ABS Address Register Information Guide

The ABS Address Register (the Address Register) was established in 2015 is an up-to-date, comprehensive list of all known physical addresses within Australia.

The key information it contains is:

• address text
• address use (e.g. residential, commercial.)
• a latitude and longitude coordinate known as a “geocode”
• a dwelling structure for residential addresses (e.g. separate house, semi-detached, etc.).

The Address Register does not collect or store any information about people or households. Protecting your privacy and confidentiality is our priority and we take data security very seriously. 

The Address Register supports:

• The mail out of Census of Population and Housing (Census) and Household Survey materials. 
• Efficient field operations for Census and Household Surveys and enhances internal quality assurance. 
• Linkage of datasets in internal and external data linkage projects such as the Person Level Integrated Data Asset  (PLIDA) and as one of the inputs used to create the experimental business locations datasets for the Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE).
• Enhanced address matching through the creation of indexes used in ABS Address Coding services enabling finer geospatial analysis at unit/address level. 

The Address Register is based on the Geocoded National Address File (G-NAF) © Geoscape Australia Copyright and Disclaimer Notice. The AR differs from G-NAF as it contains information about address use and dwelling structure which is important for household surveys and the Census. 

Other administrative datasets used to update the Register include:

• Australian Electoral Commission data
• ABS Building Approvals and Demolitions data 
• Australia Post's Postal Address File 
• Residential property transaction data supplied to the ABS by Cotality
   

ABS field officers provide operational feedback about address use and dwelling structure during Census and household survey activities. No personal information is retained through this process. 

Aerial images are used from Nearmap Australia Pty Ltd  as an input for desktop canvassing and the Automated Image Recognition (AIR) machine learning model.

Desktop canvassers analyse information about addresses using online resources including aerial images, property listings, and state or territory government planning and mapping tools to update the Register.

The Address Register includes all known physical addresses within Australia (including Other Territories). The Address Register does not include non-physical addresses such as post office boxes or email addresses. The Address Register is ‘dwelling-centric’ meaning it is organised around dwellings and their characteristics, not around people or households. 

No personal information is stored on the Address Register. 

Types of dwellings included are residential dwellings, such as houses and apartments and Special Dwellings. 

Some types of accommodation require different approaches when collecting information. This helps support operational planning for both the Census and Household Survey operations. For this reason, the ABS groups them as 'Special Dwellings'.

There are two types of Special Dwellings:

Non-Private Dwellings provide communal accommodation or care such as hotel/motels, hospitals and nursing homes. There are 22 Non-Private Dwelling types. 

Private Dwelling Establishments consist of a number of dwellings co-located or grouped together, often on one land parcel. All dwellings within the boundaries of the establishment (including any manager or caretaker residences) are considered part of the establishment. There are four types of Private Dwelling Establishments:

• retirement villages and or other self-contained accommodation for the Aged
• manufactured home estates/residential park/land lease community 
• caravan/tourist/holiday park and camping ground
• marinas.

To maintain confidentiality, the Address Register does not store information about Special Dwellings which are sensitive (e.g. women's refuges). These are establishments that have no publicly available information about them. They are listed on the Address Register as regular residential addresses.
 

The Address Register includes the Dwelling Register for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities (DRATSIC) to support Census and survey data collection activities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. 

The key information stored for each address on the Address Register is:

• address text
• address use (e.g. residential, commercial, etc.) 
• dwelling structure
• geocode (latitude and longitude)
• Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) area codes (e.g. Mesh Block and statistical areas)

Address text components:

Each address (consistent with Australian and New Zealand Standards for Rural and Urban Addressing) contains:

• building name
• number of levels
• unit number (prefix and suffix)
• unit type (and number or identifier)
• street number (prefix and suffix)
• road name (and type)
• locality
• postcode
• state/territory
• country.

The Address Register does not collect or store any information about people or households. Address information on its own is not considered personal information, as it does not convey any specific information about an individual or organisation. However, privacy risks can arise when address information is linked with other data, such as names or demographic characteristics.  In these cases, the ABS manages the information confidentially to maintain the privacy of the information. The ABS also has strong legislative protections that safeguard the secrecy of an individual’s information and a proud history of maintaining community trust in the way it collects, uses, discloses and stores personal information. 

The Address Register is updated quarterly to ensure it remains accurate, current and reliable for Census and Household survey operations. Maintenance processes draw on trusted sources, including government and commercial datasets, mapping information and insights from Census and ABS field activities. This process supports the identification of new dwellings, changes to existing addresses and areas requiring further review. 

The Address Register is maintained using contemporary geospatial and data-driven methods to verify address information. These processes ensure the Address Register accurately identifies residential dwellings and their correct locations. Regular quality checks are applied to confirmed that coverage and accuracy meet the standards required for high-quality national statistics. 

The Address Register aims to minimise under coverage and over coverage of residential addresses across Australia.  

Under coverage:

Occurs when residential addresses do not exist on the Address Register or appear on the AR as a different address type when they are residential. This can impact on the data quality for household surveys and the Census.

Over coverage:

Occurs when a residential address on the Address Register is either not able to be located in the field or can be located but is not in scope for the survey (e.g. an address is listed as residential but is still under construction).

The Address Register is updated every quarter. Different data sources become available at different times, as a result, some updates may take up to six months to flow through. Examples include:

• Quarterly updates from address datasets such as G-NAF and Postal Address File. 
• Building Approvals data which can take several months to appear. 
• Aerial imagery updates which are less frequent in remote areas.

Addresses on the Address Register have been classified using the following: 

• Australian/NZ Standard for Rural and Urban Addressing (AS/NZS 4819:2011)
• Interchange of client information (AS 4590.1:2017)
• Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)
• Standard for Dwelling Structure

For more information on the Address Register, see Contact Us. 

The 22 Non-Private Dwelling types are:

NPD Category    Description
NPD011               Hotel, Motel and Holiday Accommodation not elsewhere classified 
NPD012               Bed and breakfast
NPD032               Staff Accommodation (Mining and Other Resource Extraction Industries)
NPD033               Staff Accommodation (Other)
NPD040               Boarding house 
NPD050               Boarding School
NPD060               Tertiary Student Accommodation
NPD070               Public Hospitals (not psychiatric)
NPD080               Private Hospitals (not psychiatric)
NPD090               Psychiatric hospital or institution
NPD100               Accommodation for People with Disability
NPD120               Residential Aged Care Accommodation (not self-contained)
NPD130               Transitional, Crisis and Homeless Accommodation 
NPD140               Out-of-Home Group Accommodation for Children 
NPD150               Corrective Institution (Youth)
NPD160               Other Welfare Establishment 
NPD170               Corrective Institution (Adult)
NPD180               Immigration Detention Centre or Transit Accommodation 
NPD190               Accommodation for Religious Orders 
NPD200               Youth or Backpacker Hostel 
NPD210               Ski lodge
NPD220               Other Non-Private Dwelling (not elsewhere classified)