Compare data services
There are a number of ways to access ABS data, in addition to data available on the website:
- this table will help you choose the best data service for you
- not all topics are available in all data services
- additional information has been provided below the table to explain some of the terms used
Data service | | | | | | | | | |
Topics | Census of Population and Housing, including:
- Persons
- Families
- Dwellings | - Businesses in Australia
- Census of Population and Housing
- Disability, ageing and carers
- Education
- Health
- Income and housing
- Labour force
- Migrants
- Motor vehicles
- more available data | Census of Population and Housing | Census of Population and Housing
| - Census
- Economy
- Health
- Industry
- Labour
- People
- Snapshots of Australia | Most ABS topics, including:
- Census of Population and Housing
- Demography
- Economic data
- Environment and energy
- Industry
- International trade
- Social data
- Trade | - Census of Population and Housing
- Disability, ageing and carers
- Education
- Health
- Income and housing
- Labour force
- Migrants
- more available data | - Census of Population and Housing
- Integrated data including BLADE and MADIP
- Disability, ageing and carers
- Education
- Health
- Income and housing
- Labour force
- Migrants
- more available data | Customised integrated data extracts, such as:
- MADIP
- Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment (BLADE)
using:
- data already held by ABS
- new data you want to link |
Self service or ABS provided service | Self-service | Self-service | Self-service | Self-service | Self-service | ABS provided service | Self-service | Self-service | ABS provided service |
Free or charged | Free | | Free | Free | Free | | | | |
Level of detail | Broad ranges | Very detailed | Broad - detailed | Detailed | Detailed | Customised | Broad ranges | Very detailed | Very detailed |
Geography | State/Territory | - State/Territory
- Greater capital city
- Local Government Area
- Mesh block
- Remoteness area
- Statistical area (SA) SA1-SA4
- Suburb
- Postal area
- Socio-economic index for Australia (SEIFA)
- check data item lists | - State/Territory
- Greater capital city
- SA2-SA4
- Remoteness area
- Local Government Area
- Suburb
- Postal area | - State/Territory
- Greater capital city
- SA1-SA4
- Mesh block
- Remoteness area
- Local Government Area
- Suburb
- Postal area
- SEIFA | - State/Territory
- Greater capital city
- SA2-SA4
- Local Government Area | Customised | - State
- Greater capital city
- Remoteness area
check data item lists | - State/Territory
- Greater capital city
- SA1-SA4
- Mesh block
- Remoteness area
- Local Government Area
- Suburb
- Postal area
- SEIFA
- check data item lists | Customised |
Data output | Aggregate data | Aggregate data | Aggregate data | Aggregate data | Aggregate data | Aggregate data | Microdata (unit records) | Microdata | Microdata and aggregate data |
Output timing | Immediate | Immediate | Immediate | Immediate | Immediate | 1-8 weeks | Immediate | Output vetted by ABS before release in 1-2 working days | 2-6 months |
Statistical skills | All levels | Intermediate users | All levels | All levels | All levels | All levels | Intermediate users | Advanced users | - Advanced users (microdata)
- All levels (aggregate data) |
Platform | Online system | Online system | Website | Website | Website
Machine to machine/API | Emailed or securely transferred to you | Download to your own environment in SAS, SPSS, Stata or CSV | Online or ABS offices using R, SAS, SPSS, Stata, Python | - Access in DataLab (microdata)
- Emailed or securely transferred to you (aggregate data) |
Prerequisites | Conditions of use | Conditions of use | None | None | None | None | - Conditions of use
- Responsible officer undertaking | - Safe researcher training
- Project and data custodian approval
- Conditions of use
- Declarations and undertakings
- Statistical skills | - Safe researcher training
- Project and data custodian approval
- Conditions of use
- Declarations and undertakings
- Statistical skills |
Registration required | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Getting access | | | | | | | | | |
Further help | | | | | | | | | |
Data service | TableBuilder Guest | TableBuilder | Census products | Data by region | ABS.Stat | Information consultancy | Basic microdata in MicrodataDownload | Detailed microdata in DataLab | Data integration service |
Additional information about terms used in this table
Data output
Data and output can be in either
aggregate form (such as tabular data) or
microdata (unit records):
- Aggregate data is produced by grouping information into categories and combining values within these categories, for example, a count of the number of people of a particular age (obtained from the question ‘In what year were you born?’). Also referred to as tabular data or macrodata, aggregate data is typically presented in tables.
- Microdata is a dataset of unit records where each record contains information about a person or organisation. This information can include individual responses to questions on surveys or administrative forms.
Geography
Most datasets provided by the ABS relate to the whole of Australia, but may also contain geographic data items such as state or territory, as a characteristic of the record of interest. ABS uses the
Australian Statistical Geographic Standard (ASGS), which includes both ABS structures (such as remoteness or urban/rural definitions) and non-ABS structures (such as suburb or local government area).
Level of detail
Data services are provided in different levels of detail, so it is important to check that the service will meet your needs:
- broad ranges - limited data items may be included, data items may be provided in groups, such as 5 or 10 year age ranges, broad geographies only may be included, such as state/territory and capital city/balance of state
- detailed - more data items may be included, data may be provided in single values, or finer ranges, finer geographies may be included, such as Statistical areas, local government areas and suburbs or postcodes
- very detailed - many data items may be included, data may be provided in single values, such as individual income amounts, very fine geographies may be included, such as meshblock
- customised - finer detail for some data items may be offset by broader detail for other data items, in order to provide you with the level of detail you need for your request
Output timing
Some data services allow you to view your output immediately, and are available for you to use at any time of day. Other services, such as DataLab, you need to wait for an ABS staff member to clear your output before it is provided to you. For data services that are not self-serve, such as Information Consultancies or Data Integration services, the ABS will create your output, and then provide it to you. The creation process can take several weeks or months for complex requests.
Platform
Data services are provided in various forms such as:
- on the ABS website - you can access datasets or information directly from a web page
- online system - you log into a system from a web page, where the system is hosted on a secure server
- machine to machine/API - you use an application programming interface (API) from your environment to access a system using code instead of a user interface
- email or secure transfer - if ABS is providing your output to you, we will let you know how the data will be sent to you
Prerequisites
Some data services have conditions of use that you must agree to before you are able to access the data. See:
Self-service
Some data services are available immediately, and can be used at any time of the day. In other cases you may need to contact the ABS first to arrange access, but once you have been approved, the service is usually available 24 hours/7 days. Other services are provided by the ABS, so you will need to specify your needs, then allow time for the ABS to complete the work before you receive your output.
Statistical skills
All ABS data requires some statistical understanding to interpret what the data means:
- all levels - data services that are designed to get you started, or to be used by intermediate or advanced users to complement more complex services
- intermediate - some statistical training or experience needed to use these services, such as TableBuilder
- advanced - you will need to have several years of statistical training or experience to be able to use these services, such as DataLab