'Other Eastern European' includes Belarusan, Eastern European nfd and others

'Other Arab peoples' includes Algerian, Kuwaiti, Libyan, Moroccan, Tunisian and others

'Other Middle eastern peoples' includes Coptic, Mandaean, Berber and Yezidi.

'Other South East Asian' includes Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese and others.

'Other Northern Asian' includes Mongolian and Tibetan.

'Other Indian subcontinent' includes Burgher, Gujarati, Malayali, Bhutanese, and others. 'Sikh' was formerly in this group but has been removed into its own category in 2021, so 'Other Indian subcontinent' is not comparable with earlier years.

'Tamil' includes Tamil, nfd, Sri Lankan Tamil, Indian Tamil.

'Other Central Asian' includes Georgian, Kazakh, Pathan, Uzbek, and others. 'Hazara' has been removed into a separate category in 2021 so 'Other Central Asian' is not comparable with earlier years

'American' includes American and African American

'Other North American' includes Hispanic, Bermudan and others.

'Other South American' includes Bolivian, Ecuadorian, Guyanese, Venezuelan and Paraguayan.

'Other Central American' includes Nicaraguan, Costa Rican and others.

'Caribbean Islander' includes Jamaican, Cuban, Trinidadian and others.

'Central and West African (other)' includes Ghanian, Liberian, Sierra Leonian, Senegalese, and others. 'Nigerian' and 'Congolese' have been removed into individual categories in 2021, so 'Central and West African (other)' is not comparable with earlier years.

'Other Southern and East African' includes Oromo, Tanzanian, Ugandan, Zambian and others. 'Kenyan' has been removed into its own category in 2021, so 'Other Southern and East African' is not comparable with earlier years.

'African, so described', 'European, so described' and 'Asian, so described' are presented as-is. They include people who stated a continent of ancestry rather than a country or cultural group. Prior to 2021 they were included with 'Inadequately Described' - so time series are not available and responses for these categories are likely to vary greatly due to the nature of the coding.

'Burmese peoples' includes Burmese, Anglo-Burmese, Mon, Karen and Chin. Karen was not separately identified in 2001 and Chin was not in 2006. Both are identified separately in 2011, 2016 and 2021 but are combined due to low numbers overall for time series comparison. These categories are available from .id individually on request.

'Serbian/Yugoslavian' includes "Serbian" and "South Eastern European, nfd", which contains primarily people who in 2011 stated their ancestry as "Yugoslavian". Previously these were coded to "Serbian", so the categories have been combined for comparability in 2011 and 2016 and again in 2021.

'Bengali/Bangladeshi' includes 'Bengali' and 'Bangladeshi'. People who responded 'Bangladeshi' in 2006 were coded to 'Bengali' so the two categories have been combined for comparability in 2011 and 2016. 'Sri Lankan/Sinhalese' includes 'Sri Lankan' and 'Sinhalese'. Sri Lankan ancestry was not collected prior to 2011, so it is combined in 2011 and 2016 for time series comparability.

'Other Sudanese peoples' includes Dinka, Nuer, and Darfurian. Note that Sudanese and South Sudanese are now separated as individual ancestries. For 2006 and 2001 data this is non-comparable so cannot be compared in time series, due to the inclusion of South Sudanese from 2011.

'Australian Aboriginal' and 'Torres Strait Islander' categories are treated differently in the 2021 Census. Marked boxes were included on both paper and online forms for these, and for anyone who responded to the "Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander status" question, they were moved to the top of the list in the online form. This change is expected to result in a large increase in responses to these categories, so care should be taken in comparing to previous years' data. Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander status data are still available on the population page in profile.id, which is still the primary source of Indigenous population data.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry on Ancestry(opens a new window).

Birthplace

Derived from the Census question:

'In which country was the person born?'

Country of Birth is classified using the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (2016) (ABS Cat. No. 1269.0)

Includes all persons.

The top 10 countries of birth for the selected area are shown in this table, with the option to expand to the full list of all available countries with 10+ people in the area. The table is generated from a list of all countries of birth which had over 1,000 people counted in Australia in the 2016 Census. These birthplaces have been defined to enable direct comparison over time back to 2001 and further in some cases, with the exceptions listed below. It is possible that a country of birth from outside this list will would feature in the top 10 for a particular place, but at present these are only shown in the 'Total Overseas Born' category (available in Data Exporter and not shown on the display table). The full list of approximately 300 countries of birth is available on request from .id.

'United Kingdom' includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and 'United Kingdom not further defined'.

'Serbia/Montenegro (fmr Republic of Yugoslavia)' includes Serbia and Montenegro, as well as 'South Eastern Europe nfd' in 2016, 2011 and 2006. Those people categorised to South Eastern Europe were primarily those who stated their birthplace as Yugoslavia, which no longer exists as a nation. In 2001 it includes all people who listed their birthplace as Yugoslavia.

'China' excludes Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong which constitute separate responses.

'Sudan' and 'South Sudan' are now listed separately after splitting up in 2011. Please note that data for “Sudan” in 2006 and 2001 is still shown, but will include people who would in more recent years be coded to 'South Sudan", so it is not comparable for these years.

'Not Stated' includes 'Inadequately Described' and 'At sea' – those whose response could not be coded to a category.

For 2021, certain countries have been included separately which were previously a part of "All other countries". This includes Algeria, Solomon Islands, Mongolia, Qatar, Bahrain, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Congo, Jamaica, Cuba, Venezuela, Malawi and Rwanda. Past data will show as blank for these smaller countries of birth, and users should avoid using "All other countries" in time series due to the changes in inclusions for 2021 Census. These have been included due to increasing numbers of people reporting these as a birthplace, so the value in their separate inclusion outweighs the loss of time series comparability for the “Other” category.

Year of arrival in Australia

Derived from the Census question:

'In what year did the person first arrive in Australia to live here for one year or more?'

Includes persons born overseas who intend to be in Australia for at least one year.

Excludes people born in Australia and those who did not state a country of birth.

The data are displayed in a combination of 5 year groupings for the more recent years, and 10 year groupings prior to 2001.

Note that for Year of Arrival, the year ‘2021’ relates only to the period up to August 10th 2016, (Census day).

For more information on this topic, please see the Census dictionary entry for Year of Arrival(opens a new window).

Proficiency in English

Derived from the Census question:

'How well does the person speak English?'

English proficiency classifies the self-assessed ability of persons to speak English when they have identified their main language as other than English.

Includes all persons who speak a language other than English at home.

Excludes people who speak English at home.

When viewed with other cultural diversity indicators, the data tends to reflect the ethnic composition of the population and the number of years of residence in Australia.

In general, an area with a high proportion of migrants who have lived in Australia for many years, and/or have higher education levels, will have a higher proportion of those who speak English well or very well. Conversely, an area with many recent non-English speaking migrants, from lower socio-economic backgrounds (particularly refugees) may have a higher proportion of those who speak English not well or not at all.

Note: A person's English proficiency is based on a subjective assessment and should therefore be treated with caution.

Responses to the question on Proficiency in English in the Census are subjective. For example, one respondent may consider that a response of 'Well' is appropriate if they can communicate well enough to do the shopping, while another respondent may consider such a response appropriate only for people who can hold a social conversation. Proficiency in English should be considered as an indicator of a person's ability to speak English and not a definitive measure of this ability.

For more information on proficiency in English, please refer to the Proficiency in English Census dictionary entry(opens a new window).

Language used at home

Derived from the Census question:

'Does the person use a language other than English at home?'

Language used at home is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Languages(opens a new window) and applies to all persons.

Language used at home is designed to measure 'first' or 'native' language, though some migrants who have been in Australia for many years may speak English at home.

Includes all persons.

It excludes multi-lingual populations. E.g. If a person speaks English and French, but mainly uses English at home, the French language is not captured.

The top 10 languages used in the area apart from English are shown provided they have more than 10 speakers. These top 10 are sorted from a list of over 100 languages with at least 2,000 speakers across Australia in 2016. All languages with lesser numbers of speakers are included in an “Other languages” category, which may not be comparable over time due to changes in the set of languages shown separately.

Some languages are not available for earlier Census years or have had to be combined to maintain comparability. Issues are as follows:

'Tagalog' includes Filipino, which was recorded as a separate language from Tagalog in 2006 and later years, but no such distinction was made in 2001. Filipino is a standardised version of Tagalog, incorporating words from other indigenous languages within the Philippines, but is mutually intelligible with Tagalog, so combining gives a better understanding of the Filipino speaking population of an area.

The dialect of Dari, used in Afghanistan, was collected separately to Persian in 2006 and later years, and Hazaraghi, also spoken in Afghanistan, was split out in 2011. These languages are now shown separately, due to large numbers of speakers from different geographic areas. Comparability for 2006 and 2001 is compromised for the "Persian" category. Do NOT compare Persian speakers in 2006 or 2001 with later years as there will appear to be a drop due to the exclusion of the Dari and Hazaraghi categories. All categories of Persian are separate in 2011, 2016 and 2021, and are comparable for these years.

