By - glenn the census expert
Answers to your Census queries and concerns
With a lot of concern raised in the media over next week’s Census, we thought it fitting to answer some of the most common queries and concerns raised so far to help put your mind at ease.
Is your Census information safe? Privacy in the spotlight
With the 2016 Census almost upon us, the issue of data privacy and security has been in the media spotlight again. The Age recently published this critique of the ABS policy by Peter Martin. When this issue was...
Is Australia losing its religion?
It is said that you should never discuss religion, sex or politics. Although religion is the question on the Census that tends to cause the most discussion. It seems everyone has an opinion on it. The Census...
The places with the least population change
The ABS releases a publication called “Regional Population Growth” every March, and the media (and .id) focusses mainly on which areas are growing the most, and which areas are declining. A majority of areas...
Latest population figures: Top 50 largest cities and towns in Australia in 2016
This is the latest release of the Top 50 cities and towns in Australia, which we do every year, following the ABS release of their Regional Population Growth publication. As we’ve previously seen, Australia,...
Will Melbourne’s population overtake Sydney? Maybe in…
The rivalry between Australia’s two largest cities has been going on for a long time. At .id we don’t seek to say which one is “better”, but just which one is bigger!
Latest figures show population further concentrated in Australia’s capital cities
The ABS Regional Population Growth (3218.0) publication shows the distribution of population growth across Australia, place by place. One interesting trend which it shows as accelerating is the skewing of...
Is the Census private and why does it matter?
On 18th December 2015, the ABS put out this media release on privacy of Census data. I didn’t notice, and I follow the ABS quite closely. Most people didn’t notice, possibly due to the proximity to Christmas....
Choosing the right population forecast for local area planning: case study
We sometimes get asked by our local government clients, “Why would I use .id’s forecasts? The state government has their own population projections and they require us to use those.” We are well placed to...
The story of Gold Coast suburbs – live on radio
Recently, .id was approached by ABC radio on the Gold Coast to do a series of radio interviews on the demographics of the Gold Coast. The interesting thing about this one is that it’s not just about the Gold...
Are Australia’s migrants home owners?
About 60% of Australia’s population growth in any given year is due to overseas migration. Australia has always been a country of migrants, and in 2011, almost 25% of Australia’s population was born overseas,...
Where is Australia’s renovation capital?
In 2014-15 financial year, Australians did $7.2 billion worth of renovation requiring approval, a figure which more than doubled since the year 2000. The popularity of TV shows like “The Block” and “House...
Australia’s growth moderates, Victoria fastest growing state
The ABS released their quarterly Australian Demographic Statistics publication on 17 December. This is the most important release of the year because it contains the end of June estimates which is what all...
Vacant dwellings, rife in Melbourne?
In Melbourne, over 80,000 properties were vacant in 2014. What does this mean for the housing market?
Tourism – Visitor Survey data now live in economy.id!
Have you ever wanted to know how many visitors come to your Local Government Area (LGA) from interstate? Overseas, or as local day trippers? We are pleased to announce that we have come to an arrangement with...
Lessons in over-simplifying statistics – or why I’m not such a Wally with water
I recently received a water bill.
Dispelling myths about Arabic speakers – The Optus billboard
On Tuesday this week it was reported that Optus had taken down an advertising billboard in the Sydney suburb of Casula, after receiving a lot of negative feedback on Facebook. The sign was written in Arabic,...
On population projections, forecasts and weather
Population forecasts are often referred to as ‘projections’. This is understandable, as they are ‘projecting’ something into the future. But the term projection implies that it is a continuation of current...
Housing costs – stable over the past decade
Is housing in Australia unaffordable? Results from a recent survey conducted by the ABS show that at a national level, we still have about 2/3rds home owners, and most are not in housing stress.
Migration between capital cities and regional Australia
The ABS has a new dataset which is great for analyzing where people are moving across Australia. It’s called “RIME”, or the Regional Internal Migration Estimates. This is still experimental, but it’s being...
Understanding young adult populations in regional areas – Bathurst
As well as being famous for the 1000 motor race, Bathurst also has a large Campus of Charles Sturt University, so it is something of a student town, with a relatively large young adult population.
