The Age carried an article a couple of weeks ago, after ABS’s release of Regional Population Growth, about Melbourne’s record population growth over the past 9 years, and how it may overtake Sydney’s, if these rates continue, by the year 2028. See City’s Population Explosion. We examine the facts…
Happy Star Wars Day everyone – May the 4th be with you!….In line with this theme, here’s a brief look at the “Jedi” phenomenon and how it affected the Australian Census.
Prior to the 2001 Census, a bunch of Star Wars fans around the world decided that it would be good to get “Jedi” recognised as an official religion. For some reason, someone decided that if 10,000 people in the country put down a religion on their Census form, it would suddenly be recognised as an official religion (presumably with tax fee status for Yoda, and a nice office overlooking the harbour).
.id recently completed population forecasts to 2031 for the Rockhampton Region in Queensland. Funded by the Rockhampton Regional Council, the forecasts are designed to inform Council, community groups, investors, business, students and the general public about what is driving change in the region and what the future population will look like.
At training sessions for profile.id and economy.id, we often get asked how to interpret some of the data presented in these tools. We suggest a simple but powerful technique called “dominant-emerging” analysis as a really good way to make sense of the data. It is based on asking two questions about any area.
- What role does it play within its region? 2. How is it changing?
Earlier this month, Ford (USA) released a list of what it considers to be the 25 “most prepared” cities in the USA for electric vehicles. How would your city stack up?
Source: Ford
Probably the most radical change in the new ABS geography is the move to SA2s (“Statistical Area Level 2” – another imaginative name…). These replace Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), which were always a bit misunderstood. This is the third part in my series on the new ABS geography.
Here at .id we’ve just finished our first population forecast for a remote area, the Shire of Roebourne, WA, and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel there recently to launch the forecast and run a training session. Here are my impressions of a remote, mining boom-town.
As part of the new statistical geography called the ASGS (see earlier blog – The new geography standard – what is it and how does it affect me?), the ABS is fundamentally changing the boundaries on which Census data is distributed. It is replacing the Census Collection District with a new unit, called, rather uninspiringly, the SA1, or Statistical Area Level 1. How will this affect Census analysis and in particular, time series?
The population of the Latrobe Valley has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years. Throughout the 1990s, the main story was one of decline, but today the picture is completely different. What factors are behind this turnaround?
We commonly get asked how homeless people are counted in the Census. Many councils have specific policies addressing the needs of the homeless, and accurate data is difficult to come by. The short answer is, yes, they are counted in the Census, but it is hard to separate them out from the rest of the population.
With the user-friendly interface of profile.id, it’s easy to get most information you are seeking, by navigating around using the menu options and tabs. But if you are seeking specific information, data download can get you targeted and accurate information, fast. It is especially useful for comparing between a number of small areas at once, across several Census years, and also has some additional data which is not displayed in the main interface of profile.id.
This week the ABS released its Australian Demographic Statistics. Despite an article in the Sydney Morning Herald highlighting New South Wales’ net interstate migration loss, entitled “We’re out of here say hordes hankering for a state of satisfaction”, the data was noticeable for the continued decline in NSW’s net interstate migration loss.
Shanghai, China has experienced a growth rate that makes your head spin. Between the 1990 and 2000 Censuses the total population increased by 3.396 million or 25.5% to 16.738 million. At the end of 2009 it was estimated at 19,213 million.
Check out these images of Shanghai just 20 years ago and then the comparison below…
With the National Broadband Network (NBN) being hotly debated, we typically hear from the media that regional Australia suffers poor internet access – a fact which we at .id are well aware of given that we are a web-based business and we travel extensively to all parts of Australia. However, is it only regional Australia that is disadvantaged when it comes to broadband access?
In which countries of the world do families live in apartments? I suspect that a significant percentage of families live in apartments in all urbanised (developed and developing) countries – with the exception of New Zealand and Australia.
Just over three weeks ago, on Tuesday the 22nd of February 2011, Christchurch, the largest city on New Zealand’s South Island was hit by a devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake killing over 160 people, injuring hundreds more and displacing thousands of Christchurch residents to other parts of the Canterbury region, the rest of New Zealand and as far away as Australia. Three days after the disaster, New Zealand’s Government Statistician, Geoff Bascand and Statistics Minister Maurice Williamson announced that New Zealand’s 2011 census (scheduled for 8th March) would be cancelled. What are the implications?
A crew from .id (Ivan, Simone, Glenn and Lailani) attended and presented at the two day Beyond the Count conference (3-4 March) held by the ABS to promote the use of Census data. We noticed that not so many of our local government clients were able to attend, so we thought we’d provide a quick synopsis of the sessions we attended and the gems we gleaned … not least of all that the Census really is a national treasure.
