Welcome to the ABS website

Find out about how we are continually improving our website

About our website

Our website has been designed to make it easier for you to find the data you need. We are committed to the continual improvement of your experience. This page is regularly updated based on your questions and feedback.

Features you will find

  • prominent key statistics
  • clear and easy pathways to statistics
  • language is easier to understand
  • interactive graphs and tables
  • improved accessibility
  • green tick to indicate latest release

What we are hearing from you

  • Printing a page - To print or save a page you can right click in most browsers or access print options through your browser's settings. We are working on improving the print functionality
  • Downloading a table - To download and save any table you can click on the "download" button on the top right of a table and download as a CSV or XLSX

Upcoming improvements

  • Downloading all data for a release is being progressively implemented - A "download all" button is available in the download section and should be in place on most releases
  • There are few inconsistencies in formatting on pages. We are working to have this resolved as soon as possible

Browser compatibility

For the best website experience and improved online security, we recommend using the following desktop browsers.

The most current and previous two versions of these browsers are currently supported.

  • Google Chrome
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Apple Safari

Navigating our web address structure

We have updated our web address structures to make them more predictable and user friendly.

You may need to update your bookmarks, macros and systems. You can see examples of the new web address structures below.

How to navigate to a topic page

Format: abs.gov.au/statistics/theme/parent-topic/topic/latest-release 

Example: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/national-accounts/australian-national-accounts-national-income-expenditure-and-product/latest-release

Note: This added feature of latest-release allows you to bookmark a specific topic URL and always be taken to the latest statistics

How to navigate to a specific reference period

Format: abs.gov.au/statistics/theme/parent-topic/topic/reference-period

Example: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/national-accounts/australian-national-accounts-national-income-expenditure-and-product/mar-2020

How to navigate to a downloadable file

Format: abs.gov.au/statistics/theme/parent-topic/topic/latest-release/filename.xls

Example: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/latest-release/6202001.xls

Note: The use of latest-release in the above format is only intended for Time Series Spreadsheets, and may not work for other file types. Any file name containing a reference period component cannot be bookmarked using latest-release

Example: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/industry/building-and-construction/building-activity-australia/jun-2020/87520DO001_202006.xls

Application Programming Interface (API)

Data APIs enable fast access to ABS statistics by using machine to machine 'API calls'. These calls return statistics in a machine friendly format so that you can integrate data into your own systems as they are released.

At the ABS, data APIs are provided by ABS.Stat.  The ABS is upgrading ABS.Stat to improve the data APIs.  The upgrade is expected to be completed in 2021.  The upgrade will deliver improvements including:

  • Faster release of data in APIs - data will be available in ABS data APIs soon after it is published to the ABS website
  • Full compliance with the SDMX 2.1 information model
  • More format options - data is available in XML, JSON and CSV and metadata available in XML and JSON
  • A new WCAG 2.0 compliant user interface to view and interact with the ABS.Stat data and generate API calls

ABS Data APIs are available in beta for testing:

  • ABS Data API (beta) allows you to request detailed ABS statistics including economic, social and Census data. Customise your query to return only the data and metadata you need, in the format you want
  • ABS Indicator API (beta) allows you to request headline economic statistics from the ABS, including Australia's key economic indicators. All datasets are small, containing only the most in-demand data, so responses are returned as fast as possible

To register your details to become an early tester and receive notifications on the ABS.Stat upgrade, please get in contact with us at api.data@abs.gov.au. For more information, please visit our Community of Practice.

Citing ABS sources

We have updated our guidance on citing to help with referencing data. This is a suggested guide, indicating key elements to include when referencing ABS sources. 

Printing pages

We are working to improve the way content on pages prints from your browser. Currently when you print a page content can extend across pages which can cause graphs and tables not to display in full. To ensure all graph and table content is included when you print you can adjust the scale of the page.

We suggest changing the scale of a page from 100% to 80%, this will reduce the size of the content allowing the graphs and tables to print correctly. You do this by clicking print from your browser settings typically found in the top right corner of the page and changing the scale. Depending on your browser the scale may be adjusted within the advanced settings. 

Provide your feedback

We encourage you to provide your feedback as we continue to improve our website into the future. You can provide feedback using the feedback buttons. These are located on the right-hand side of each page and within the page footer. Contact us if you have any questions about the changes we are making.