Census results worth their weight in gold when digging through data

As we navigate our difficult post-pandemic recovery and deal with shifting demographics, the census means we at least don’t have to fly blind.

More than half of us (52 per cent) now are either first- or second-generation immigrants, writes Simon Kuestenmacher. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Less than a year after census day, the first data is being published. This is possible only because so many of us waved the paper form goodbye. More than 79 per cent of us have done their best to make life easier for the ABS by using the online option.

Australia is now home to 25.4 million people. Let me inform those among you who are old enough to remember filling out the 1971 census that we’ve since doubled our population.

You will, however, miss out on seeing the next doubling of our population, which should have occurred by the 2086 census – assuming, of course, that we continue to attract migrants in high numbers over the coming six decades.

Talking of migrants, more than half of us (52 per cent) now are either first- or second-generation immigrants. This is a very high proportion in international comparison.

This isn’t what a racist nation looks like.

Of course, any agglomeration of millions of people will create some social tensions but, considering just how diverse Australia is, we must congratulate ourselves on creating a welcoming and successful nation.

I was a bit disheartened to learn that 850,000 residents have poor or no command of the English language. That slows down social integration and locks people into low-income jobs. Language training is key, but we might also want to rethink English-language requirements when handing out visas.

Probably my favourite top-level finding from the census data is the fact that the Indigenous population count went up steeply: to 813,000 people (3.2 per cent of the population). This increase of 25 per cent compared to 2016 data wasn’t the result of high birth rates but that more people were willing to identify as Indigenous on the census form.

Social progress feels painfully slow for the relevant cohort, but zooming out, looking at longitudinal data, allows us to be much more optimistic about societal trends.

We collectively created an environment where more people are confident enough to proclaim their heritage loudly and proudly. There is plenty of work to be done to close the gap, but the trend is going in the right direction.

Other societal trends have developed in predictable ways. We continue to become less religious. More than 39 per cent of us have no religious affiliation whatsoever. That is up from 30 per cent in 2016 and 22 per cent in 2011.

There is much more information hiding in the census data. This release isn’t even the tip of the iceberg.

Our census is conducted every five years and asks 65 questions. The US runs a census every 10 years and asks 16 questions, while most of Europe forgoes the effort. The depth of knowledge that we can create about our country is order of magnitudes better than anything coming out of the US, Europe, or anywhere else besides Singapore, Canada and New Zealand.

The exercise is worth its weight in gold as it allows government to improve service delivery (you be the judge of how well that is going) and business to learn about its audiences.

As we navigate our difficult post-pandemic recovery, move through challenging geopolitical waters and deal with shifting demographics, the census means we at least don’t have to fly blind.