This dataset presents the estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, non-Indigenous and total populations of Australia for the year ending at 30 June 2016, based on results of the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. The data is by Local Government Areas (LGA) following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia comprises people who are of Aboriginal origin, Torres Strait Islander origin or both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. The Commonwealth definition of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person is: a person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who; identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin and who is; accepted as such by the community with which the person associates. This data is Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data (catalogue number: 3238.0.55.001) used with permission from the ABS. For more information please visit the ABS Explanatory Notes. Please note: AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

This dataset has been developed by the Australian Government as an authoritative source of indigenous location names across Australia. It is sponsored by the Spatial Policy Branch within the Department of Communications and managed solely by the Department of Human Services.

The dataset is designed to support the accurate positioning, consistent reporting, and effective delivery of Australian Government programs and services to indigenous locations.

The dataset contains Preferred and Alternate names for indigenous locations where Australian Government programs and services have been, are being, or may be provided. The Preferred name will always default to a State or Territory jurisdiction's gazetted name so the term 'preferred' does not infer that this is the locally known name for the location. Similarly, locational details are aligned, where possible, with those published in State and Territory registers.

This dataset is NOT a complete listing of all locations at which indigenous people reside. Town and city names are not included in the dataset. The dataset contains names that represent indigenous communities, outstations, defined indigenous areas within a town or city or locations where services have been provided.

This dataset presents information from G07 – Indigenous status by age by sex in Australia based on the general community profile from the 2021 Census. It contains characteristics of persons, families, and dwellings by Local Government Areas (LGA), 2021, from the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3.

This dataset is part of a set of web services based on the 2021 Census. It can be used as a tool for researching, planning, and analysis. The data is based on place of usual residence (that is, where people usually live, rather than where they were counted on Census night), unless otherwise stated.

Small random adjustments have been made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of respondents. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For further information see the 2021 Census Privacy Statement, Confidentiality, and Introduced random error/perturbation.

Made possible by the Digital Atlas of Australia The Digital Atlas of Australia is an Australian Government initiative being led by Geoscience Australia. It will bring together trusted datasets from across government in an interactive, secure, and easy-to-use geospatial platform. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is working in partnership with Geoscience Australia to establish a set of web services to make ABS data available in the Digital Atlas.

Contact the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) If you have questions, feedback or would like to receive updates about this web service, please email geography@abs.gov.au. For information about how the ABS manages any personal information you provide view the ABS privacy policy.

Data and geography references Source data publication: G07 – Indigenous status by age by sex Geographic boundary information: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 Further information: About the Census, 2021 Census product release guide – Community Profiles, Understanding Census geography Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

The number of Aboriginal females and their proportion of the total Aboriginal female population for 5 year age groups to 65+, 2015. Aboriginal as used in this workbook refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (all entries that were classified as not shown, not published or not applicable were assigned a null value; no data was provided for Maralinga Tjarutja LGA, in South Australia). The data is by LGA 2015 profile (based on the LGA 2011 geographic boundaries). For more information on Indigenous population estimates refer to: http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/. Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on data developed by Prometheus Information Pty Ltd, under a contract with the Australian Government Department of Health.

This dataset presents the estimates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, non-Indigenous and total populations of Australia for the year ending at 30 June 2016, based on results of the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. The data is by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) regions following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia comprises people who are of Aboriginal origin, Torres Strait Islander origin or both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin. The Commonwealth definition of an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person is: a person of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who; identifies as being of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin and who is; accepted as such by the community with which the person associates. This data is Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data (catalogue number: 3238.0.55.001) used with permission from the ABS. For more information please visit the ABS Explanatory Notes. Please note: AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

This dataset presents a range of data items sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The data is derived from the November 2024 release of Data by region. Individual data items present the latest reference year data available on Data by region. This layer presents data by Local Government Areas (LGA), 2021.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples theme is based on groupings of data within Data by region. Concepts, sources and methods for each dataset can be found on the Data by region methodology page.