'Min Nan' was recorded in 2011 to represent the languages previously recorded as Hokkien and Teochew, correctly classifying these as a single language. For comparability, Hokkien and Teochew have been combined in earlier Censuses.

'Assyrian/Aramaic' includes Assyrian, Chaldean and Mandaean versions of Neo-Aramaic languages. These are available separately but are recombined for comparison to 2011 and earlier Censuses. There are very few Mandaean Neo Aramaic speakers in Australia.

Some languages have grown in Australia to have enough speakers to show separately. These have been removed from "All other languages" in 2021 and this category is therefore not comparable to earlier years. Languages shown for 2021 only include Mongolian, Rohingya, Konkani, Lithuanian, plus several African languages - Krio, Akan, Mauritian Creole, Kirundi and Tswana. "Other sign languages" is a new category also removed from All other languages, representing all sign languages other than Auslan.

For more information please see the Census Dictionary entry for Language Spoken at Home(opens a new window).

Religion

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's religion?'

Religion is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Religious Groups (ASCRG), 2011(opens a new window).

The religion topic applies to all persons, but religion question in the Census is an optional question and so has a relatively high rate of 'Not Stated' responses which are shown separately in the first table.

The classification for Religion has changed significantly over the last 25 years. To make it possible to compare religious affiliation over time the full list of 140 religions has been aggregated into 46 categories. The top 10 religious groups for Adelaide Plains Council area are presented from the aggregated list. All 46 categories are available by using the “Export all time periods and areas” function on this site and the full list of 140 religious groups collected in the Census is available from .id on request.

'Other Eastern Catholic' includes Melkite, Ukrainian and Chaldean.

'Other Oriental Orthodox' includes Syrian and Ethiopian Orthodox churches.

'Assyrian Apostolic' includes the Assyrian and Ancient Churches of the East.

'Other Eastern Orthodox' includes Antiochian, Romanian, Ukrainian Orthodox.

'Other Protestant includes Born Again Christian, Congregational, Evangelical Churches, Wesleyan Methodist Church and others.

'Other Christian' includes Ratana (Maori), Quakers, Christian Science, Gnostic Christians, New Apostolic Church and Temple Society.

'Christian, not further described' includes written responses of 'Christian'(no denomination specified), Apostolic Church, Church of God.

'Other Nature Religions' includes Animism, Druidism, Pantheism.

'Chinese and Japanese Religions' includes Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto and Ancestor Veneration.

'Other Non-Christian Religions' includes Scientology, Rastafarianism, Jaianism, Theosophy, Satanism and Zoroastrianism.

'Non Classifiable Religious Belief' includes Theism, 'Not Defined', ‘Own Spiritual Beliefs’, and ‘Secular beliefs not elsewhere classified’. Anyone who stated their religion as ‘Jedi’ or other Star Wars reference is also included in this category.

'No Religion/secular beliefs' includes 'No Religion (so described)', Atheism, Humanism, Rationalism and Agnosticism, and may not match some ABS datasets reported for religion which often only include the ‘so described’ category.

For more information, please see the Census Dictionary entry for Religion on the ABS website(opens a new window).

Individual income

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the total of all income the person usually receives?'

Individual income data presents the total gross income (including pensions and allowances) that a person usually receives each week.

Applies to all persons aged 15 years and over.

Only 2021 data are presented for this topic as income ranges are altered every five years to adjust for inflation and wages growth so direct comparison over time is not possible. Please see the income quartiles for change over time, where adjustments are made for the altered ranges.

For more information about incomes, including a comparison to income data in other surveys, please see the Census dictionary entry for Total personal income(opens a new window).

Individual income quartiles

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the total of all wages/salaries, government benefits, pensions, allowances and other income the person usually receives?'

See notes for Individual income as well.

Individual income categories are not comparable over time because of the influences of economic change such as inflation. Income quartiles are the most objective method of comparing change in the income profile of a community over time.

Individual income quartiles look at the distribution of incomes in the area of interest relative to South Australia. Income quartiles are created for South Australia by ranking individuals from the lowest incomes to the highest incomes and then dividing the list into four equal groups or quartiles. This is repeated for each Census period. The table shows the income categories for each quartile in each Census period.

For the purposes of calculating quartiles, individuals not stating their income in the Census are excluded, so the total for this table will equal the total of all income categories minus Not Stated.

The analysis shows the number and proportion of individuals in Adelaide Plains Council area falling into each of the four quartiles. This gives a clear picture of how incomes in Adelaide Plains Council area compare to South Australia. In South Australia 25% of persons fall into each category by definition. If, for example, the Adelaide Plains Council area has 35% in the top category and only 15% in the lowest, this indicates that the Adelaide Plains Council area has proportionally more high income individuals and less low income individuals.

More importantly, the dataset for South Australia is grouped into those four equal categories for each Census available on profile.id independently. Repeating this process for each Census period, enables a comparison of areas over time, because the quartile becomes a constant, regardless of the dollar amounts involved enabling you to track change in a local area independent of inflation. For example, if Adelaide Plains Council area has had an increase in the number/percentage of individuals in the top income quartile, this indicates that incomes are increasing in real terms, relative to other parts of the State.

Household income

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the total of all wages/salaries, government benefits, pensions, allowances and other income the person usually receives?'

Household income data presents the total weekly incomes of all persons over the age of 15 in the household.

Excludes 'Other non-classifiable households'.

Only 2021 data are presented for this topic as income ranges are altered every five years to adjust for inflation and wages growth so comparison over time is not possible.

For income in time series, please see Household Income Quartiles.

As individual income is collected in ranges, in order to calculate household income, a dollar value has to be imputed by the ABS to each range, then the individual incomes are aggregated, and output into ranges again. There is an inherent uncertainty in this process, so household incomes should only be treated as a guide to the income level in an area, not an exact calculation. For instance, it is not possible for a single income household to feature in the top range of $8,000 or more, as the top individual income range is only $3,500 or more.

For more information on this topic, please see the Census dictionary entry for total household income(opens a new window).

Household income quartiles

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the total of all wages/salaries, government benefits, pensions, allowances and other income the person usually receives?'

See notes for Household incomes as well.

Household income categories are not comparable over time because of the influences of economic change such as inflation. Income quartiles are the most objective method of comparing change in the income profile of a community over time.

Household income quartiles look at the distribution of incomes in the area of interest relative to South Australia. Income quartiles are created for South Australia by ranking households from the lowest incomes to the highest incomes and then dividing the list into four equal groups or quartiles. This is repeated for each Census period. The table shows the income categories for each quartile in each Census period.

For the purposes of calculating quartiles, households not stating their income in the Census are excluded.

The analysis shows the number and proportion of households in Adelaide Plains Council area falling into each of the four quartiles. This gives a clear picture of how incomes in Adelaide Plains Council area compare to South Australia. In South Australia 25% of households fall into each category by definition. If for example, Adelaide Plains Council area has 35% in the top category and only 15% in the lowest, this indicates that Adelaide Plains Council area has proportionally more high income households and less low income households.

More importantly, the dataset for South Australia is grouped into those four equal categories for each Census back to 2001 independently. Repeating this process for each Census period, enables a comparison of areas over time, because the quartile becomes a constant, regardless of the dollar amounts involved enabling you to track change in a local area independent of inflation. For example, if Adelaide Plains Council area has had an increase in the number of households in the top income quartile, this indicates that incomes are increasing in real terms, relative to other parts of the State.

Equivalised household income quartiles

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the total of all wages/salaries, government benefits, pensions, allowances and other income the person usually receives?'

Equivalised household income can be viewed as an indicator of the economic resources available to a standardised household.

For a lone person household equivalised income is equal to household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the household income that would be needed by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic wellbeing.

As an example, consider the case of a family of two adults, and three children aged 8, 13 and 16. If they have a household income of $2,000 per week, it is clearly not reasonable to compare their income to that of a lone person household with an income of $2,000 per week who would have far less living expenses. However it is also not reasonable to simply divide the income by the five people in the household, as there are economies of scale in larger households.

This is why equivalised household income divides the household income by an equivalence factor, according to the 'modified OECD' equivalence scale. This factor is derived by adding the following:

• First Adult + 1
• Second and subsequent adults, and children over 15 +0.5
• Children under 15 + 0.3

So our family of 5 would have an equivalence factor of 2.6 (1 for the first adult, 2 additional adults at 0.5, and 2 children under 15 at 0.3). Income is divided by this to arrive at the equivalised household income, which in this case would be $769. This is the income a lone person would need to have to be equivalent in living standards to this family of five.

Because it is only RELATIVE equivalised income that matters, rather than the actual dollar amount, only income quartiles are presented on this page. For details of how quartiles are calculated and used, please see the data notes for Household income quartiles.

