Aboriginal population change in remote Australia, 1986-91: Data issues

Abstract

Given the crucial role played by census data in informing economic and social policies directed at the Aboriginal population in remote areas, some assessment of the quality of remote area data is required as these are derived from enumeration procedures which differ fundamentally from the standard approach employed in the census. As a prelude to analysing change between 1986 and 1991 in the characteristics of the Aboriginal population in remote parts of the Northern Territory (NT), this paper provides a brief summary of the remote area census enumeration strategy employed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and highlights possible implications for the interpretation of census counts and census characteristics.