Topics in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples theme include:

Estimated resident population Language (Census) Engagement in employment, education or training (Census) Labour force status (Census) Unpaid assistance to person with disability (Census) Unpaid childcare (Census) Voluntary work (Census) Tenure type (Census)

The Closing the Gap topics that are informed by Census data are included in the update:

Target 5: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 20-24 years attaining Year 12 or an equivalent qualification to 96 per cent. Target 6: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-34 years who have completed a tertiary qualification (Certificate III and above) to 70 per cent. Target 7: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth aged 15-24 years who are in employment, education or training to 67 per cent. Target 8: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 25-64 years who are employed to 62 per cent. Target 9A: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 88 per cent.

When analysing these statistics:

Time periods, definitions, methodologies, scope, and coverage can differ across collections.
Some data values have been randomly adjusted or suppressed to avoid the release of confidential data, this means

    some small cells have been randomly set to zero
    care should be taken when interpreting cells with small numbers or zeros.

Data and geography references

Source data publication: Data by region Geographic boundary information: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 Further information: Data by region methodology, reference period 2011-24 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

Made possible by the Digital Atlas of Australia

The Digital Atlas of Australia is a key Australian Government initiative being led by Geoscience Australia, highlighted in the Data and Digital Government Strategy. It brings together trusted datasets from across government in an interactive, secure, and easy-to-use geospatial platform. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is working in partnership with Geoscience Australia to establish a set of web services to make ABS data available in the Digital Atlas of Australia.

Contact the Australian Bureau of Statistics

Email geography@abs.gov.au if you have any questions or feedback about this web service.
Subscribe to get updates on ABS web services and geospatial products.

Privacy at the Australian Bureau of Statistics Read how the ABS manages personal information - ABS privacy policy.

The number of Aboriginal people and their proportion of the total population. The data is estimated resident populations (ERP non-ABS) developed by Prometheus Information, 2015 (all entries that were classified as not shown, not published or not applicable were assigned a null value; no data was provided for Maralinga Tjarutja LGA, in South Australia). The data is by LGA 2015 profile (based on the LGA 2011 geographic boundaries). For more information on Indigenous population estimates refer to: http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/. Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on data developed by Prometheus Information Pty Ltd, under a contract with the Australian Government Department of Health.

Austlang provides information about Indigenous Australian languages which has been assembled from referenced sources.\r \r The dataset provided here includes the language names, each with a unique alpha-numeric code which functions as a stable identifier, alternative/variant names and spellings and the approximate location of each language variety.\r \r Please note this is a live dataset and is updated regularly.\r \r As this dataset file is generated live, please be patient as it downloads.\r \r The complete Austlang resource can be found on the AIATSIS website at https://collection.aiatsis.gov.au/austlang/about

This is a superseded dataset, the most recent Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate spatial dataset can be found at: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/forest-data-maps-and-tools/spatial-data/indigenous-land-and-forest.

Australia’s Indigenous forest estate (2018) is a continental spatial dataset of forest and non-forest land over which Indigenous peoples and communities have ownership, management, or rights of use, assembled for Australia's State of the Forests Report 2018. It was developed from multiple data sources, including national, state and territory datasets related to land in which there is an Indigenous interest. The Indigenous land dataset is then combined with forest cover information from the Forests of Australia (2018) dataset: https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/forests-of-australia-2018

The dataset was compiled by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for the National Forest Inventory (NFI), a collaborative partnership between the Australian and state and territory governments. The role of the NFI is to collate, integrate and communicate information on Australia's forests. The NFI applies a national classification to state and territory data to allow seamless integration of these datasets. Multiple independent sources of external data are used to fill data gaps and improve the quality of the final dataset.

