2026 Census topic review: Phase two directions

As part of the development of these topics, the ABS is specifically investigating the following options: 

The ABS has assessed that there is significant public value in adding new content to reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity more fully. The ABS expect this topic cannot be completely implemented by the 2026 Census, as a statistical standard and statistical classification will need to be developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The ABS is investigating what data could be collected in the 2026 Census that delivers value for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as well as other data users, even if it requires refinement in the 2031 Census.  

The ABS will work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and representatives, including the ABS Round Table on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics, during the development and testing stage to inform the direction for this topic. 

Information on the value of including these topics in the Census was detailed in the 2026 Census topic review: Phase one directions publication. The ABS is working closely with the LGBTIQ+ Expert Advisory Committee for the 2026 Census during the development and testing stage for these topics.  

This topic could provide information for several policy areas, including climate, housing, labour force and education, and will support improved population forecasting and planning. The ABS is investigating whether the topic can still meet data needs if it is only collected on the online form, due to space constraints on the paper form.

Since the 2006 Census, the ABS has collected information about people with a core activity need for assistance. This largely includes people with a profound or severe disability. Feedback indicated that the current approach excludes a significant proportion of Australians with disability and collecting additional data would enhance the development and design of policies and programs for all people with disability. 

The ABS considered options to meet this information need in the Census. In assessment, the topic revealed significant feasibility concerns and complexities in collecting additional data on disability in a Census context. The ABS determined that the topic would require multiple questions, in addition to the existing questions that collect information about people with a core need for assistance. There were also concerns regarding people’s interpretation of the question/s, and therefore the consistency of responses. 

The ABS will continue to look for opportunities in the lead up to the 2031 Census and beyond to explore additional questions that could be asked to collect additional measures of disability in the Census. 

The 2021 Census collected information on the number of dwellings that were occupied and unoccupied on Census night. This was informed by observations made by staff in the field, self-reporting by respondents, and administrative data. However, this does not include the reasons why a dwelling is unoccupied. Feedback indicated the need for additional information on dwelling occupancy to identify the reasons why residential properties are unoccupied, and where people own more than one dwelling to understand the use of additional dwellings. This would be useful to inform policy and planning for Australia’s housing needs.  

The ABS considered options to meet this information need in the Census. In assessment, significant feasibility concerns and complexities were identified for collecting this data on the Census form. This included the need to ask multiple questions to determine the reason for why a dwelling is unoccupied, and that these questions would need to be asked for all persons over 15 years of age. This would significantly increase cost and respondent burden. 

Feedback raised through public consultation indicated there is a desire for data on ethnic identity because it collects information on the culture people identify with. While the 2021 Census collected information on ancestry, this information may reflect a person’s origin and heritage, rather than a culture they strongly identify or have connection with. 

The ABS specifically sought feedback during the second phase of consultation on use cases for collecting information on both ethnic identity and ancestry, and the impact if the question on ancestry was replaced with ethnic identity. Feedback during this consultation supported the inclusion of both topics, and there was strong support to enhance the Ancestry topic.  

The Ethnic identity topic and enhancements to the Ancestry topic both proceeded to testing. However, despite testing multiple concepts around ethnic identity, including “ethnic group/s”, “cultural background”, “ethnic and cultural heritage” and “the culture you belong to”, there were significant issues. Most notably, the testing showed that the public is unlikely to have a consistent understanding of what ethnic identity is, or the difference between ethnic identity and ancestry. The ABS determined that due to these complexities collecting both ethnic identity and ancestry on the same form is not feasible for the 2026 Census. Due to the strong support for the retention of the Ancestry topic, the topic of Ethnic identity will not proceed further in the development and testing stage. 

The ABS will continue to focus on testing enhancements to the Ancestry topic to maximise public value.  

The need for information on household energy use was identified through public consultation. Feedback indicated data on source or connection to utilities, energy consumption and the energy efficiency of appliances would provide benefit to Government policies and programs, including supporting the transition to a net zero carbon emission future.  

The ABS considered options to meet this information need and determined that the Census is not the most appropriate mode to collect data on this topic. The ABS has also considered what data is available, or likely to be available, through other data collection activities and administrative data. For example, the Administrative data snapshot of housing, released 29 August 2023, provides experimental information about dwelling electricity consumption recorded in administrative data. The ABS anticipates that other data sources will become available in the future that will progressively meet the data need. 

The ABS will continue to investigate other ways to provide more data related to household energy use. This includes investigating other administrative data sources or undertaking targeted data collection activities if required. 

Census data is already used extensively in frameworks and strategies related to natural disaster risk and recovery. The ABS considered feedback raised through public consultation that highlighted the importance of collecting additional data specifically on the impact natural disasters have on the Australian population. Stakeholders indicated there are significant social, environmental, and economic ramifications when these events occur, and that this information may assist in informing preparedness, mitigation, adaptation, response, recovery and reconstruction. 

The ABS considered options to meet this information need in the Census. This included the feasibility to collect data on what types of natural disasters a person has been impacted by and mitigations taken to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.  

The ABS determined that the most feasible option to meet this information need for the 2026 Census is to include a response category relating to natural disasters in the potential Main reason for moving in last 12 months topic. This topic would support several policy areas, including climate and natural disasters, and has proceeded to the next stage of development and testing. 

Travel for educational purposes makes up a significant portion of peak hour travel. The ABS considered feedback raised through public consultation that, when combined with journey to work data, this information would improve understanding of traffic flows and transport patterns. Stakeholders indicated this information is important to inform strategic models used in transport planning.  

Previous testing identified significant feasibility concerns and complexities in collecting data on this topic in a Census context. The ABS considered options for the 2026 Census to address these feasibility concerns. This included limiting the scope of the question to school students only and to only collect the suburb of the educational institution attended.  

