Building a New Life in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Humanitarian Migrants (BNLA) aims to identify factors which help or hinder positive settlement outcomes. BNLA follows 1,509 humanitarian migrating units who arrived in Australia or had their permanent visas granted in the six months between May and December 2013. Participants include offshore visa holders who arrived in Australia holding a permanent humanitarian visa and onshore visa holders who received their permanent protection visa between May and December 2013. Wave 1 took place from October 2013 to March 2014 interviewing 2,399 principal and secondary applicants. The first five waves of data collection were conducted annually. Waves 1, 3 and 5 interviews were conducted face-to-face and waves 2 and 4 interviews were conducted by telephone. Wave 6 was conducted 5 years after wave 5, between January and July 2023. Wave 6 data was collected online and face-to-face. The survey and participant materials were translated into 14 languages in wave 1, 9 languages in waves 2 - 5 and 5 languages in Wave 6. Interviews were conducted by bilingual interviewers; some interviews also used interpreters (interviews were conducted in nineteen languages in total in waves 1 and 2, thirteen languages in Wave 3, eleven languages in Wave 4, and ten languages in Wave 5 and seven languages in wave 6). For waves 2 and 4, shorter telephone interviews omit some of the questions asked in the longer face-to-face interviews. Topics covered by the study include: demographics, immigration experience, housing and neighbourhood, English language proficiency, education and training, employment and income, health, self-sufficiency, community support, personal resources and life satisfaction, and life in Australia. Additional modules include the child module in Wave 3, childcare and gender roles from Wave 5 and the COVID-19 and youth module in Wave 6. Researchers interested in using this data should note: (1) BNLA does not include data about migrants in the family and skilled streams of the permanent Migration Program; (2) BNLA only includes humanitarian migrants who arrived/were granted a visa during a specific time period; (3) Analysis at the state level is not possible.
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Contact Person: LongitudinalStudies@dss.gov.au
The first data were collected for 2000-01; this was considered a pilot year. The data from 2001-02 onwards contain information about alcohol and other drug treatment services; the clients who use these services; the types of drug problems for which treatment is sought and the types of treatment provided. Publications, Summary Tables, Statistics, Data cubes
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The Dementia in Australia Online Report and Downloadable Data Tables provides a comprehensive picture of dementia in Australia, including the latest statistics on dementia prevalence, burden of disease, deaths, expenditure, as well as the use of health and aged care services among people with dementia and information on carers of people with dementia. Its key findings are based on AIHW’s re‑analysis of ABS Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) microdata, supplemented by additional health and aged‑care datasets.
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The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) receives and aggregates data from over 1,800 specialist homelessness services agencies (SHS) across Australia on a monthly basis.
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The Dementia Awareness Survey is the largest nationally representative community survey of its kind in Australia. It collects information on how much people know about dementia and their attitudes towards dementia and people living with dementia. The survey results will help inform priorities and areas for dementia awareness initiatives and prevention activities that can reduce the risk or delay the development of dementia.
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The Australian Burden of Disease Database contains aggregate burden of disease metrics from the Australian Burden of Disease Study. This includes: years of life lost (YLL) years lived with disability (YLD) disability-adjusted life years (DALY) for over 200 diseases and injuries. It also includes estimates of attributable burden (DALY) for around 20 individual risk factors. Publications, Summary tables published in electronic form
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The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) follows the development of up to 1,759 Indigenous children and their families across urban, regional and remote Australia. It is one of the largest longitudinal studies of Indigenous people worldwide. LSIC aims to improve understanding of the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and communities to inform better policy and program development. The study collects information about child and parent health, childhood education, family relationships, culture and Community, housing, life stressors, parental education, parenting, employment and income, attitudes and aspirations. It includes two groups of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children who were aged 6 to 24 months (B cohort) and 3.5-5 years (K cohort) when the study began in 2008. Data is primarily collected via annual face-to-face interviews with Indigenous interviewers. PLEASE NOTE previous releases are available by request for approved training courses only. For the current release, please visit https://ada.edu.au/lsic_current
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Contact Person: ada@ada.edu.au
Ten to Men: The Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health was commissioned by the Department of Health and Aged Care following the 2010 National Male Health Policy, and currently serves the National Men’s Health Strategy 2020-2030. This is Australia’s first national longitudinal study that focuses exclusively on male health and wellbeing. The cohort was recruited using a stratified, multi-stage & cluster sampling design to select males aged 10–55 years. Recruitment of eligible participants and Wave 1 of the data collection occurred between October 2013 and July 2014, resulting in a reconciled sample size of 16,021. The survey content was structured around six key research domains relevant to male health: wellbeing and mental health, use of health services, health-related behaviours, health status, health knowledge and social determinants.
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Contact Person: info@tentomen.org.au
A national survey of Australian adults measuring relationship quality, wellbeing, and social connection. Key topics include Cost of living; Older persons; Persons with disabilities; Partner relationships; Loneliness; Mental health
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Every two years Carers NSW, together with the Australian State and Territory Carer Organisations, conducts a comprehensive survey to better understand what carers want and need.
