The Census of Population and Housing (the Census) paints a picture of who we are and how we live.

Today’s release includes data by characteristics of individuals (age, sex, religion, birth country and language spoken at home, to name a few), a range of data by household, family and dwellings (eg income and housing costs), and data from 2 new Census questions, Selected long-term health conditions and Australian Defence Force (ADF) service.

The Census is the main source of information on smaller regions such as suburbs, electorates and local government areas, with initial findings now available from Quickstats and Community profiles.

Who we are – Australia’s population

On Census night 2021 Australia had 25.4 million people (excluding overseas visitors), up from 23.4 million in 2016—an increase of just over 2 million people. In 2021, as in 2016, just over half (50.7%) of Australian residents were female, and the median age of Australians is still 38 years.

In 2021 there were 812,728 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the Census, or 3.2% of the Australian population, up from 2.8% in 2016 and 2.5% in the 2011 Census. This is an increase of 25.2% since 2016. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are younger than all Australians, with a median age of 24 years. 

Table 1     Census 2021 Selected population statistics by States and Territories

Note: See source tables for explanation of categories and caveats on the data.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2021 Census of Population and Housing, General Community Profile, Australia, State and Territory tables G01 and G02 (Canberra: ABS, 2022). Additional calculations by the Parliamentary Library

Birthplace and Ancestry

In 2021, 2 in 3 or 66.9% of usual residents were born in Australia, compared to 66.7% in 2016. In addition to changes in the top 5 countries of birth (table 2), there has been a substantial increase in the number and proportion of Australian residents born in Nepal, Pakistan, Iraq and the Philippines between 2016 and 2021.

Table 2     Top 5 countries of birth 2021

Notes: China excludes special administrative regions and Taiwan

Source: ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, General community profile, Australia, and Quickstats (Canberra: ABS, 2022)

Table 3     Top 10 ancestry responses in 2021 compared to 2016

Note: Ancestry is counted in responses as individuals can nominate 2 ancestries. Changes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestry sequencing in the online Census form may have contributed to increased responses in this category, so 2016 and 2021 figures are not comparable.
Source: ABS 2021 Census of Population and Housing, General community profile, Australia, and Quickstats (Canberra: ABS, 2022)

How we live — household and family relationships, income and housing

In 2021 over 23.5 million people lived in 9.3 million private dwellings, with almost 1.9 million people living in other dwellings, such as nursing homes and boarding houses. Table 4 shows average incomes, household size and housing costs for households in each state.

The Census counted 6.7 million family households. Of these, 39% were couples with no children (living with them in the household), 44% were couples with children, and 16% were one parent households. The average number of children in families stayed at 1.8.

In 2021 there were over 2.5 million families living with children aged under 15. As in 2016, about 1 in 5 of these families (21%) were one parent families.

Changes to the Marriage Act in 2017 allowed same sex couples to marry in Australia. In 2021 there were 23,914 same-sex registered marriages and 78,425 same-sex couples living together, an increase from the 46,770 same-sex couples living together reported in the 2016 Census.

Table 4    Income and housing selected medians and averages by State and Territory

Source: ABS (2022) 2021 Census of Population and Housing, General community profile, Australia, State and Territory tables G02 (Canberra: ABS, 2022)

New insights

Data from 2 new questions on selected long-term health conditions and on Australian Defence Force (ADF) service can offer insights on the health and social supports needed by potentially vulnerable groups. including veterans and small communities across Australia.

Mental health, arthritis and asthma are the 3 most reported conditions, with over 2 million people with each condition. Long-term health conditions were selected based on the need for greater understanding of these conditions. The count is published by country of birth, income range, disability status and ADF service.

More than half a million Australians or 2.8% of the Australian population aged 15 years and over, have served or are currently serving (84,865) in the ADF.

This Census gives us a fine-grained snapshot of the population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further insights on the impacts of COVID-19 are expected in the second release of Census data. Changing patterns between Censuses are expected to appear in the data on employment arrangements, journey to work, occupation and internal migration, to be released in October.

The ABS has published a range of media releases offering insights into the first release of Census data.