For more information about the calculation of Equivalised Household Income, please see the HIED Census dictionary entry(opens a new window).

Highest qualification achieved

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the level of the highest qualification the person has completed?'

This topic includes all persons aged 15 years and over. It relates to the level of the highest qualification achieved excluding school-based qualifications, as of Census day.

Qualification levels are presented in descending order (of educational and time requirements), with Postgraduate Degrees being the highest (included with Bachelor or Higher Degree), and “No qualification” the lowest. To be included, qualifications must be within scope of the question – that is, recognised by or equivalent to a qualification by an Australian university or tertiary institution.

‘Vocational’ includes all Certificate level qualifications, usually associated with trades. Note that it is not always necessary to have completed year 12 to obtain a Certificate level qualification, so the total of those with non-school qualifications should not be taken as the number of people who have completed year 12. This is contained within the “Highest level of schooling” topic.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Qualificaitons(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Highest secondary school year completed

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the highest year of primary or secondary school the person has completed?'

Includes persons aged 15 years and over.

'Schooling' refers to primary and secondary schooling only, regardless of post-school qualifications or non-school qualifications achieved.

For those respondents still at school, they are asked to mark their highest level of schooling completed to the previous year.

Where respondents went to school overseas, they are advised to mark the box that most closely matches the school level they achieved in their country of origin.

From 2001 to 2006 the wording of this question changed making it non-comparable - so 2001 data are not available.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Highest Year of School Completed(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Education institution attending

Derived from the Census question:

'What type of educational institution is the person attending?'

Applies to all persons regardless of age, and includes those not attending.

'Independent' refers to private and other non-Government schools. 'Catholic' refers to infant, primary and secondary schools run independently by the Catholic Church. A 'not defined' category within primary, secondary and tertiary is included in the raw data from ABS. The number of people in these categories are very small and have been included with "Not Stated" for this topic. Totals may therefore differ slightly from those provided by ABS, but the difference is expected to be negligible (<0.1% of population).

'TAFE' refers to Technical and Further Education institutions.

'Tertiary education' is usually taken to mean University and TAFE education.

'Not Attending' includes the ABS category 'Not Applicable' as this variable applies only to those attending an educational institution.

'Not stated' indicates that the person either did not state whether or not they were a student, or did not state what institution they were attending (likely both).

Results for this question are closely linked to the age structure of the population e.g. areas with large numbers of children will have high levels of school attendance.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Type of Educational Institution Attending(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Need for assistance

Derived from the Census questions:

'Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them for, self care activities?', 'Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them for, body movement activities?', 'Does the person ever need someone to help with, or be with them for, communication activities?', and 'What are the reasons for the need for assistance or supervision shown in questions 20, 21 and 22?' (as per above).

This data identifies people who report a need for assistance due to a 'profound or severe core activity limitation' due to a long term health condition, disability or old age. This population is defined as people who need assistance in their day to day lives with any or all of the following activities – self-care, body movements or communication – because of a disability, long-term health condition, or old age.

This question relies on people evaluating themselves, (or their carers), as being in need of assistance. Consequently, this question provides an indication of the characteristics of people who report, or are reported as requiring, a need for assistance; but cannot be relied upon to provide details as to the total number of people with a 'profound or severe core activity limitation'.

Persons under the age of 40 whose only stated reason for need for assistance was ‘old or young age’ are included under ‘no need for assistance’.

This should not be viewed as the total population with a disability, as many people with a disability do not require assistance, and would therefore likely answer "no" to this question. For more information on types and levels of disability (including those not requiring assistance) please refer to the ABS publication, Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers - Summary of Findings.

For more information on this topic in the Census, please see the Census dictionary entry for Need for Assistance(opens a new window).

Voluntary work

Derived from the Census question:

'In the last twelve months did the person spend any time doing voluntary work through an organisation or group?'

This question was asked for the first time in 2006 and has been in every Census thereafter.

Includes all persons aged 15 years and over.

Includes voluntary work undertaken at any time in the 12 months prior to the Census. No information on the amount of time spent volunteering is collected.

It includes help willingly given in the form of time, service or skills, to a club, organisation or association including:

• assisting at events and with sports organisations
• helping with school events and activities
• assisting in churches, hospitals, nursing homes and charities
• other kinds of volunteer work (e.g. emergency services)

Excludes unpaid work done through a club, organisation or association mainly in order to qualify for government benefits such as Newstart Allowance.

Excludes any activity which is part of a person's paid employment or family business.

Please use caution when comparing voluntary work over time. The 2021 Census was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and lockdowns along with rules regarding social-distancing have caused declines in the number of volunteers in most parts of Australia.

Unpaid domestic work

Derived from the Census question:

'In the last week did the person spend time doing unpaid domestic work for their household?'

This question was first asked in 2006 and has been in every Census thereafter.

Includes persons aged 15 years and over.

Includes domestic work undertaken in the week prior to Census night.

Includes all the domestic work a person does without pay in their own home and in other places, for themselves, their family and other people in their household including:

• meal preparation, service and clean-up
• washing, ironing and managing clothes
• other housework
• gardening, mowing and yard work
• home maintenance
• car and bike maintenance
• household shopping and managing household financial affairs

Excludes any household work performed as part of a paid job.

The number of hours are collected only in broad ranges and no further breakdown is possible.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Domestic Work (opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Unpaid care

Derived from the Census question:

'In the last two weeks did the person spend time providing unpaid care, help or assistance to family members or others because of a disability, a long term illness or problems related to old age?'.

This question was asked for the first time in 2006, and has been included in every Census thereafter.

Includes persons aged 15 years and over.

Includes care given in the two weeks prior to the Census.

Unpaid care is any form of unpaid help given to a person with a disability, a long term illness or problems related to old age to assist them with their daily activities. It can include assistance with:

• bathing, dressing, toileting and feeding
• mobility
• understanding or being understood by others
• emotional support
• medication
• dressing wounds
• food
• housework
• driving

Any recipients of a government Carer allowance or Carer payment are directedin the Census guide notes to state that they do provide unpaid care.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Unpaid Assistance(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Unpaid childcare

Derived from the Census question:

'In the last two weeks did the person spend time looking after a child, without pay?', which specifically asks respondents to differentiate between caring for their own children and caring for others children.

This question, along with all unpaid work questions, were asked for the first time in 2006 and have been included in every Census thereafter.

Includes all persons aged 15 years and over.

Includes the time a person spends caring for a child or children under the age of 15 without being paid, in the two weeks prior to Census.

Excludes caring for children in a paid capacity (e.g. at a child care centre.

'Cared for own child/ren' includes people caring for their own children, whether they usually live with them or not.

'Cared for other child/ren' can include people looking after their own grandchildren or the children of other relatives or the children of friends or neighbours, or involved in unpaid family day care.

For more information about this topic, please refer to the Census dictionary entry for Unpaid Child Care(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Labour force status

Derived from the Census question:

'Last week did the person have a full time or part time job of any kind?'

This topic includes persons aged 15 years and over, and assesses employment in the week prior to the Census.

It is actually derived from 5 Census questions (39, 40, 50, 51 and 52), which look at whether the respondent had a job, if not, whether they were looking for work, and if they were looking for work whether they were able to start in the past week.

To classify full or part-time work, the question on hours worked is also used.

'Employed full time' means having worked 35 hours or more in all jobs.

'Employed part time' means having worked less than 35 hours in all jobs.

Please note that the full or part-time status refers only to the week before Census, not to a ‘usual’ number of hours. In 2021, many areas of Australia were in COVID-19 lockdowns, and this may affect the results and full/part time split, if workers were temporarily stood down.

The category of ‘Employed – away from work’ was only available since the 2006 Census. The ABS categorises persons away from work as either employed full time or part time based on usual hours worked. The Census only uses actual hours worked (Q50) to determine whether someone is employed full-time or part-time and a response to Q39 to determine whether they were employed, but away from work. The category of employed but away from work is likely to be higher in many areas in 2021 due to lockdowns.

The 'Labour force' is all persons aged 15 years and over who are either employed or looking for work and available to start. Both full and part-time work counts towards the labour force.

The percentages in the first table, showing employed and unemployed, are expressed as a percentage of those who are in the labour force, not the total population. The quoted text at the top of the page shows percentage of full and part time as a percentage of all employed persons (not the total labour force).

The ‘Unemployment Rate’ is defined as the number of unemployed persons (looking for work and available to start) as a percentage of the labour force. The percentage for ‘Unemployed’ in profile.id is the same as the unemployment rate.

The ‘Participation Rate’ is defined as the labour force expressed as a percentage of the total population aged 15+. In profile.id, the percentage in the ‘Total labour force’ category in the second table can be regarded as the participation rate. Note, however that it is not directly comparable to participation rates derived from the ABS labour force monthly survey, because a proportion of the population don’t state their labour force status (mostly around 6-8%). For this reason, Census participation rates are likely to be a little lower than those derived from the survey, but they are comparable over time and across geographic areas with other Census data.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary entry for labour force status(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Industry

Derived from the two Census questions:

'What best describes the business of your employer?' and 'What are the main goods produced or main services provided by your employers business?'