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Participants are randomly sampled from social housing programs e.g. Public Housing (PH), State Owned and Managed Indigenous Housing (SOMIH), Community Housing (CH) and Indigenous Community Housing (ICH). Data availability: Publications, Summary Tables, Statistics
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The Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC) is a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to collect comprehensive data on people living with disability, older Australians (aged 65 and over), and those who provide unpaid care. The 2022 survey aimed to inform policy and service planning by capturing information on health, support needs, social participation, and living arrangements. It included both household and cared-accommodation populations and introduced an online self-completion option for the first time, enhancing accessibility and coverage.
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The 45 and Up Study is a large Australian cohort study that began recruiting in 2005 and is described on a webpage created as part of the Sax Institute’s 2022 site update. Over 15 years of longitudinal data from surveys covering broad health and social topics alongside linked datasets from medicare, PBS, hospital, and cancer registry.
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Contact Person: 45andUp@saxinstitute.org.au
Key findings on how people use their time in Australia. The Time Use Survey (TUS), conducted from November 2020 through to July 2021, measured the daily activities of people aged 15 years and over in Australia to provide insights into how people spent their time. Care defined as physical care only
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The Australian Cancer Database (ACD) contains data about all new cases of cancer diagnosed in Australia since 1 January 1982, excluding basal and squamous cell carcinomas of the skin. Publications, Summary Tables, Statistics
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The Hospital Dementia Services (HDS) survey obtained information about the availability of aged care and dementia services in New South Wales public hospitals for the period 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
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A census of Community Aged Care Packages (CACP) outlets and care recipients, covering one week of the year. Outlets were asked record assistance provided during 7 consecutive days within the period 16 September 2002 and 14 October 2002. Publications
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Growing Up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) is a major study following the development of approximately 10,000 young people and their families from all parts of Australia. It is conducted in partnership between the Department of Social Services, the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Australian Bureau of Statistics with advice provided by a consortium of leading researchers. The study began in 2003 with a representative sample of children (who are now teens and young adults) from urban and rural areas of all states and territories in Australia. The study has a multi-disciplinary base, and examines a broad range of research questions about development and wellbeing over the life course in relation to topics such as parenting, family, peers, education, child care and health. It will continue to follow participants into adulthood. The study informs social policy and is used to identify opportunities for early intervention and prevention strategies. Participating families have been interviewed every two years from 2004, and between-wave mail-out questionnaires were sent to families in 2005 (Wave 1.5), 2007 (Wave 2.5) and 2009 (Wave 3.5). The B cohort (“Baby” cohort) of around 5,000 children was aged 0–1 years in 2003–04, and the K cohort (“Kinder” cohort) of around 5,000 children was aged 4–5 years in 2003–04. Study informants include the young person, their parents (both resident and non-resident), carers and teachers. The study links to administrative databases including Medicare (Immunisation, MBS and PBS), NAPLAN, and Centrelink – with participant consent – thereby adding valuable information to supplement the data collected during fieldwork. In 2014-15, a special one-off physical health and biomarkers assessment of parent-child pairs was undertaken in the younger cohort. The cross-generational datasets from this ‘Child Health CheckPoint’ are available in the Additional Release files. LSAC Wave 9 (aka 9C) covered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young persons, their families and communities. Wave 9C was unlike any other wave undertaken by LSAC. Instead of the traditional face-to-face methodology, the data collection was split into two shorter online surveys (9C1 and 9C2), with Survey 9C2 also offering a telephone interview option. Two short survey in Wave 9C allows measurement of similarities and differences in responses as COVID-19 restrictions changed over time. Survey 9C1 was in field October–December 2020 and Survey 9C2 was in-field June–September 2021.
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Contact Person: LongitudinalStudies@dss.gov.au
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is a nationally representative longitudinal study of Australian households that commenced in 2001. Funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS), the HILDA Survey is managed by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne.
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The National Social Housing Survey (NSHS) is a survey of social housing tenants which complements administrative data collected by social housing providers and includes information on tenants and their social housing experiences.
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Contains data on the demographics and structure of the nursing labour force
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The Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) is a study that follows young Australians over 10 years, from their mid-teens to mid-twenties, as they move through school to further study, work and beyond
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Contact Person: lsay@ncver.edu.au
The Hospital Dementia Services (HDS) survey obtained information about the availability of aged care and dementia services in New South Wales public hospitals for the period 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007.
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The AEDC provides evidence to support health, education and community policy and planning. AEDC data highlights what is working well and what can be improved to support children and their families. AEDC data are collected every three years. The sixth collection took place in 2024. Teachers of children in their first year of full-time school complete a questionnaire that collects data on five key areas, or ‘domains’, of early childhood development. These domains have been shown to predict later mental health, wellbeing and academic outcomes. AEDC data is publicly available at various geographies including: National State/territories, AEDC communities, AEDC local communities and various social geographies defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). Data that is not publicly available through the AEDC website may be available by application or agreement. Integrated data can be requested from authorised data linkage units and integrating agencies, either directly or via application to the AEDC Data Management Agency.
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The Carer Wellbeing Survey asks people to share their experiences – past and present – of being a carer and the support services they use, including the Australian Government Carer Gateway. The survey’s results help determine supports, advocacy and resources for carers nationwide.
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