Here's a thread to post any news/press releases you come across concerning the 2006 Census results. The first stage of data releases has just commenced, so expect to see lots of associated media over the next few weeks.


Getting younger

LIZ McKINNON
The Townsville Bulletin

28Jun07

THE twin cities population has proved to be a hard number to add up.

The census, released yesterday, has lost 10,000 Townsville residents.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has blamed the calculation error on residents travelling overseas.

The census showed there were 154,628 residents in the twin cities compared to its previous estimates of 165,059, announced in February.

It is a figure far lower than estimates which predicted there were more than 100 people moving to Townsville each week.

And only a slight increase from the 2002 census figure of 145,879.

The ABS said 5189 twin cities homes were unoccupied on the night of the census last year which could explain some of the change.

But Colliers International Townsville director of research Colin Dwyer was sceptical about the results.

When he called the ABS to question the results he was told they would look into his query over the coming days.

But the discrepancy flowed on to the Queensland total. It is estimated about 4.1 million live in the state but the latest census had the figure at 3.9 million.

Townsville still has the region's highest population with 95,464 while Thuringowa has 59,164.

This includes 40,000 families including 44.5 per cent who are couples with children.

A staggering 16.5 per cent were sole parents with children while 37.2 per cent of couples had no children.

Indigenous people made up 5.5 per cent of the population compared to 2.3 per cent Australia-wide.

"There are more females than males in Greater Townsville (combined Townsville and Thuringowa) but surprisingly in Townsville there are more males than females, 50.7 per cent were males," Mr Dwyer said.

"The Defence Force presence and a region servicing male prison explain this variation."

And the region is no longer being dominated by sun chasing retirees. Young professionals are racing into town.

The region is dominated by residents in the 25 to 54-year-old bracket which hold 43.1 per cent per cent of the total population.

Retirees aged over 65 had a four per cent slump to 9.3 per cent.

Figures show more dollars, more men, higher rents

28.06.2007
THE DAILY MERCURY

IF you're male, aged 37, earn a weekly income of at least $523, pay around $1300 in house loan repayments per month, earn more money and do less housework than your female counterpart, consider yourself the average Mr Mackay.

Mr Mackay earns more money, pays more rent and is younger than the average Aussie, but if he happens to be single, he should get in quick, because there's not enough women to go around.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday released the 2006 census results, which found that there were far more men than women living in a city with a population that had increased from 74,573 to 84,890 in five years.

While in most areas of Australia there were more women than men, in Mackay, 50.8% were males and 49.2% were females, a sign that our male dominated industries were impacting on our gender ratio.

The average Mackay person, aged 35, is slightly younger than the average Australian, aged 37, and many seem more interested in heading straight into the workforce, with the number of students in university dropping by 179 since the 2001 census.

The results of census night (on August 8, 2006) also proved that the cost of living in Mackay was slightly more than most cities, but our average resident was slightly wealthier than most Australians.

In the Mackay local government area, the median weekly rent was $200, compared to the $190 national median while the median monthly housing loan repayment was $1300, compared to $1300 nationally.

In Mackay 31% of occupied private dwellings were fully owned, 32.8% were being paid off and 27.4% were rented.

In Mackay last year, there were 1307 families making house loan repayments between $950 and $1199 a month but there was a staggering 1446 families keeping up with the Joneses and making monthly repayments between $2000 and $2999. In 2001 there were only 154 families paying this amount.

Speaking of the Joneses, there are 2452 men earning a top-end gross individual weekly income of $2000 or more, but only 319 women were earning this amount.

There were 5575 women earning an individual gross weekly income of $400 to $599, but only 3567 men earning the same. The median weekly individual income for persons aged 15 years and over was $523, compared with a national median of $466.

From Sunshine Coast Daily:

Population tops quarter of a million

28.06.2007
By ALAN LANDER

CALOUNDRA and Maroochy populations are exploding, while Noosa's chosen cap fits.

Six hundred and sixty people a month chose to become part of the Coast's population in the last five years, but most are going to the southern Coast shires.

According to 2006 Census figures released yesterday, the local population rose by nearly 40,000 since 2001 - a staggering 17%.

The Coast is now home to 276,265 residents, with the biggest population increase occurring in Caloundra City - a rise of just over 20%, or 14,650.

This compared with a rise of only 9.5% in Noosa, where the population grew from 41,866 in 2001 to 45,831 in 2006.

The most populous shire, Maroochy, grew by 17.3% to 142,838, a rise of over 21,000 in five years.

While the average age in Australia is 37, Maroochy's is 39, and Caloundra's, 42.

Noosa beat them both, with a median age of 43, but was bested by Bribie Island - more than a third of its population is aged 65 and over.

And where population rises, so does the number of homes.

The number of dwellings on the Coast has risen by over 21,500, while the number of Coast families has gone up by 5767.

The number of childless families (44.8%) outstrips those with children (38.4%), in the Coast's three local authority areas.

Forty-three per cent of Maroochy families are childless, rising to 45% in Caloundra and to 47% in Noosa.

One-parent family numbers have risen slightly since the last census, with a total of just over 12,000, or 15.9%.

In the financial stakes, median family incomes across the three shires are fairly close.

The figure for Maroochy is $1072 a week, $1027 in Caloundra, and $1013 in Noosa.

Individual median earnings are $440 a week (Maroochy), $411 (Caloundra) and $420 (Noosa).

Monthly mortgage payments are identical across the shires at $1300 a month, and rental costs vary slightly - Maroochy and Noosa $230 a week, Caloundra $240.

Just under one-third of Maroochy and Noosa homes are fully owned, compared to 37.3% in Caloundra.

Thirty per cent of Maroochy and Noosa homes are being purchased, and 28% in Caloundra.

On the Coast, 116,381 of us are married, and 61,795 have never married.

Nearly 31,000 of us are separated or divorced and just over 11,000 are widowed.

Figures also suggest we are becoming a more godless people on the Coast - with the exception of Caloundra.

Interestingly, Maroochy has outdone Noosa in the number of South Africans who have taken up residence.

Annemari Botes, 25, came to the Coast after her father left Pretoria 11 years ago.

Needless to say, the Coast was his first and only choice - and the family came out.

Annemari and husband, Pieter, 26, arrived here in March. The Pacific Paradise-based couple has every intention of numbering up for the Coast in the 2011 census.