This topic describes the industries in which employed people work.

It applies only to persons aged 15 years and over, who were employed in the week prior to Census.

Data are available from 2006 onwards, which is when the industry classification (ANZSIC) changed.

This view includes the broadest 1-digit classification of industries. More detailed industry breakdowns are available in economy.id and directly from the ABS.

Data for industry are coded using the Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification 2006(opens a new window) (ANZSIC06). This classification looks at the main economic outputs of an business or organisation to classify it into a broad industry grouping. More information on how this is done is included in the classification. The classification has had minor tweaks since 2006, but is largely the same.

As many areas of Australia were in COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, the employment data may be affected. People who were temporarily stood down, or working from home due to lockdowns were advised to answer all questions based on their usual occupation and industry, so effects on the industry classification should be minor.

For more information on this topic please refer to Census dictionary link for Industry of Employment(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Occupations

Derived from the two Census questions:

'In the main job held last week, what was the person's occupation?' and 'What are the main tasks that the person himself/herself usually performs in that occupation?'

This topic describes the occupations of employed people who were employed in the week prior to the Census.

It includes only persons aged 15 years and over who were employed in the week prior to Census.

Data are available from 2006 Census when the current ANZSCO classification was first used.

This view includes the broadest 1-digit classification of occupations. More detailed occupation breakdowns are available in economy.id or directly from the ABS.

Data for occupation are coded using the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), 2013(opens a new window). The occupation classification categorises occupations broadly based on skill level and educational qualifications required.

The occupation classification is updated periodically to take account of emerging occupation groups and changes to the structure of the labour force. The most recent change was in 2019, but the broad occupation groups presented here have remained stable since 2006.

Due to lockdowns in many areas of Australia in 2021, special instructions for those temporarily stood down or working from home instructed respondents to answer questions on employment relating to their usual occupation and duties. Because of this, it’s expected that effects on the occupation classification should be minimal, but may result in a slight increase in not stated answers to this question for some areas.

Please note that it is not possible to derive an unemployment rate for a specific occupation (eg. how many unemployed truck drivers are there?). This is because occupation is only collected for those who are actually employed. An unemployed person by definition does not have an occupation.

For more information on this topic please refer to the data quality statement for Occupation(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Method of travel to work

Derived from the Census question:

'How did the person get to work on Tuesday, 10 August 2021?'

Method of travel to work relates specifically to the journey to work on the morning of Census day (or later that day for shift workers).

This topic includes only people aged 15 and over who were employed in the week prior to Census.

Respondents can nominate up to three modes of travel. Because this results in 234 discrete categories based on combinations of 1,2 or 3 modes, this is an unwieldy dataset. For the purposes of profile.id, we have aggregated them into single methods, where certain methods override others. Aggregations are as follows:

'Train' includes any journey involving a train, whether or not other methods were used.

'Bus' includes any journey involving a bus, except for those also involving a train.

'Other' refers to any method not listed in the standard categories, plus any combination of two or three methods NOT involving a bus, train, tram or ferry.

The remaining categories refer to a single method of travel (e.g. 'Car as driver' when no other method was used).

'Walked only', 'Worked at home' and 'Did not go to work' are exclusive and never presented in combination with other methods. Where multiple responses are provided on the Census form, which include one of these, these methods override the others.

In 2021, light rail was added to the Tram category and ride share service was added to the Taxi category

LOCKDOWN EFFECTS

As many areas in Australia were in COVID-19 lockdown for Census night this is expected to have an effect on many employment related categories. The Method of Travel to Work is likely the most affected. Because this variable relates specifically to Census day, it doesn’t represent a “usual” method of travel. A lot more people were working from home, both long-term and short-term due to lockdowns, but Census cannot differentiate these categories. Lockdowns were in effect in these areas for Census day: Greater Melbourne, Greater Sydney, Hunter Region, Tamworth, Armidale, Byron, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina and Cairns Qld.

In lockdown areas, people were required to work from home if they could work from home. And many others were temporarily stood down (eg. In the hospitality sector). So the Census results for 2021 show a much higher rate of both “Worked at home” and “Did not go to work” for the method of travel, compared to earlier Censuses. For this reason caution should be exercised in comparing these results over time, including for other categories (eg. A corresponding drop in car and public transport use). The results are not incorrect but don’t necessarily represent a long-term baseline change, rather the effects of the short-term lockdowns.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary page for Method of Travel to Work (MTWP) (opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Disengaged persons by age

Derived from the two Census questions:

'Last week did the person have a full time or part time job of any kind?' and 'What type of educational institution is the person attending?'

Engagement in Employment and Education" is a new variable included in the 2016 and 2021 Census, which has also been reconstructed from other variables for 2011 Census. It is not available for any Census prior to 2011. It is based on the concept of labour force engagement which suggests that adults who are of working age should either be employed, looking for work, or in education and training. It is most often applied to the 15-24 age group but does apply to anyone over the age of 15. Persons over retirement age (usually 65) are generally disengaged simply due to being retired.

"Fully Engaged" includes all persons who are in full-time work, full-time education, or any combination of part-time work and part-time education.

"Partially or at least partially engaged" includes all persons who are in part-time work, OR part-time education but not both. Also includes people who were away from work during the week prior to Census, and those who stated that they were attending education but did not state their hours.

"Not Engaged" includes all persons who are unemployed or not in the labour force (not looking for work) and who are not attending any form of education.

"Engagement status undetermined" includes all persons who did not state both their labour force status or educational attendance or those who stated that they were either unemployed or not attending education, but did not state the other variable.

Workforce/Education Engagement is applicable to all persons aged 15+, and categories are shown disaggregated by broad age groups as this variable is highly correlated with age.

For more information on the Workforce Engagement topic, please see the ABS data Census dictionary page on Engagement in Employment, Education and Training(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Family blending

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's relationship (to each other person in the household)?'

Family blending is a specific derived Census variable which relates specifically to the parent-child relationships within the family.

Applicable to all couple families with children (only). All other household types are excluded.

• An intact family is a couple family containing at least one child who is the natural or adopted child of both partners in the couple, and no child who is the stepchild of either partner in the couple. Note that a child who is either the natural child of one partner but not of the other, or who is reported as being the stepchild of both parents, is classified as a stepchild. Intact families may also include other children who are not the natural children of either partner in the couple, such as foster children and grandchildren being raised by their grandparents.
• A stepfamily is a couple family containing one or more children, at least one of whom is the stepchild of one of the partners in the couple, and none of whom is the natural or adopted child of both members of the couple. Note that a child who is either the natural child of one partner but not of the other, or who is reported as being the stepchild of both parents, is classified as a stepchild. Stepfamilies may also include other children who are neither the natural child nor the stepchild of either partner in the couple, such as foster children and grandchildren being raised by their grandparents.
• A blended family is a couple family containing two or more children, of whom at least one is the natural or adopted child of both members of the couple, and at least one is the stepchild of either partner in the couple. Blended families may also include other children who are not the natural children of either parent.
• Other couple family refers to families containing one or more children where no child is the natural or adopted child of either partner in the couple, and no child is the stepchild of either parent in the couple. Examples of such couple families include those with foster children of any age, otherwise related or unrelated children aged under 15 years, or grandchildren being raised by their grandparents.

Temporarily absent children and parents are taken into account when deriving this characteristic (eg. a child who is away but listed as temporarily absent on the form, is still used in determining the category. A parent who is away does not make the household a single parent family). For more information on Family Blending, please refer to the Census Dictionary entry.

Households summary

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's relationship (to each other person in the household)?'

Describes the type of family and non-family households within a dwelling.

Includes all households within occupied private dwellings, and excludes persons counted in non-private dwellings (such as hotels, nursing homes and university colleges.

'A household' is a group of people living in a private dwelling making shared provision for meals.

'A family' is a group of people living in a private dwelling who are related by blood or marriage (including de-facto marriage and same-sex couples).

Households may contain up to three families each with a different family composition. Family households in this table are classified into broad family type by the family composition of the primary family only. This significantly simplifies the reading of the table. Multiple family households make up a very small proportion of all households (less than 2% nationwide) so this simplification is expected to have negligible effect on the output for most areas – but multiple family information is available from .id on request.

Household data are based on place of enumeration only – people recorded as being temporarily absent from households are included for the purposes of assessing household composition, but where the entire household was away on Census night, residents are not moved back into households by the usual resident process (unoccupied dwellings remain unoccupied, even in a usual residence view).

'Other families' includes any household of related individuals where a parent-child or couple relationship does not exist (e.g. siblings, uncle/nephew, grandparent-grandchild).

'Group household' includes any household consisting of two or more unrelated individuals (commonly known as share houses).