The NFI classifies Indigenous land into four categories: *Indigenous owned and managed: freehold land that is both owned and managed by Indigenous communities *Indigenous managed: land that is managed, but not owned, by Indigenous communities; and lands that are owned by Indigenous people but have formal shared management agreements with Australia and state and territory government agencies *Indigenous co-managed: land that is owned and managed by other parties, but has a formal, legally binding agreement in place that includes input from Indigenous people in the process of developing and implementing a management plan *Other Special rights: land subject to native title determination, registered Indigenous land use agreement, and legislated special cultural use provision.

The Australia’s Indigenous forest estate (2018) dataset is produced to fulfil requirements of Australia's National Forest Policy Statement and the Regional Forests Agreement Act 2002 (Cwth), and is used by the Australian Government for domestic and international reporting.

This dataset is updated every five years for the Australia's State of the Forests Report Series. Further information can be found on the Forests Australia website: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/sofr/sofr-2018

The number of Aboriginal males and their proportion of the total Aboriginal male population for 5 year age groups to 65+, 2015. Aboriginal as used in this workbook refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (all entries that were classified as not shown, not published or not applicable were assigned a null value; no data was provided for Maralinga Tjarutja LGA, in South Australia). The data is by LGA 2015 profile (based on the LGA 2011 geographic boundaries). For more information on Indigenous population estimates refer to: http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/. Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on data developed by Prometheus Information Pty Ltd, under a contract with the Australian Government Department of Health.

SA2 based data for Selected Person Characteristics by Indigenous Status by Sex, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Profile (ATSIP), 2016 Census. Count of persons. The dataset includes the following characteristics: age bracket, location on census night, language spoken at home, English proficiency, Religion, age bracket of those attending an educational institution, highest year level of schooling complete and type of usual residence. I01 is also broken up into 3 sections (I01a – I01c), this section contains 'Total persons Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Males’ - 'Visitor from Different SA2 in Northern Territory Indigenous status not stated Females’. The data is by SA2 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

GCCSA based data for Selected Person Characteristics by Indigenous Status by Sex, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Profile (ATSIP), 2016 Census. Count of persons. The dataset includes the following characteristics: age bracket, location on census night, language spoken at home, English proficiency, Religion, age bracket of those attending an educational institution, highest year level of schooling complete and type of usual residence. I01 is also broken up into 3 sections (I01a – I01c), this section contains 'Total persons Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Males’ - 'Visitor from Different SA2 in Northern Territory Indigenous status not stated Females’. The data is by GCCSA 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a popular and successful technology which is widely used in both research and clinical settings. However, there is a paucity of reference data for Aboriginal Australians to underpin the translation of health-based genomic research. Here we provide a catalogue of variants called after sequencing the exomes of 50 Aboriginal individuals from the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia and compare these to 72 previously published exomes from a Western Australian (WA) population of Martu origin. Sequence data for both NT and WA samples were processed using an ‘intersect-then-combine’ (ITC) approach, using GATK and SAMtools to call variants. A total of 289,829 variants were identified in at least one individual in the NT cohort and 248,374 variants in at least one individual in the WA cohort. Of these, 166,719 variants were present in both cohorts, whilst 123,110 variants were private to the NT cohort and 81,655 were private to the WA cohort. Our data set provides a useful reference point for genomic studies on Aboriginal Australians.

This dataset presents the social and economic indicators for the indigenous population of Australia based on the 2016 Census and aggregated following the 2016 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The data has been provided by The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) and includes the following indicators: age, sex, employment, education level, occupation, school attendance, language, household relationships, family types, household tenure type, household income, motor vehicles and household family composition. All indicators were extracted from the ABS Tablebuilder system using the usual residence profile. For usual residence data, the ABS moves people back to where they live, rather than using the location the data were collected (place of enumeration). Usual residence data is preferred for individual level data because it removes the effect of respondents travelling or holidaying. All rates were calculated as a proportion of all Indigenous people in the area, excluding any Not Stated or Overseas Visitors. Therefore, summing the rates across all categories for an indicator will give a total of 100%. For more information please view the NATSEM Technical Report. Please note: AURIN has spatially enabled the original data provided directly from NATSEM. Where data values are NULL, the data is either unpublished or not applicable mathematically.

