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Australian Olympic team still counted where it matters most

6 August 2016 | CO/99

Census night, Tuesday 9 August, is just around the corner, however if you haven’t received your instruction letter and Login, or your paper form, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is reassuring residents not to worry.

While the majority of Census instruction letters and forms have made their way into Australian homes, there are still some that haven’t reached their final destination and may take up until Census night to arrive.

Head of the 2016 Census Program, Duncan Young, said “While we do encourage everyone to complete the Census on August 9, it’s okay to complete it after this if you haven’t received your Census form or Login.”

“Everyone still has plenty of time and they won’t be fined for being late. Just be sure to complete the form as if it were Census night as soon as your materials arrive.

“Make sure to only include people who stayed in your house on Census night, not people who usually live in the household—they will be counted wherever they are on the night.

“If, like our Olympic athletes, you’ll be out of the country on Census night, you aren’t required to complete a Census form. Only people in Australia on 9 August need to complete the Census,” said Mr Young.

The ABS uses information from overseas arrivals and departures passenger cards to capture data on international travellers at Census time.

“If you’re travelling in Australia, you’ll need to fill out your form wherever you are on Census night. If you’re staying in a hotel, motel, caravan park or camping site you will be provided with a form. If you’re travelling remotely, forms will be available from truck stops and camp sites and we have special Field Officers to provide forms to people living and travelling in remote locations.

If you don’t receive your Census letter or paper form by Census night, please contact the Census Inquiry Service (CIS) and they will send you a paper form by priority post or an online login number by SMS or email.

The Census Inquiry Service is open from 8.30am – 10.00pm daily (EST) on 1300 214 531

The Paper Form Request Service is open 24/7 on 1300 820 275.

For more information about the Census, visit census.abs.gov.au.


10 Fun facts about the Rio Olympics
  1. Despite 16 previous Censuses over 105 years, the 2016 Census will coincide with the Olympics for the first time ever this year. Olympics in 1976 and 1996 where in Census years but not at Census time.
  2. This year there is approximately 10,000 athletes expected to compete in the Olympics, that’s almost the same amount of people living in the suburb of Bondi Beach (10,748)!
  3. Australians come from more than 200 countries, that’s the same number of nations that will be represented in Rio this August.
  4. Swimming is one of the first events to take place at the Rio Olympic, which means a handful of the 10,281 swimming coaches or instructors in Australia will be there to support the 39 swimmers representing Australia.
  5. A little more than 14,500 people who were counted in the 2011 Australian Census, were born in Brazil, home of the 2016 Olympics! That’s only a drop in the ocean when talking about a country with a population of 200.4 million.
  6. At Rio 2016 there will be 306 gold medals presented, that is only one gold medal for every 24 million people in the world. This means that on a population basis Australia should only win one gold medal—we know Australia will do much better than that!
  7. With only one gold medal per every 24 million people in the world, this is the hardest Olympics to get a medal on a population basis since 1896 when there was only a gold medal for every 37 million people. The easiest Olympics to win a gold medal was the Antwerp games in 1920 with one gold available for every 12 million people in the world.
  8. With 58 medals the 2000 Sydney Olympics was our most successful Olympics in terms of both medals received, however in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics we had more medals per capita—with our 35 medals giving us one medal for every 270,000 people in Australia (compared to one medal per every 330,000 people in 2000 and one per every 650,000 people in 2012).
  9. In London 2012, Australia came 13th on the medals per capita table with one medal for every 650,000 people—the top two nations were Guyana (one medal despite only 111,000 people) and Jamaica (12 medals meaning there was one medal for every 225,000 people). Usain Bolt contributed three of these medals.
  10. Murray Rose and Dawn Fraser helped Australia top the world in the per capita medal tally in 1960 Rome Olympics. This is the only time this has been achieved by Australia, with our next best placing being second on the per capita medal tally in 2004



Background information on the 2016 Census of Population and Housing

Data collected from the 2016 Census will support funding decisions for services and infrastructure including housing, transport, education, industry, hospitals, and the environment.

Key 2016 Census dates:

9 August 2016Census night
Mid Aug to late Sept 2016Household visits
April 2017The first results from the 2016 Census released



Media inquiries

National Media Manager (P) 02 6252 6617, 8.30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday or 0429 955 731 outside of business hours (E)
census.media@abs.gov.au

The ABS is committed to upholding the privacy, confidentiality and security of all the personal information it collects. Read more about our approach to privacy and our privacy policy on the ABS website.

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