'Visitor only households' includes all households where there were no usual residents of the dwelling present (i.e. all persons in the household were resident elsewhere). An example of this would be a family staying in a holiday apartment. No family information is recorded in this case.

'Other not classifiable' households consist mainly of dwellings which the Census Field Officer believes were occupied on Census night but from which no form was returned. People are imputed into these households with most responses set to “Not Stated” (but age, sex and marital status are imputed). A small proportion of households in this category are those where only children aged under 15 were present on Census night (no adults), or there was insufficient information provided to accurately code a household type.

Same sex couple families are included in this table but not separately identified due to low numbers in many areas. Same sex couple information is available from .id on request.

For more information on household and family type, please refer to the Census dictionary and data quality statements for Family Household Composition(opens a new window).

Households with children by life stage

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's relationship (to each other person in the household)?'

Presents a subset of household/family type data, based on those households who have children.

Includes households, by the family type of the primary family in the dwelling. Where there is more than one family in a household, the type of family is coded by the "primary family", which is normally the first family recorded on the Census form.

Excludes 'Overseas visitors', but people temporarily absent from households are included in the Census when assessing the household type (e.g. a family with children where the child was away on Census night is still recorded as a family with children if the child’s details are recorded in the "persons temporarily absent" field). Equally if a parent is away but recorded as temporarily absent the couple family status is preserved and the household is not coded as a single parent family.

'Children' include either children under 15 (dependent by definition), dependent students aged 15-24, or independent children who are either non-students aged 15-24, or anyone over the age of 25. To be counted in this table, a parent-child relationship must exist in the household (which can be blood relationship, foster or step).

Couples and single parent families are broken into three 'life stages' based entirely on the age of the children. The age of parents is not a factor in this classification:

'Young children' includes households where all children are aged under 15.

'Mixed age children' includes households where there are children (two or more) both aged under 15, and 15 or over.

'Older children' includes households where all children are aged 15 or over. This can include adult-non dependent children.

Note that to be included in the 'Mixed age children' category a household must have more than one child present. A household with one child would move directly from the 'Young children' to the 'Older children' category under this classification.

For more general information about the classification of households in profile.id®, please see the data notes for the Household Summary table.

For more information on household and family type, please refer to the ABS data quality statement for Family Household Composition(opens a new window).

Households without children by life stage

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's relationship (to each other person in the household)?'

Presents a subset of household/family type data, based on couple and lone person households without children.

Includes same-sex couples, which are not shown separately. More information on same-sex couples is available from .id on request.

Couples and lone persons are broken into three 'life stages' based on the age of the household reference person. The household reference person is normally 'Person 1' on the Census form, or the first adult listed, and relationships in the household are defined by reference to this person. Where a child or visitor to the household is listed as person 1, the ABS allocates a different individual on the form to be the household reference person. In the case of a lone person household, the lone person is the household reference person. In the case of a couple, it may be either adult. There is no indicator of ‘household headship’ which is a term no longer used.

'Young' includes households where the household reference person is aged 15-44.

'Middle-aged' includes households where the household reference person is aged 45-64.

'Older' includes households where the household reference person is aged 65+

For more general information about the classification of households in profile.id®, please see the data notes for the Household Summary table.

For more information on household and family type, please refer to the ABS data quality statement for Family Household Composition(opens a new window).

Household size

Derived from the three Census questions:

'Name of each person including visitors who spent the night of Tuesday, 10 August 2021 in this dwelling', and 'Where does the person usually live?', and 'Name of each person who usually lives in this dwelling but was away on Tuesday, 10 August 2021.'

Counts households by the number of persons usually resident on Census night.

Includes occupied private dwellings with at least one resident home on Census night.

Includes people who were at home on Census night, and up to three people listed as being temporarily absent from the dwelling.

Excludes people who were in the dwelling but not usually resident there (i.e. visitors).

Excludes households where the entire household was absent on Census night - the dwelling is either unoccupied or has visitors only present. Also excludes “Other non-classifiable” households, which are mostly households where no Census form was returned, but the field officer has determined it to be occupied on Census night. Also households with only children under 15 present. None of these are counted for the household size variable.

For more information on this topic please see the Census dictionary page on Number of Persons Usually Resident (opens a new window).

Number of bedrooms

Derived from the Census question:

'How many bedrooms are there in this dwelling?'

Counts the number of rooms used as bedrooms in occupied private dwellings.

Includes occupied private dwellings.

Excludes unoccupied private dwellings because the number of bedrooms is recorded by the householder.

Excludes non-private dwellings.

‘0 or 1 bedrooms' includes bedsitters and studio apartments where the living area is also a bedroom.

The classification goes up to 5 or more bedroom dwellings, but more information on higher numbers of bedrooms is available on request.

For more information on this topic please see the ABS data quality statement on Number of Bedrooms(opens a new window).

Housing tenure

Derived from the Census questions:

'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)', and 'If this dwelling is being rented, who is it rented from?'

This topic presents the tenure type of occupied private dwellings, and for those dwellings being rented, provides a breakdown of the type of landlord the dwelling is being rented from.

Includes occupied private dwellings.

'Mortgage' includes all dwellings being paid off with a mortgage, as well as dwellings being purchased under a rent/buy scheme.

'Renting – social housing' includes households renting from a State/Territory Government housing authority (generally referred to as public housing) and households renting from a Community Housing Provider.

'Renting – private' refers to households renting from a real estate agent, a private person or an employer.

'Renting – not stated' refers to households who stated they were renting but did not state their landlord type.

'Other tenure type' includes life tenure schemes, occupied rent free and other forms of occupancy.

Note: The 2021 Census introduced a change in the classification of “rented”. This now excludes those occupying dwellings rent free, who are shown as part of the “other” category. Data for 2016, 2011 and 2006 have been adjusted to match this new definition and should be directly comparable to 2021. Users who have utilised Tenure Type data in the past may notice small changes to the ‘Rented’ and ‘Other’ categories. 2001 data still uses the old definition and there are several differences in the wording of the question in 2001 to subsequent years. So please take care when comparing Tenure Type data to 2001, which has been left for broad comparison only. Earlier years prior to 2001 are no longer available.

For more information on this topic please see the Census dictionary entry on Tenure Type(opens a new window).

Housing loan repayments

Derived from the Census questions:

'How much does your household pay for this dwelling?' and 'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)'

Presents monthly housing loan repayments made by a household to purchase the dwelling in which the household was counted on Census night.

Includes households (occupied private dwellings) who are purchasing their dwelling with a mortgage or under a 'rent/buy' scheme.

Includes caravans if they have a mortgage.

Home loan repayments represent what a household actually pays per month, and is not necessarily a minimum repayment, but can include households paying a higher repayment to pay back principal faster.

For more information on Mortgage Repayments, please see the ABS Data Quality statement.(opens a new window)

Housing loan repayment quartiles

Derived from the Census questions:

'How much does your household pay for this dwelling?' and 'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)'

See notes for Housing loan repayments as well.

Housing loan repayment categories are not comparable over time because of the influences of inflation. The quartile method is the most objective method of comparing change in mortgage payments in an area over time.

Mortgage quartiles look at the distribution of mortgage payments among households paying off their home in Adelaide Plains Council area relative to South Australia. Mortgage quartiles are created for South Australia by ranking all mortgagor households from the lowest payments to the highest payments and then dividing the list into four equal groups or quartiles. This is repeated for each Census period. The table shows the payment categories for each quartile in each Census period.

The analysis shows the number and proportion of mortgagor households in Adelaide Plains Council area falling into each of the four quartiles.

This gives a clear picture of how mortgage payments in Adelaide Plains Council area compare to South Australia. In South Australia 25% of persons fall into each category by definition. If, for example, Adelaide Plains Council area has 35% in the bottom category and only 15% in the highest, this indicates that the Adelaide Plains Council area has proportionally more people paying low mortgage repayments relative to the State, and less high mortgage payments.

More importantly, the dataset for South Australia is grouped into those four equal categories for the 2021, 2016, 2011, 2006 and 2001 Census independently. Repeating this process for each Census period, enables a comparison of areas over time, because the quartile becomes a constant, regardless of the dollar amounts involved enabling you to track change in a local area independent of inflation. For example, if Adelaide Plains Council area has had an increase in the proportion of households in the top mortgage payment quartile, this indicates that perhaps a large cohort of the population have bought in recently or the area has opened up to first home buyers, or perhaps the price of homes has just increased.

Housing rental payments

Derived from the Census questions:

'How much does your household pay for this dwelling?' and 'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)'

Presents weekly rent paid by for the dwelling in which they were counted on Census night.

Includes households (occupied private dwellings) renting their dwelling.

The 2021 Census specifically excludes those occupying their dwelling rent-free from the calculation of rent paid. For this reason rental cost information should not be compared directly to data from 2016 or earlier Censuses which hasn’t been adjusted for this change. The data on the quartiles page in profile.id includes this adjustment to past years.

