Data use considerations
Changes between censuses can affect the interpretation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples data. It is important to remember that this variable is collected through self-identification and any change in identification will affect the count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This variable does not have a non-response rate as it is created during Census processing by using responses from one or more questions on the Census form.
The 2021 Post Enumeration Survey estimated that 983,257 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should have been counted in the Census, compared with 812,505 persons who were counted. This is equivalent to a net undercount of 170,752 persons, or a rate of 17.4%. For further information see Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians methodology or Report on the quality of 2021 Census data: Statistical Independent Assurance Panel.
A person’s decision to identify as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin in the Census may be considered personal and sensitive. How a person responds to this question can be informed by many personal and external influences, both historical and contemporary (see Understanding change in counts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: Census, 2021). The response given may also depend on whether Indigenous status is provided directly by the individual or by someone else on behalf of the household. As a result, some people choose not to answer the Indigenous status question in the Census.
If no answer is provided to the Indigenous status question, a person’s Indigenous status is set to ‘not stated’. A person’s Indigenous status is also set to ‘not stated’ where person records are imputed for dwellings that were deemed occupied on Census night but for which no Census form was received. The Census does not impute Indigenous status for people or dwellings.
