Crikey

The reports on social disadvantage by the Australian Bureau of Census and Statistics are some of the most eagerly awaited sections of data collected at the Australia wide census — last month it released preliminary data based on more than 37,000 individual collection districts for one of its four measures of disadvantage. At Crikey we’ve toiled through the numbers to come up with this summary of the most and least disadvantaged places in Australia.

Throughout the week, Crikey will present profiles of the best of the best places in Australia, and the worst of the very worst.

And the biggest loser is … Jilkminggan in the Lower Top End of the Northern Territory.

The Preliminary Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage (PIRSD) recently published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics puts the 273 residents of Jilkminggan as being the most disadvantaged in the country. The PIRSD summarises a wide range of information on disadvantage collected from the 2006 census, including low income, little education, high unemployment and unskilled occupations.

The Northern Territory and Western Australia occupy all the positions in the top 10 list of disadvantaged areas.

THE 10 MOST SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED AREAS MEASURED IN THE 2006 CENSUS

(To see the location of each area click on the Census Collection District number)

And Australia’s Biggest Winners

The list of area of Australia with the least disadvantage is headed by Rockingham, Western Australia with its census collection district of 26 people ranked number 37457 on the PIRSD.

THE 10 LEAST SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED AREAS IN AUSTRALIA MEASURED IN THE 2006 CENSUS

(To see the location of each area click on the Census Collection District number.)

The full set of four Socio-economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), of which the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage featured today in Crikey, will be released on 26 March. The full release of SEIFA will also contain the following indexes:

• Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage/Disadvantage – looks at the whole continuum of advantage to disadvantage;
• Index of Economic Resources – focuses specifically on financial aspects of advantage and disadvantage; and the
• Index of Education and Occupation – includes education and occupation variables only.

Information in this full release will be available for Postal Areas, Statistical Local Areas and Local Government as well as the smaller Census Collection Districts which the preliminary release is limited to.

The Best and Worst in Each State and Territory

MOST SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED AREA IN EACH STATE AND TERRITORY IN THE 2006 CENSUS

(To see the location of each area click on the Census Collection District number)

LEAST SOCIALLY DISADVANTAGED AREA IN EACH STATE AND TERRITORY IN THE 2006 CENSUS

(To see the location of each area click on the Census Collection District number.)

Tomorrow: The best and worst suburbs in NSW and the ACT.