Data items list
A complete list of data items included on the ACLD file is provided in an Excel spreadsheet that can be accessed from the Data downloads section.
All data items are created at the person level. This includes data items relating to the family and household of the person selected in the sample. For ease of use, these data items have been divided into Person, Dwelling, Household, Family, Spouse Related, and Male and Female parent related groupings.
Users intending to subscribe to the TableBuilder product or use the microdata product in the DataLab should first refer to the Data Items List to ensure the data they require, and the level of detail required, are available and applicable for the intended use.
For information about the quality of the data items in the ACLD please see the Quality Declaration.
Note: While the 2011 and 2016 Censuses were predominantly the same, there were some minor differences. For example, a number of changes were made to how industry of employment information was collected for the 2016 Census. The ABS advises this data is not directly comparable to 2011 industry data and should not be used to measure longitudinal transitions. For further information refer to Industry of Employment (INDP) in Census of Population and Housing: Understanding the Census and Census Data, Australia, 2016 (cat. no. 2900.0).
Visitors on Census night
Overseas visitors were excluded from the 2006 ACLD sample. The ACLD, however, does include visitors from within Australia. These are people who were enumerated away from their usual residence on Census Night. Family information cannot be derived for these persons and as such, all family, spouse, and male and female parent related data items are not applicable for visitors.
All dwelling related data items, however, have been made applicable to visitors. This information relates to their dwelling of enumeration on Census Night, not usual residence.
Most household data items are not applicable to visitors, however for four data items, visitors have been included in order to align to standard Census derivations of that data item. These comprise:
- Total Household Income as stated (weekly) of household in which person was enumerated
- Total Household Income (weekly) of household in which person was enumerated
- Household Income Derivation Indicator of household in which person was enumerated
- Household Composition of household in which person was enumerated.
Any applicable household information for a visitor relates to their place of enumeration, not usual residence.
Where a data item is also applicable to visitors, the usual address indicator data item for the relevant Census year can be used to restrict the table to usual residents only.
The cell comments available in the data item list provide precise information on who is, and is not, applicable for each data item.
Persons temporarily absent on Census night
The Census household form provides the opportunity to list up to three persons who were temporarily absent from the dwelling on Census Night. A limited amount of information is collected for these persons and it is used to better derive the family and household characteristics of the dwelling. In deriving family and household related data items for the ACLD, information on persons temporarily absent was included where relevant and available. Details are provided in cell comments in the data items list.
Not applicable categories
Most data items in the ACLD include a 'not applicable' category. The definition of the 'not applicable' category, where relevant, can be found in the section of the relevant year's Census Dictionary (cat. no. 2901.0), including the previous year releases found in the "Past & Future Releases" list.
Not stated categories
'Not stated' categories occur when no response has been provided for a data item. All Census data items contain 'not stated' categories except for age, sex, marital status and usual address, as this information is imputed for these items.
Other Census products commonly use the symbol '&' to denote a code value of 'not stated'. In the ACLD, the symbol 'X' or '97' has been used. The codes are listed in the data items list.
Quality indicators
The ACLD contains a number of data items that relate to the quality of linkage over the period 2006 to 2011, and 2011 to 2016 and have been collectively named Quality Indicators. The first of these are consistency flags. These variables measure the consistency of reporting on linked records between the time points. The following consistency flags can be found in the Quality Indicators folder of the TableBuilder data item tree and in the ACLD microdata product available in the DataLab:
- Age
- Sex
- Birthplace of Person
- Birthplace of Female Parent
- Birthplace of Male Parent
- Year of Arrival
- Indigenous Status
- Registered Marital Status
- Highest Year of School Completed
- Hours worked
- Level of Highest Non-School Qualification
- Country of Birth of Spouse or Partner
- Number of Children Ever Born.

Consistency flags can be used with other variables. For example, age inconsistency can be cross tabulated with sex to examine potential gender differences in the reporting of age.

In addition to the consistency flags, "Record linked in 2011” and “Record linked in 2016” flags are also available. These flags can be cross tabulated with other data items to examine linkage rates (that is, the proportion of records linked). For example, cross tabulating the record linked flag with State/Territory of usual residence enables an examination of differences in linkage rates between the states and territories.


Weights
The 2006-11-16 TableBuilder file has one weight to benchmark the linked records to the estimated Australian population that was in scope of the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Censuses.
The 2006-11-16 DataLab file has two weights:
- a 2006-11 weight to benchmark the linked records to the estimated Australian population that was in scope of the 2006 and 2011 Censuses
- a 2006-11-16 weight to benchmark the linked records to the estimated Australian population that was in scope of the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Censuses.