022 and 2021 data added, 2020 data revised.
Higher education loan program (HELP) repayments2022 and 2021 data added, 2020 data revised.
Motor vehicle censusData series removed.
Regional internal and overseas migration estimates2023 data added, 2022 data revised.
Private health insurance2022 and 2021 data added, 2020 data revised.
Residential property transfers 2022 and 2023 data added, 2021 data revised.
Selected disability and carers characteristics (modelled estimates)New data items added.
Solar installations2022 and 2023 data added, Small-scale solar panel system installations data revised for Australia and State/territory.
22 November 2023 content
Data SeriesChange from previous data by region release
Australia level dataThe code for Australia has changed from '0' to 'AUS' to align with the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 (2021).
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples data, Births and DeathsRemoteness Areas data on ASGS Edition 2 (2016) removed.
Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians2021 data added. 2011 and 2016 data removed.
Estimated resident population by age and sex2022 data added, 2017-2021 data revised. Remoteness Areas data updated to ASGS Edition 3 (2021).
Land areaRemoteness Areas data updated to ASGS Edition 3 (2021).
Personal income in Australia2020 data added.
Protected land areas2022 data added.
Selected Government pensions and allowances2023 data added.

Accuracy

For further information on the accuracy of data items see Concepts, sources and methods.

Geographical correspondences

The use of geographical correspondences enables data to be converted from one type of geographical region to another. Correspondences are usually provided as conversion factors based on relative population distributions and/or land area shares.

The application of correspondences allows:

  • the source data to be more easily compared with standard ABS output
  • the source data to be output for other geographical areas such as Statistical Areas 2-4 and Local Government Areas (LGA)
  • extra flexibility, where data can be provided for a variety of geographies of interest to the data user

Geographic correspondences have some limitations. In applying the correspondences it is assumed that characteristics of any data item are uniformly distributed across the region. Therefore, data produced by correspondences may not truly reflect the distribution of the characteristics of the population.

Some official postcodes (such as Post Office boxes) do not correspond to residential areas but may still have been reported under the current home address field in certain administrative data series. Data for these and other 'invalid' postcodes - such as those due to incorrect reporting or processing errors - are included in state and territory totals or for Australia where the state or territory was not known.

In addition to these limitations please note that the data produced by correspondences have been rounded. Therefore, there may be small differences between the sum of the component items and the totals shown.

While care was taken in producing the correspondences the ABS cannot guarantee the accuracy of data produced by correspondences. ASGS correspondences can be found via the Correspondences page of the ABS website.

How the data is released

Data by region can be accessed as:

  • data cubes, presented in a time series spreadsheet format for each themed category as listed below, see data downloads
  • interactive map, where the interface enables users to search for and explore data within regions across Australia, refer to Data by region
  • Data Explorer, where users are able to create customised data tables

Data can be found across the following categories:

  • Population and people
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • Economy and industry
  • Income (including government allowances)
  • Education and employment
  • Health and disability
  • Family and community
  • Persons born overseas
  • Land and environment

Not all data items are available for each geography level. For data items where data is either not available, not available for publication, nil, rounded to zero, or a null cell for a particular region, the data item may not be displayed in the interactive map.

Confidentialisation of data

Some data values have been randomly adjusted or suppressed to avoid the release of confidential data. In some cases small cells have been randomly adjusted to zero. Care should be taken when interpreting cells with small numbers, zeros or suppressed values.

Census table cells are adjusted to prevent any identifiable information about individuals being released. This technique is called perturbation and is applied to all table cells including totals. These adjustments result in small introduced random errors and can mean that the rows and columns of a table do not sum to the displayed totals, however, the value of the table as a whole is not significantly affected. We do not recommend users attempt to calculate populations by aggregating rows or columns containing subcategories of a population, but instead use the published total counts.  

While the adjustments due to perturbation are only small, they do show a greater relative impact on small counts. These small counts should be used with caution and no reliance should be placed on the counts or the related percentages, which can be greater than 100. 

For further information refer to Census methodology, Introduced random error / perturbation

Concepts, sources and methods

While information on the data and concepts are included below and in the accompanying glossary, users should note that the information listed here is not exhaustive. More detailed information about the data can be obtained by referring to the relevant data source listed for each dataset.

Agricultural commodities

Births and deaths

Building approvals

Census data

Counts of businesses, entries and exits

Disability and carers

Early childhood - enrolment and attendance in preschool programs

Estimated dwelling stock

Estimated resident population

Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians 

Gross value of agricultural production

Internal and overseas migration

Jobs in Australia

Land area

Land cover

Land and housing supply indicators

Land tenure

Land use

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey

Personal income tax data

Personal insolvencies

Protected land areas

Residential property prices

Selected government pensions and allowances

Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA)

Solar installations

Water use on Australian farms

List of data items

A list of data items presented in Data by region is available in the Data downloads section. Each data item includes the geographies and years available.

For further information see the relevant sections above in Concepts, sources and methods. For specific terms see the Glossary section.

Data for all data items and regions can be found in Data Explorer where you are able to view the data, build your own tables, and export the results. These data are also found in Excel files in the Downloads section.

Data downloads

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

Caution: Data in the Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the time period when using Data Explorer.

Glossary

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Abbreviations

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