Includes caravans being rented.

Excludes 'Other not classifiable' households as no information about their tenure type is available.

For more information on this topic please refer to the Census dictionary page for Weekly Rental Payments(opens a new window).

Housing rental payment quartiles

Derived from the Census questions:

'How much does your household pay for this dwelling?' and 'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)'

See data notes for Rental payments as well.

Rental payment categories are not comparable over time because of the influences of inflation. The quartile method is the most objective method of comparing change in the rental payments of an area over time.

Rental payment quartiles look at the distribution of rents among rented households in Adelaide Plains Council area relative to South Australia. Rental quartiles are created for South Australia by ranking all renting households from the lowest payments to the highest payments and then dividing the list into four equal groups or quartiles. This is repeated for each Census period. The table shows the payment categories for each quartile in each Census period.

The analysis shows the number and proportion of renting households in Adelaide Plains Council area falling into each of the four quartiles. This gives a clear picture of how rents in Adelaide Plains Council area compare to South Australia. In South Australia 25% of persons fall into each category by definition. If, for example, Adelaide Plains Council area has 35% in the bottom category and only 15% in the highest, this indicates that Adelaide Plains Council area has proportionally more people paying low rents relative to the State, and less high rent payers.

More importantly, the dataset for South Australia is grouped into four equal categories for the 2016, 2011, 2006 and 2001 Census independently. Repeating this process for each Census period, enables a comparison of areas over time, because the quartile becomes a constant, regardless of the dollar amounts involved enabling you to track change in a local area independent of inflation. For example, if Adelaide Plains Council area has had an increase in the number of households in the top rent payment quartile, this indicates that perhaps the area is gentrifying with rents increasing faster than in other parts of the State.

Please note that the ABS changed the definition of “Rented” in the 2021 Census to exclude dwellings occupied rent free. This change has been adjusted in profile.id for 2016, 2011 and 2006 Censuses in the calculation of quartiles so users can track real changes rather than changes in the definitions. It has not been adjusted for 2001, so care should be taken when comparing to this year.

Type of internet connection

Derived from the Census question:

'Does any member of this household access the internet from this dwelling'

This topic presents information about whether or not members of the household access the internet from the dwelling.

Only 2016 Census data are included in this topic, as the question wording changed considerably between 2011 and 2016 and it is no longer comparable. There is no 2021 Census data for this topic, as the question was not asked on the 2021 Census form. 2016 data is kept in here for information purposes, when a user selects this topic, the year is automatically changed to 2016. Users are advised not to compare to other data from the 2021 Census.

Internet access is quite high across Australia, at 79% of all households, but this variable also has a high not stated component, comprising 7.6% of all households.

For more information on this topic, please see the ABS data quality statement on Dwelling Internet Connection(opens a new window).

Car ownership

Derived from the Census question:

'How many registered motor vehicles owned or used by residents of this dwelling were garaged or parked at or near this dwelling on the night of 10 August 2021?'

Counts the number of registered motor vehicles owned or used by household members, garaged, parked at or near private dwellings on Census night.

Includes households in occupied private dwellings only.

Includes company owned vehicles.

Excludes motorbikes, scooters tractors and push bikes.

Excludes heavy vehicles (trucks, buses etc.)

Vehicles must be registered and driveable to be counted.

For more information on this topic, please see the Census dictionary entry for Number of Motor Vehicles(opens a new window).

Dwelling type

Derived from the Census:

'Dwelling Structure is derived from the ABS address register supplemented with information from Census Field Officers.'

Categorises the type and structure of dwellings.

Includes all private dwellings.

The system of having addresses allocated to structure types by Census field officers in 2011 and earlier are subject to systematic misinerpretation, particularly in determining the difference between semi-detached/townhouses and blocks of flats in 1-2 storey blocks. For this reason, to maintain consistency over time, the categories used here combine these two categories as 'medium density'. This creates a better measure of actual change over time in an area. We have applied the term 'density' here to the structure of the dwelling and not the number of dwellings per hectare.

In 2016 and 2021, the ABS moved to an Address Register as the uniform source for this information, with information only updated by field officers visiting a dwelling if it varied from this. In some cases this resulted in a change in the numbers of dwellings in some of the categories. Because 2016 and 2021 are collected on the same basis, no change to the methodology should impact change over this period.

'Separate house' includes all free-standing dwellings which are structurally separate from others

'Medium density' includes all semi-detached, row, terrace, townhouses and villa units, plus flats and apartments in blocks of 1 or 2 storeys, and flats attached to houses.

'High density' includes flats and apartments in 3 storey and larger blocks, including the new categories for 4-8 storeys and 9 storey or more.

'Caravans, cabins, houseboats' includes all such mobile accommodation, both inside and outside caravan parks (including caravans in private backyards).

'Other' includes houses and flats attached to shops or offices, and improvised homes, tents and sleepers out on Census night.

'Unoccupied dwellings' are shown in a separate table. An unoccupied dwelling is a dwelling where the Census Field Officer determined that it was vacant on Census night. Where they cannot determine this, the dwelling is usually treated as occupied. Dwellings may be unoccupied for a variety of reasons including:

• Residents away temporarily.
• Dwelling vacant or for sale.
• Dwelling derelict.
• Dwelling used as a holiday home and currently not being used.

'Non-private dwellings' are dwellings which provide a communal form of accommodation such as Hotels, Motels, Nursing Homes, Hospitals, Army Barracks, Staff Quarters, Boarding Houses, Homeless shelters, Youth hostels and Ski Lodges.

For more information on this topic, please see the ABS Census dictionary entries for Dwelling Structure (opens a new window) and Dwelling Type(opens a new window).

SEIFA indexes

The SEIFA indexes are derived from Census data by a method called Principal Component Analysis which is a regression technique that derives an index from a set of variables related to a concept, based on the level of correlation between those variables.

There are four indexes in the SEIFA set:

• Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD)
• Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage (IRSAD)
• Index of Economic Resources (IER) (not shown in profile.id)
• Index of Education and Occupation (IEO) (not shown in profile.id)

All indexes are designed to have an average (mean) for Australia of 1,000, and a standard deviation of 100. The mean for Australia differs slightly from this in practice due to the exclusion of some areas from the calculation of SEIFA.

The index of relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage (IRSD)

Of the four SEIFA indexes, the IRSD is by far the most commonly used. The IRSD compares the level of disadvantage between areas, and is not skewed by a high level of advantage. Technically a high score only measures a lack of disadvantage – NOT evidence of advantage

This index is derived from the relative proportions of 15 Census characteristics:

• % of people with stated household equivalised income between $1 and $25,999 per year
• % of families with children under 15 years of age who live with jobless parents
• % of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of education is Year 11 or lower (Includes Certificate I and II)
• % of occupied private dwellings paying rent less than $250 per week (excluding $0 per week)
• % of people (in the labour force) who are unemployed
• % of people (in the labour force) who are unemployed
• % of employed people classified as Labourers
• % of people aged under 70 who need assistance with core activities due to a long–term health condition, disability, or old age
• % of one parent families with dependent offspring only
• % of occupied private dwellings requiring one or more extra bedrooms
• % of employed people classified as Machinery Operators and Drivers
• % of people aged 15 years and over who are separated or divorced
• % of people aged 15 years and over who have no educational attainment
• % of employed people classified as low skill (skill level 4 and 5) Community and Personal Service workers
• % of occupied private dwellings with no cars
• % of people who do not speak English well

Note that in 2016, the proportion of dwellings without Internet access was a key contributor to the disadvantage calculation. In 2021 this could not be included as it wasn’t collected in the Census.

Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD)

The IRSAD summarises variables that indicate either relative socio-economic advantage or disadvantage. This index is derived from the relative proportions of 23 Census characteristics and has a greater ability to differentiate between the more advantaged areas.

15 CHARACTERISTICS INDICATING DISADVANTAGE IN IRSAD

• % of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of education is Year 11 or lower (Includes Certificate I and II)
• % of people living in households with stated annual household equivalised income between $1 and $25,999 (approx. first and second deciles)
• % of employed people classified as 'labourers'
• % of people aged under 70 who need assistance with core activities due to a long term health condition, disability, or old age
• % of families with children under 15 years of age who live with jobless parents
• % of employed people classified as Machinery Operators and Drivers
• % of occupied private dwellings paying rent less than $250 per week (excluding $0 per week)
• % of people aged 15 and over who are separated or divorced
• % of one parent families with dependent offspring only
• % of people (in the labour force) unemployed
• % of employed people classified as Low Skill (skill level 4 and 5) Community and Personal Service Workers
• % of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of educational attainment is a certificate III or IV qualification
• % of occupied private dwellings requiring one or more extra bedrooms (based on the Canadian National Occupancy Standard)
• % of people aged 15 years and over who have no educational attainment
• % of employed people classified as Low Skill (skill level 4 and 5) Sales

8 CHARACTERISTICS INDICATING ADVANTAGE IN IRSAD

• % of people living in households with stated annual household equivalised income greater than $91,000 (approx. 9th and 10th deciles)
• % of employed people classified as Professionals
• % of occupied private dwellings paying mortgage greater than $2,800 per month
• % of employed people classified as Managers
• % of occupied private dwellings paying rent greater than $470 per week
• % of people aged 15 years and over whose highest level of educational attainment is a diploma qualification
• % of occupied private dwellings with four or more bedrooms
• % of people aged 15 years and over at university or other tertiary institution

For more details on the construction of the index, plus further information on its use, see the SEIFA Methodology(opens a new window) or SEIFA Technical Paper(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Using SEIFA indexes

A low SEIFA score for an area does not necessarily imply anything about individuals living in the area as the score is for the area overall. While a low score probably indicates many low income people living there, it does not imply that any particular resident has a low income.

