Making sense of the Census

Making sense of the Census

In a week’s time, we’re all going to be sitting down and filling out the Census - the snapshot of Aussie life that the Australian Bureau of Statistics takes every 5 years. But while we’ll all have to figure out how to do it, exactly why we do it is a question we don’t think about as much. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll unpack:

• Why we count everyone every 5 years

• What we’re counting

• And what the data is used for…

🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams and Larissa Huntington

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Squiz the Shortcut

First up, what’s a census?
It’s essentially a really big survey that counts every person and household in a country. In the case of the Aussie one coming up next week, it’s the official way we gather demographic, social and economic information about every person in the country on Census night - which is why it’s likened to a ‘snapshot’.

Is it a new thing?
Nope… In Australia, we’ve been keeping track of our population since 1788, long before federation - but we first ran our national Census in its current form back in 1911. It looked a little different back then, though…

How was it done back in the day?
The Census takers would travel around Australia - no small feat - by horse or bicycle to get the information they needed. We’ve had 18 national censuses (not censi - you know we checked…) in our history, and the 2026 version will be the 19th.

So what’s it for?
It’s not just for science (or fun), we’re required to take a headcount every 5 years under Oz law. And, as Australia has become more populous (there are now nearly 28 million of us), the Census has only become a more significant undertaking. 

Who conducts it?
It’s the responsibility of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). It now requires 30,000 staff to run and the survey itself generally contains between 60 and 70 questions.

Do we have to take part?
Yep, it’s compulsory - unless you’re overseas on Census night, then you get a reprieve. And it also doesn’t matter what your status is - whether you’re a citizen or whether you’re just visiting; if you’re in Oz, you do the Census. 

What happens if you don’t do it?
You can be fined up to $364 a day (if you ignore a first warning). Now, you might be wondering how people who are experiencing homelessness, or people who don’t have the internet, or even some tourists who don’t know it’s going on might be able to do the Census… And that’s where those 30,000 staff come in. They’ll be knocking on doors or contacting people who need help filling it out. 

How do we do the Census?
Most Australians will be filling it out online - you should have a letter in your letterbox explaining how to do it. It’ll have a 16-digit number and a temporary password. You log in and do it online this coming Tuesday, 11 August. 

Can I do it early?
Sure can… You can do it now if you want, as long as you know where you’ll be - and who will be with you - on Tuesday night. And you don’t have to do it online - the paper form is still very much an option, and you can also request help if you need it. 

So, getting back to what it’s for…
One of the key reasons for the Census is to work out how many seats each state and territory should get in the House of Representatives. Seats are decided based on population - each seat should represent about the same number of Australians. So we need to know who is living where… 

Got it… What else?
It also affects government funding - things like GST distribution and government grants depend in large part on population. So by working out where the population is now, the government can get an idea of where it might be headed and budget accordingly. It also works out how many schools and hospitals are needed in certain areas. And it can also come in handy in ways you might not expect. 

How so?
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, health departments used that data to monitor how it might be contained and what impact vaccines could have. And it also plays an important role in working out how the government’s Closing the Gap strategy to reduce socio-economic inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is going… 

So it’s not just a counting exercise?
No… It informs many crucial parts of Australian life - things as important as how we vote and how our basic everyday services are funded. So when you take that into account, the questions that are asked become very important - and sometimes they can become the source of some controversy and debate. That’s no different this year…

Tell me about the questions this year…
Along with all manner of basic things like your age, income, and how many people you live with - they probe into some slightly deeper/more personal details as well. They might include what health conditions you have, where your parents were born, if you care for anyone or anyone cares for you, and how much housework you do every week… 

What are some of the controversial ones?
This year, a new topic with 2 questions about sexual orientation and gender has attracted some debate… Themes around sexuality and gender are no stranger to culture wars, and initially, the government was hesitant to include the new questions - but that attracted some backlash of its own.

Remind me what happened?
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner wasn’t happy about the topic being excluded, and independent MP Allegra Spender argued that if you don’t collect data on the number of LGBTQIA+ people living in Australia, you can’t make policy that affects them. So the government backflipped and agreed to include - for the first time - questions on sexual orientation and gender. 

Anything else new?
Yep… Australians can now list up to 4 ancestral responses instead of just 2 - with experts saying broader data in this area might help reveal migration stories that have often been hidden by previous Census limits.

How accurate is the data?
There are some concerns about how the Census is filled out and whether the information people give is accurate. One common complaint is that it can undercount some of us - particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people…

Just explain that a bit more…
This was an issue in the last Census in 2021 - it missed about 170,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - which could mean they don’t receive the amount of funding and services they need. So this time around, the Census is running over a longer period in remote communities (it started in July and ends in September) to get a more accurate picture… 

Are there any privacy and data security issues?
Now that most of us do the Census online (it’s expected to be about 85% of us), making sure that data is secure is a high priority. There’s also a debate about how the ABS stores our names and addresses in relation to the data.

How does it do that?
As it stands, names are stored for 18 months and addresses for up to 3 years. It’s also working a bit differently this year in terms of how you can access the survey - it’s available through myGov, though the ABS says that data will only be accessed for Census purposes. But in a time when trust in government and institutions is on the low side, these questions only get stickier… 

So, how long do we have to wait to get the snapshot of our population from this year’s Census?
Kinda like the old-school way of getting film developed, we’ve got to be patient - we’ll get our first look at the data next June. Till then, rest easy knowing the next Census is 5 years away…

Onto our Recommendations

Reading: This article from The Conversation, which talks about how the Census data is used - and it’s in many more ways than we were able to cover here… 

Reading: And for the data nerds, here’s the QuickStats tool on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website - where you can find out all sorts of info about Aussies during the last Census in 2021. Have a play, go on…

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