When the revised scope was assessed, the ABS determined that the topic would still require multiple questions, increase respondent burden and require significant resources to develop, process and disseminate data on the topic. 

The ABS has received feedback that there is a need for information on parents or children who live across multiple households as part of shared care arrangements. This feedback highlighted there is no data collected which specifically identifies shared care arrangements or the amount of time spent in each household. Data on this topic would enhance understanding of the social and economic implications of shared care arrangements and help inform policy development and service delivery. 

Previous ABS surveys, research and testing have demonstrated complexities in efficiently collecting accurate data on shared care arrangements. In assessment, the ABS identified significant feasibility concerns and complexities in collecting data on this topic in a Census context. The topic would require multiple new questions and changes to existing questions. There were also concerns regarding the accuracy of responses collected on a form that the household completes themselves. 

The 2021 Census collected information on the number of children ever born to each female aged 15 years and over. Prior to 2011, the question was asked every ten years, and this was sufficient to meet the data needs to inform population projections. The topic was collected in the 2011 and 2016 Censuses because of decisions to not make any topic changes for these Census cycles.  

The ABS communicated during the 2021 Census content consultation that the topic would be retained in 2021 to align with international reporting, but that the ABS would consider moving back to the ten-yearly cycle for the 2026 Census. In line with this, this topic was identified for potential removal in the 2026 Census. 

The ABS considered feedback received during the second phase of public consultation and, while there is a data need, the case for collecting the topic every Census was not as strong as other topics being considered for change or inclusion. There may also be opportunities to inform data needs through linked administrative data in the future. The ABS will be recommending the Government return to a ten-year collection cycle for this topic, with the topic next collected in the 2031 Census to align with international reporting requirements.  

The ABS considered several changes to the Household and family relationships topic to understand more complex household and family structures, including diverse families and kinship care arrangements. 

In assessment, significant feasibility concerns and complexities were identified in collecting data on kinship care arrangements. This included collection efficiency, as well as respondent burden and accuracy of responses. Changes to the topic to collect kinship care arrangements are not being considered further. 

The ABS is testing the collection of additional relationships within the household to better reflect the diversity of family and household structures. The ABS is also testing the use of gender-inclusive language in this question. 

The ABS is no longer considering changes to the Main language other than English used at home topic.  

The ABS considered several changes to better reflect the linguistic diversity of Australia following feedback received during the first phase of consultation. This included the removal of the ‘at home’ context and collection of all languages used, in addition to the main language used.  

Feedback received through the second phase of consultation provided some support for the changes, however there were concerns that the change would impact quality and utility of the data and comparability of data over time. The ABS considered the feedback received, as well as the size and complexity of the changes. Based on this, the ABS determined that changes to this topic will not be considered further. 

Changes to the Proficiency in spoken English topic to ask the question of more people were also considered. The ABS assessment is that the additional respondent burden is not outweighed by the data need and this change is not being considered further. 

Feedback raised through public consultation indicated that the current registered marital status question should be expanded to collect data on de facto relationships, including whether someone has separated from a de facto relationship.  

The Census does produce data on current de facto relationships. This is based on the question relating to household and family relationships. The ABS is investigating options to improve data on de facto relationships.  

The ABS also considered options to collect data on people who have separated from a de facto relationship. In assessment, the complexity of collecting this information without compromising the quality or comparability of existing marital status data has resulted in the ABS not considering this change further.  

Feedback raised through public consultation requested the inclusion of more contemporary modes of travel and indicated that asking for the method of travel for one day in a week may not reflect regular travel behaviour. The ABS considered options to address this feedback to ensure the data collected continues to meet user needs. This included options to collect data on how a person usually gets to work or additional working from home information.  

In assessment, significant feasibility concerns were identified when assessed, including conceptual issues with the understanding of ‘usual’ and the size and complexity of the changes required. Changes to the question design will not be considered further. 

The ABS is testing changes to the existing response categories to include more contemporary modes of travel. 

The 2021 Census collected information about people who are temporarily away from home to determine the usual composition of a household and generate accurate estimates of the usual population in an area. The current Census questions about people temporarily absent from the household include name, sex, date of birth or age, student status, relationship to others in the household, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. 

The ABS considered options to include other existing questions for people temporarily away to improve data quality for household variables. The ABS assessed the benefits of collecting more data, as well as the collection efficiency, respondent burden and accuracy of responses. The ABS identified feasibility concerns and complexities, and determined that other existing questions will not be asked, in addition to the six questions already included. 

The ABS is assessing whether any new topics recommended for inclusion in the 2026 Census should be asked of persons temporarily absent from the household on Census night. 

The 2021 Census collected data relating to work. This included questions for Labour force status, Status in employment, including Incorporation status and Number of employees (employed by owner managers), Hours worked, Occupation and Industry of employment topics. 

The ABS specifically sought feedback through the second phase of consultation on the value of the Census collecting information on joblessness and employment arrangements/job security. The ABS considered feedback received and assessed the feasibility of these potential changes. As part of the review process, the ABS also investigated options to change the Hours worked topic and whether any questions relating to work could be adjusted to improve alignment with the ABS Labour Force Survey.  

The ABS has assessed that improving the existing questions is a higher priority than introducing the new questions. For this reason, collecting additional information on joblessness and employment arrangements/job security will not be considered further. There were also concerns with the conceptual understanding of changing the Hours worked topic to collect ‘usual’ hours worked. This change will not be considered further. 

The ABS is testing changes to the Labour force status and Industry of employment topics to improve the quality and utility of the data. As part of testing, the ABS will review whether these changes impact respondent understanding of other work topics.