Census set for August

Census night will be held in the South West on Tuesday, August 9 and the Australian Bureau of Statistics said it was ready to complete Australia’s biggest ever peacetime logistical operation.

Head of the population census program Paul Lowe said the census would shed some light on every community in Australia.

The ABS has found that since the 1996 census, the number of young people either left off the form for the household where they were staying, or were staying in a household where no form was returned at all was growing.

In the 2006 census, men aged 20-34 were under represented in the census by 7.5 per cent, for those aged 25-29 years it was 8.1 per cent.

Similarly, the under representation of young women 20-34 years was 6 per cent, for those aged 25-29 it was 5.7 per cent.

MrLowe said it was compulsory for everyone in Australia on census night to be counted so the ABS had an accurate snapshot of the South West and Australia.

‘‘The census lights the way forward for planning such things as schools, hospitals, roads, health services and public transport,’’ he said.

‘‘Charities, big and small businesses, community organisations, students and researchers all use census data every day.’’

Later this month, 29,000 census collectors will hand deliver census forms to every household in Australia.

More information is available online at www.abs.gov.au/census.