SEIFA indexes cannot be directly compared over time. The analysis is re-run every Census and different variables are used. For this reason only the latest SEIFA figures are presented on the site. A good example is the 2021 exclusion of the percentage of households without Internet access – highly correlated with disadvantage in 2016, this couldn’t be included in 2021 as it wasn’t collected in the Census.

Older indexes are available on request, but only the relative ranking of areas can be compared, rather than the numbers directly, and even then care needs to be taken, due to the different weighting of variables in different Census years.

Percentile is calculated by locating the suburb in the ABS Suburb and Locality classification with the closest SEIFA index to the small area on this profile, and reporting the percentile for that suburb. In many cases, the exact area reported on here may be a custom geography and therefore not in the ABS Suburb and locality list. For this reason, the exact number of suburbs higher or lower than the area is not given, and this should be taken as a guide to the relative position of this area within Australia. Also, while the percentile is applied to benchmarks in the list, including LGAs and higher regions, this represents the equivalent suburb level distribution and may not correspond to the percentile worked out from a list of similar sized standard geographic units (eg. LGAs).

For more information about the use of SEIFA please refer to the ABS publication above or contact .id.

Residential location of workers

Derived from the Census:

'For the main job held last week, what was the person's workplace address?'

This dataset is known as Journey to Work, and is derived from Census question 48 – "For the main job held last week, what was the person's workplace address?" With residential address also known, Journey to Work comprises a matrix linking origin (residence) and work destination.

The data presented here in table form show the Local Government Area of residence for employed persons who work within Adelaide Plains Council area. The map shows the spatial distribution of these workers.

If comparing work destination information with Method of Travel to work, please note the differing time periods – Workplace address relates to the week prior to Census, while Method of Travel relates to the morning of Census day. This has a negligible effect on the total counts but can explain some of the small numbers of strange LGA-LGA pairings which crop up such as people appearing to travel interstate to work. Some of these may be genuinely Fly-in/Fly-out workers (likely if the work destination is a known mining area), but others may have moved address in the differing timeframes assessed by the two questions. The difference is particularly important in the 2021 Census when large numbers of people worked from home on Census day due to the COVID pandemic and associated lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and parts of Queensland. Instructions from the ABS were for respondents to answer with their usual workplace address if they were working from home only temporarily, but if working from home permanently or long term, to state their home address as a work address. This means that the lockdowns have had negligible effect on the work destinations, but a large effect on method of travel as it relates to the day itself. The lockdowns also resulted in a greater proportion of people not working on Census day, but again, these people mostly stated their usual place of work. For more information please refer to the Census dictionary page for Place of Work on the ABS website.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary page for Place of Work(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Work location of residents

Derived from the Census:

'For the main job held last week, what was the person's workplace address?'

This dataset is known as Journey to Work, and is derived from Census question 48 – "For the main job held last week, what was the person's workplace address?" With residential address also known, Journey to Work comprises a matrix linking origin (residence) and work destination.

The data presented here in table form show the Local Government Area of work destination for employed persons who live within Adelaide Plains Council area. The map shows the spatial distribution of where these residents work.

Please note that not all employed persons can be accurately coded to a workplace address, and there is usually a component of “No usual address” which comprises people who travel around and don’t have a fixed place of work, as well as some “Undefined” areas.

If comparing work destination information with Method of Travel to work, please note the differing time periods – Workplace address relates to the week prior to Census, while Method of Travel relates to the morning of Census day. This has a negligible effect on the total counts but can explain some of the small numbers of strange LGA-LGA pairings which crop up such as people appearing to travel interstate to work. Some of these may be genuinely Fly-in/Fly-out workers (likely if the work destination is a known mining area), but others may have moved address in the differing timeframes assessed by the two questions. The difference is particularly important in the 2021 Census when large numbers of people worked from home on Census day due to the COVID pandemic and associated lockdowns in NSW, Victoria and parts of Queensland. The pandemic resulted in a somewhat elevated percentage of work from home even outside these areas. Instructions from the ABS were for respondents to answer with their usual workplace address if they were working from home only temporarily, but if working from home permanently or long term, to state their home address as a work address. This means that the lockdowns have had negligible effect on the work destinations, but a large effect on method of travel as it relates to the day itself. The lockdowns also resulted in a greater proportion of people not working on Census day, but again, these people mostly stated their usual place of work. For more information please refer to the Census dictionary page for Place of Work on the ABS website.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary page for Place of Work(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Migration by age

Derived from the Census questions:

'Where does the person usually live?' and 'Where did the person usually live five years ago (at 10 August 2016)'.

Migration information is collected by the ABS by a series of questions asking where a person usually lived 1 year and 5 years prior to Census day. Only 5-year migration figures are presented here.

The migration by age figures show the number of people who moved in and out of Adelaide Plains Council area between 2016 and 2021, by their age group, and place of migration.

The broad age groups used correspond with life stages when people are likely to make housing decisions and move (eg. leaving home, starting a family, retirement).

‘In migration’ relates to people who in 2021 lived within Adelaide Plains Council area, but 5 years earlier (in 2016) lived elsewhere in Australia.

‘Out migration’ relates to people who in 2021 lived elsewhere in Australia, but who stated that in 2016 they lived in Adelaide Plains Council area.

‘Net migration’ equals ‘In migration’ minus ‘Out migration’. On the Migration by Age by Location page, location of migration is ranked by the net total. Ie. In migration minus out migration. Some areas have high population exchange but little net change (about as many people move out as in) and may appear towards the middle of the list. High out migration appears towards the bottom while high net in-migration appears towards the top. The map shows areas of migration with Adelaide Plains Council area with either a net inflow or outflow of 10 people or more.

Please note that overseas migration is NOT included in this dataset, which relates only to migration within Australia. It is possible to have increasing population even if net migration of all age groups is negative, due to births and overseas migration.

For more information please refer to the Census dictionary entry for place of residence 5 years ago(opens a new window) on the ABS website.

Estimated Resident Population (ERP)

This dataset presents the last 10 years' official population estimates for Adelaide Plains Council area and small areas within it, including numerical and percentage change year on year, and comparison to the selected benchmark.

Estimated Resident Population is the official population of an area, if that area is based on one of the ABS standard geographic units (SA2s, LGAs). It adjusts for the net undercount found in Census data, people overseas on Census night, and is updated annually based on the number of registered births, deaths, and an estimate of overseas, interstate and intra-state migration.

While ERP is the most accurate measure of population at any point in time, it is subject to revision. Minor revisions are made each year to previous years' populations, and a final revision to the previous 5 years' results happens after each Census when the results are 'rebased' to the results of the most recent Census. This rebasing can alter populations significantly, depending on the Census findings, and indeed this is one of the reason we have a Census every 5 years.

Despite this revision, the ERP remains the official population count, and is used in allocation of funding at all levels of government, and the distribution of electorates by the Australian Electoral Commission.

What is presented here is always the latest version of the ERP and revisions are incorporated as they are released by the ABS.

Building approvals

Residential building approvals are compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics from permits issued by: local government authorities and other principal certifying authorities.

The data on this page counts the number of dwelling units created by the issue of building permits, regardless of the number of actual permits (eg. a single permit for a block of 50 apartments would count in this table as 50).

• A residential building is a building consisting of one or more dwelling units. Residential buildings can be either houses or other residential buildings.
• A house is defined as a stand-alone residential structure, separated on all sides from other dwellings by at least half a metre.
• An other residential building is a building other than a house primarily used for long-term residential purposes. An other residential building contains more than one dwelling unit within the same structure – for example - semi-detached, row or terrace houses; flats, unit or apartments in blocks, or flats attached to houses or shops.

Exclusions:

• Dwellings created by alterations/additions to existing dwellings are not included.
• Dwellings created by building work which is largely non-residential in nature (eg. a caretaker’s dwelling built as part of a new hospital) are also not included as dwelling units, though they are included in value of approval data (not presented in profile.id).

For more information on the building approvals dataset, please refer to ABS catalogue number 8731.0 – Building Approvals, Australia.