Full-time equivalent enrolments of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students by type of school, collected as part of the annual enrolment data collection in Term 3, from 2012. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students – students who have identified to be of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin. The term ‘origin’ is considered to relate to people’s Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent and for some, but not all, their cultural identify.

SA4 based data for Selected Person Characteristics by Indigenous Status by Sex, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Profile (ATSIP), 2016 Census. Count of persons. The dataset includes the following characteristics: age bracket, location on census night, language spoken at home, English proficiency, Religion, age bracket of those attending an educational institution, highest year level of schooling complete and type of usual residence. I01 is also broken up into 3 sections (I01a – I01c), this section contains 'Total persons Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Males’ - 'Visitor from Different SA2 in Northern Territory Indigenous status not stated Females’. The data is by SA4 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

This dataset has been superseded by the Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate (2020) dataset. For further information please see: https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/australia-s-indigenous-land-and-forest-estate-2020

Australia’s Indigenous forest estate (2020) is a continental spatial dataset that identifies and reports separately the individual attributes of Australia’s Indigenous estate, namely the extent of land and forest over which Indigenous peoples and communities have ownership, management or co-management, or other special rights.

The dataset was compiled by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) for the National Forest Inventory (NFI), a collaborative partnership between the Australian and state and territory governments. The role of the NFI is to collate, integrate and communicate information on Australia's forests. The NFI applies a national classification to state and territory data to allow seamless integration of these datasets. Multiple independent sources of external data are used to fill data gaps and improve the quality of the final dataset.

Australia’s National Forest Inventory has previously used the four derived category combinations of Dillon et al. (2015) (https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/IndigenousForestEstate_20150828_v1.0.0.pdf) for reporting the Indigenous estate in Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2013 and Australia’s State of the Forests Report 2018. These four categories combined in various ways the individual attributes of the Indigenous estate, with an area of land or forest being allocated to only one of the four categories. However, the categories did not allow separate reporting on Indigenous ownership, management or co-management, or other special rights.​

The methodology described in Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate: separate reporting of Indigenous ownership, management and other special rights (Jacobsen et al. 2020) (https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/publications/indigenous-estate-report) disentangles the four categories of Dillon et al. (2015), and allows separate reporting of each of Indigenous ownership of land or forest, Indigenous management or co‑management of land or forest, and land or forest over which Indigenous peoples and communities have other special rights. Separate spatial coverages were created for each of these attributes, and this new dataset can form the basis for subsequent reporting on the relationships between Indigenous peoples and land or forest.

The methods and data in this data package use the same sources of data used for assembling the Australia’s Indigenous forest estate (2018) spatial dataset, but presents the information on the Indigenous land estate by the separate attributes ownership, management of co-management, and other special rights, according to the new methodology of Jacobsen et al. (2020). The Indigenous land dataset is also combined (intersected) with forest cover information from the Forests of Australia (2018) dataset.​ The resulting output dataset provides information on the Indigenous estate for both land and forest.

This dataset is updated every five years for the Australia's State of the Forests Report Series. Further information can be found on the Forests Australia website: http://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/sofr/sofr-2018

The Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate (2024) is a continental spatial dataset that identifies and reports separately the individual attributes of Australia's Indigenous estate, namely the extent of land and forest over which Indigenous peoples and communities have ownership, management or co-management, and other special rights.\r \r Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate (2024) presents information on the Indigenous land estate by the separate attributes of ownership, management or co-management, and other special rights, according to the new methodology described in the ABARES report Australia’s Indigenous land and forest estate: separate reporting of Indigenous ownership, management and other special rights (Jacobsen et al. 2020) (available at: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/AusIndigLandForestEstate_v1.0.0.pdf). The Indigenous land dataset is then combined (intersected) with forest cover information from the Forests of Australia (2023) dataset. The resulting output dataset provides information on the Indigenous estate for both land and forest.\r \r The Indigenous estate land attributes are as follows:\r \r * ​Indigenous owned: freehold land or forest that is owned by Indigenous communities, or land or forest for which ownership is vested through other mechanisms\r * Indigenous managed: land or forest that is managed by Indigenous communities\r * Indigenous co-managed: land or forest that has formal, legally binding agreements in place to include input from Indigenous people in the process of developing and implementing a management plan\r * Other special rights: land or forest subject to native title determinations, registered Indigenous Land Use Agreements, and legislated special cultural use provisions.​\r \r The Australia's Indigenous land and forest estate (2024) dataset shows that a total of:\r \r * 154 million hectares of land in Australia (20%) is Indigenous owned, of which 24 million hectares is forest\r * 192 million hectares of land in Australia (25%) is under some form of Indigenous management, comprising 156 million hectares that is Indigenous managed and 36 million hectares that is Indigenous co-managed. Of this, 31 million hectares is forest, comprising 20.7 million hectares that is Indigenous managed and 10.6 million hectares that is Indigenous co-managed\r * 443 million hectares of land in Australia (58%) is subject to other special rights for Indigenous peoples and communities, of which 62 million hectares if forest.\r \r These areas of land are not mutually exclusive: there is substantial overlap between Indigenous owned land, Indigenous managed or co-managed land, and land subject to other special rights. Spatial intersection of these attributes confirms the total area of land in the Indigenous estate in Australia as at 2023 was 536 million hectares (70%), and the total area of forest in the Indigenous estate as 70 million hectares, as reported in Indicator 6.4a Area of forest to which Indigenous people have use and rights that protect their special values and are recognised through formal and informal management regimes (available at: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/sofr/criterion-6/indicator-6.4a) of Australia’s State of the Forests Report (available at https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/forestsaustralia/sofr).

The number of people with indigenous status in 5 year groups: 0-4 years to 65+ years and their proportion of the total population within that age group. The estimated resident population values (ERP non-ABS) were developed by Prometheus Information, 2015 (all entries that were classified as not shown, not published or not applicable were assigned a null value; no data was provided for Maralinga Tjarutja LGA, in South Australia). The data is by LGA 2015 profile (based on the LGA 2011 geographic boundaries). For more information on Indigenous population estimates refer to: http://phidu.torrens.edu.au/. Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on data developed by Prometheus Information Pty Ltd, under a contract with the Australian Government Department of Health.

Australia uses the Montreal Process framework of criteria and indicators for reporting progress towards sustainable forest management. This includes reporting on the area of Australia's forest over which Indigenous people have use and rights, as recognised through formal and informal management regimes. The term Indigenous is used to refer to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Consultation with Indigenous stakeholders under the National Indigenous Forestry Strategy indicated a need for a dataset describing the variety of management arrangements for forest on Indigenous land. A new national spatial dataset of forested and non-forested land that is owned or managed by Australia's Indigenous communities, or over which Indigenous people have use and right, was therefore compiled in the National Forest Inventory from information supplied by Australian, state and territory governments and other statutory authorities with Indigenous land management interests. This dataset was then intersected with Australia's 2011 forest cover, to create a spatial dataset which was used to describe and map Australia's Indigenous forest estate.

Four nationally consistent categories were created to represent the range of types of access, use and management that Indigenous people have in regards to land: Indigenous owned and managed; Indigenous managed; Indigenous co-managed; and Other special rights. These categories were used for reporting in Australia's State of the Forests Report 2013 the area of Australia's forest over which Indigenous people have use and rights. A total of 41 million hectares of forest were identified across these four Indigenous management categories. About three-quarters of this Indigenous forest estate is in Queensland and the Northern Territory. The spatial data underlying these area figures were then published as the Australia's Indigenous forest estate (2013) dataset.

This dataset is a significant advance in describing Indigenous use of forest land and involvement in natural resource management. For the first time, a comprehensive national description of the forest areas over which Indigenous people have ownership, management or special rights is available.