The Gold Coast is an iconic Australian place, which most Australians have some familiarity with. As of June 2009, the Gold Coast was the largest non-capital city in the nation, and the 6th largest city over all, with 578,000 people (including the Tweed area in NSW), and growing faster than any of the state capitals, and any other city in Australia with a population over 100,000 people, with the exception of Cairns.
Who is moving to the Gold Coast? Most people will tell you it’s retirees. What does the data reveal? Read the rest of this entry
Meander Valley has more children than the Tasmanian average, but the main emerging group is baby boomers (in their 50s in 2006)…
Meander Valley Municipal Council has become the most recent addition to the .id community. Welcome! We’ve just delivered an online community profile for Meander Valley and its suburbs based on the 1991, 1996, 2001 and 2006 Australian Census. It uses Census data to tell the story of Meander Valley’s population – how it compares to the region and how it is changing over time.
The latest US Census was conducted on 1 April 2010, but was no April Fool. Regular users of Census data will be aware that the Australian Census will be held this August, and will no doubt reveal much about the nature of population change in country over the last five years.
The release of the US Census data gives us a bit of a taster as to some of the statistics we can expect to see from our own Census when the results are released in mid 2012.
The Census is the biggest peacetime recruitment exercise Australia conducts, and Census Collectors are the foot soldiers of the operation. The ABS recently launched their Area Supervisor recruitment campaign. In April they will be launching their Census collector recruitment.
Mufti of Australia, Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali, left, inspects census forms
One of the problems in conducting a Section 30 review in older, established areas is the need to recognise and preserve the areas that define the character of the city, while still allowing for development of an appropriate type to allow the city to grow and increase in diversity.
The City of Unley recently used their .id community profile to assist in conducting their Section 30 review.
Over the past few years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has been working out a whole new Statistical Geography for Australia.
Now Statistical Geography may not sound like the most interesting topic, unless you work here at .id in which case it’s fascinating! It underpins most of the data that you can get from the Census, and most of our work at .id, as well as a whole lot of other ABS collections. ABS is moving to a completely new set of areas for the release of data, which will change what data is available for what areas. Read the rest of this entry
The Baillieu Government announced its ‘inner-city revolution’ today, with the go-ahead for the development of 200 hectares of land around Fishermans Bend, near the West Gate Bridge – as announced in The Age – Baillieu plans inner-city housing revolution
Good idea, but only if they sort out the transportation. Properly. It should be seen as an opportunity to provide another rail corridor to Melbourne’s west.
Pilates, goat’s cheese: there goes the neighbourhood
This article in last week’s Age talks about Northcote and Maribyrnong and how they have become gentrified.
While you can’t find too much about pilates, goats’ cheese pizzas and Subarus from Darebin’s community profile, it’s not too hard to see whether an area is gentrifying, and in the case of these two suburbs, the article isn’t picking up on anything new, it’s been happening for quite some time!
Hmmm… is this a list of areas that .id has profiled or forecasted? Well some of them are, but not quite. They are in fact the weird and wonderful destinations from a 1980s Melbourne Comeng train destination roll. This handsome piece helps decorate the office at .id and provides a unique insight into Melbourne’s railway network (existing and proposed) in the early 1980s. Read the rest of this entry
One of the funny things about doing population forecasting is the response you get from clients about certain issues. One such issue that cuts close to the bone is this vexed issue of when will the children leave home?
Share of population aged 25-29 by relationship in household, 2006, selected locations
Source: ABS, 2006 Census of Population and Housing
I was riding my bike home from work in the rain last night, when I came across an unexpected lump on the cycle track. To my amazement, it turned out to be a turtle crossing the road. This was not something I expected to see in the middle of a city of just under 4 million people. I picked the little guy up and moved him off the road – and then spent the rest of the ride home worrying that I’d put him on the wrong side of the road and now he’d have to to through the whole slow process again to get to the other side. It also got me to thinking about the statistics of commuting by bike in Melbourne.
Australia’s record population growth rate has begun to slow, driven by a decline in overseas migration, according to the latest issue of Australian Demographic Statistics published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on 21 December 2010.
There are likely to be media headlines about a “population crash”, but what is the full story?
Having recently begun .id’s first overseas foray, Johnny, Lailani and I went to Wellington to launch the first New Zealand profile.id site for the City of Wellington. The Mayor Celia Wade-Brown made an eloquent presentation, backed up by some great press from the local paper.
“The profile enables us to have the mazimum confidence in the decisions we make, to manage our assets to meet changing demands of changing populations and allocate resources where they are most needed.”
At these events it is always ideal to find a good news story from the socio-economic data which, as it turns out, was a pretty easy task for the City of Wellington.
One of the most common questions we are asked about Census data is whether it’s best to use Enumerated or Usual Residence data when making statements about populations. Our Census product, profile.id, gives users the option to use either, with both options prominently displayed with radio buttons to select at the top of each table. But which should you use?
