Australians are about to get a clearer idea of how we are changing as a nation, and how the Covid pandemic changed us, when results from the 2021 census are released.
On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release the first tranche of data covering topics such as population flows between cities and regional areas, how Australians are housed, the languages we use, Indigenous health and education, employment and unpaid rates of work.
Demographers are eagerly anticipating Tuesday’s release as a snapshot of mid-pandemic Australia.
However they are cautioning that on an initial glance the results will tell two very different stories: on the night the census was taken, 10 August 2021, half the country was in lockdown while other states enjoyed some of the most relaxed rules on internal movement during the pandemic.
What can we expect?
Dr Liz Allen, a demographer at the…
