The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is a national service which collects and makes available statistics and research on many aspects of Australian life. The ABS also conducts the national Census.

Search via Statistics or Topics at a Glance to get an overview of the areas.

Australian labour, employment, industry and trade statistics for business and economics students can all be found through the ABS.

Tips on analysing, interpreting and evaluating statistical information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

TableBuilder enables you to create your own tables, graphs and maps of ABS microdata.

Tablebuilder is free to staff and students of UWA but you will need to register with the ABS and be authenticated as a member of UWA. Guest users cannot save tables within the TableBuilder service online. It is therefore recommended to register.

Microdata can be downloaded but must be stored in a manner that ensures unauthorised access does not occur. You must::

• use your own log in credentials to access this system and do not share your credentials with any other user
• securely store microdata
• not share microdata with unauthorised people.
• not attempt to match unit record data with any other list, database or repository of persons or organisations
• comply with the copyright terms for microdata.

For more information, see the Conditions of use you agree to when registering in the Registration Centre

For further information and support, go to the TableBuilder User Guide or the video below.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducts the Census of Population and Housing every five years, collecting information about key characteristics and numbers of the Australian population.

Current census data can be searched on the main Census page.

Pre-federation data (1834-1901) is available via the Australian Data Archive.  See: (ADA -  Historical).

Post federation data (1911-2016) is available on the ABS website.

DataLab is the analysis solution for high-end users who want to undertake real time complex analysis of detailed microdata. Compare data services to see if detailed microdata in the DataLab is the right service for you.

UWA researchers may be eligible for their projects to be covered by the ABS/Universities Australia Agreement and therefore not charged the DataLab annual fee for standard access for projects with up to 10 analysts. Note that the number of DataLab projects supported under the Agreement is now capped and the cap has been reached for 2024. New project requests will be added to the queue for 2025 and wait times will apply. Refer to the ABS/Universities Australia Agreement page for more information.

Alternatively, new projects may progress their access requests outside of the ABS/UA Agreement, and will be subject to access fees and charges as outlined on the DataLab webpage. UWA researchers would need to cover this within their research projects.

Charges are applicable for all non-standard DataLab access.

Refer to the ABS DataLab page for further information on charges and applying for and using DataLab. 

Email your questions to our friendly library staff.

Students

web.uwa.edu.au/askuwa

HDR Students

hdrsupport-lib@uwa.edu.au

UWA Staff

staffsupport-lib@uwa.edu.au

More contact options are available on the Library Contact us page.