JobSeeker

JobSeeker and Youth Allowance statistics are released monthly by the Department of Social Services, at the SA2 level in Australia. These replace previous datasets released quarterly, on all Centrelink recipients registered in Australia.

JobSeeker name (from March 2020) for the payment formerly known as Newstart, and formerly known as JobSearch allowance. It is the current name for the welfare payment more broadly known as unemployment benefits, or colloquially "the dole".

Youth Allowance (other) is a payment to people aged 21 and under who are seeking work. It differs from student youth allowance which has conditions on undertaking study and replaces former AusStudy and apprenticeship allowances. Your Allowance (student) is not included in this table, while Youth Allowance, the equivalent of JobSeeker for those under 21, is included.

For more information on the Department of Social Services payments, see the raw JobSeeker datasets on data.gov.au

Data are shown here by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), which is how they are released. SA2s do not always align to Local Government Area boundaries. SA2s represent suburbs, towns districts which may cover multiple localities, with an average size of around 10,000 people.

The profile shows:

• All SA2s falling within an LGA, and with any significant component of population falling within that LGA.
• The entire population of that SA2 is represented, not just the part falling into the LGA.
• The LGA or regional total is created by aggregating SA2s by the proportion of their working-age population falling into the LGA at the 2021 Census. The JobSeeker and Youth Allowance numbers are apportioned by this population proportion to the LGA, but there is no provision made for a distribution of recipients within the boundaries - these are assumed to be uniform.
• For that reason, LGA numbers should be considered approximate only, where any SA2s cross the LGA boundary. In these cases, the sum of the SA2s listed will not equal the LGA total which includes only a portion of some SA2s.
• For the calculation of rates, the Estimated Resident Population at June 2022 aged 15-64 are used. This is the latest year for which population estimates by age are available. For some areas which have experienced significant population growth in the 2019-2022 period, the earlier JobSeeker numbers from the 2019 and 2020 years are likely to underestimate the JobSeeker rate due to recent population growth.
• From June 2023, JobSeeker numbers have been released on 2021 Census based SA2s. SA2 boundaries change every 5 years, and they are often split, particularly in growth areas. Past data for May 2023 and earlier are represented here using 2021 Census SA2s, and for those which have changed these use a population weighted correspondence to estimate the numbers for the earlier time periods which were only published on 2016 SA2 boundaries. For a few areas (particularly in areas experiencing population growth where the SA2 represents a new suburb) this correspondence is not a good measure and users may notice sharp jumps or declines in the JobSeeker numbers for these areas.

JobSeeker and Youth Allowance rates are intended to give a guide to the prevalence of unemployed population in the area in the current year, and latest month. They should be viewed in conjunction with socio-economic data available elsewhere on the community profile site, based on the 2021 and earlier Censuses, such as SEIFA, employment, occupation, education levels, disability etc.

Please note that the second chart shows JobSeeker rate change over time for the selected geographic area (LGA or SA2). The X-axis of this chart may relate to a variable time period depending on whether data are available monthly or quarterly. All datasets since March 2020 are available monthly.

Annual migration

Internal migration is the movement of population over periods of one year or more between states/territories and within states/territories. Internal migration is estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics annually, based on a combination of Census data (usual address one year ago), Medicare change of address data (provided by Services Australia), and Department of Defence records (for military personnel only).

Medicare is Australia's universal health insurance scheme and covers the vast majority of Australian residents. De-identified Medicare change of address counts are aggregated to SA2 and LGA levels. There are some people who are part of ERP but are not covered by Medicare, such as certain temporary visa holders. For others there is a time delay from when they move residence to when they update their address details with Medicare. To account for these issues, factors are applied to calibrate this data to internal migration data from the Census. These factors are applied by age, sex, state and move type (arrival or departure). Medicare data received for the year ending 30 September is used to estimate internal migration for the year ending 30 June. This assumes that on average the time between a person moving house and registering their change of address with Medicare is three months.

As many defence force personnel do not interact with Medicare, defence movements data is used to supplement the Medicare data. Aggregated defence force personnel movements are converted from postcode to SA2 and LGA levels. This data reflects the time of move, and is therefore not lagged.

The Medicare and defence data are combined to prepare regional internal migration estimates (RIME) at SA2 and LGA levels. The RIME estimates have been available since 2016-17, produced by ABS to refine and improve the accuracy of the Estimated Resident Population datasets. Released publicly for the first time on profile.id in 2021, RIME allows users to track changes in migration patterns since the last Census (but are subject to review at the next Census). And unlike Census they enable a year-by-year view of migration trends.

The map and table show the migration with reference to the LGA or Region of interest - the table shows in and out movements to every LGA in Australia which has at least 5 people moving in or out of the LGA of interest. The map shows only the net movement (in-movement minus out-movement) between the LGAs. Note that some LGAs with little movement can appear on the map if the movement is all one way (eg. 10 people moved in but no-one moved out), while others may have significant population exchange, but little net movement, and may not be shown (eg. 1,115 people moved in and 1,118 people moved out, for a net of -3). These LGAs will still appear in the table.

Any LGA with movement of less than 5 people either way in a given year is not shown in the table or the map, as these are not considered reliable estimates. The provided total of in and out movement still includes these, however, so the total will differ slightly from that obtained by summing the rows in the table.

Also please note that the sum of multiple years of migration provided may double count some people. Eg. a person could move in one year and out the next, and appear in different LGAs of movement over those time periods. As these are summed, they will be a little different from numbers which would be obtained by looking at movement over a fixed 4 or 5 year timeframe, as is done with Census data. Census is also a self-responded survey, while RIME is based on administrative data.

So while these figures are broadly comparable to the Census numbers and can reveal changes in migration post-Census, they will not be exactly the same, even when the time periods match.

For more information about RIME and its application to the calculation of Estimated Resident Population, please see the explanatory notes from ABS.

Long term health conditions

Derived from the Census question:

'Has the person been told by a doctor or nurse that they have any of these long-term health conditions?'

Long-term health conditions is a new topic with several variables based on a question asked for the first time in the 2021 Census. The question asks whether respondents have been medically diagnosed with any of ten long-term health conditions (or any other as a single category) by a doctor or nurse.

Advice on answering the question is to include any recurring health condition which has lasted or is expected to last for six months or more.

The ten standard conditions with information collected are:

• Asthma
• Cancer (including remission)
• Dementia (including Alzheimer's)
• Diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes wihch is expected to be transient)
• Heart disease (including heart attack or angina)
• Kidney disease
• Lung condition (eg. emphysema)
• Mental health condition (including deprssion or anxiety)
• Stroke

Respondents can also mark a box for "Any other long-term health condition" which counts towards the total for people with a long-term condition.

These health conditions combined make up about 60% of all causes of death in Australia.

Long-term health conditions is a multi-response variable. This means that the sum of the total categories can equal more than the total population, as people can appear in more than one category. Unlike the other multi-response variable - Ancestry - respondents are not limited in the number of long-term health conditions they can record. However if a respondent marks 'No long-term health condition' and also marks the other fields, the 'None' response is ignored.

Because of the multi-response nature, no total is provided in the first table, which shows the percentage of population in each health condition category. These may add to more than 100% (but won't in most cases, though they will add to more than the "Total population with at least one long-term health condition", as individuals can be in multiple categories).

The second, summary table includes the total population, those with no long-term condition, as well as the exclusive category "Population with at least one long-term health condition", and Not Stated. These categories are exclusive and sum to 100% of the population.

Note that long-term health conditions data from the Census are less detailed and may not be comparable with that obtained by detailed interview, such as via the National Health Survey. They are provided for geographic comparison and should be viewed in conjunction with other datasets such as age structure (health is highly age-correlated), education, socio-economic indexes etc. As this is a new collection for 2021, time series data are currently unavailable.

No information is collected on the length of time the person has had a condition, or the severity of that condition.

More information on this topic can be found in the ABS Census dictionary(opens a new window) .

Defence Service

Derived from the Census question:

'Has the person ever served in the Austrlalian Defence Force?'

Australian Defence Force Service is a new on a question asked for the first time in the 2021 Census. The question asks whether respondents have current or past service with the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

For the purpose of this question, ADF service includes:

• Australian Army (including NORFORCE)
• Royal Australian Navy
• Royal Australian Air Force

Past service in National Service and the Second Australian Imperial Force are also included.

Reserves service is usually part-time and is counted separately but counts as total service.

Service in the defence force of other nations is NOT counted in this topic.

The question is multiple response - Current service in the regular or reserves service is mutually exclusive. Past service can include both. For output, current service supersedes past service. Eg. if a respondent was currently a reserves member but had previous regular service, only the reserves service will show at this question. Past service implies no current service, though a more detailed version of the categories can differentiate this.

The topic applies only to those aged 15 years and over.

More information on this topic can be found in the ABS Census dictionary(opens a new window) .