1. Search Library databases in your subject area
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website
3. Other websites listed in this guide, including government and UN sites.

Consider :

• What sort of statistics do you need and what is a likely source for them?
• International statistics collected by governments and other organisations may vary in coverage and depth of content.
• If searching on the open web be aware that statistics may also be collected and collated by interest groups or individuals so be a critical user of data and statistics.  

Open data is available (usually online) for reuse and share without copyright or other licensing restrictions.

Image source: Pixabay

Scientific and government data are the most common types of open data.

The Human Genome Project is an excellent example of open scientific data.

The Google Dataset Search allows you to search open data by the 'tags' owners of the data assign.

Data.gov.au provides access to Australian public data. It is the central source of Australian open government data. Anyone can access the anonymised public data published by federal, state and local government agencies.

Many of the datasets can be visualised using in-built mapping tools. Datasets that contain a geospacial field (such as latitude and longitude) can be mapped an viewed in NationalMap.

For support, contact support@data.gov.au  

Data WA is the place to discover WA public sector data. The data catalogue provides access to datasets provided by organisations across the public sector.

Can't find the WA public sector data you are looking for? Watch this video for search tips. If you still need help with finding what you are looking for, email opendata@landgate.wa.gov.au.

Many library databases are excellent sources of statistics, and should be the first place you search for information.

View databases for your area of study on the Find Databases page, under Browse by subject.

Dataplace is a platform to find and request Australian Government data. UWA is an Accredited User under the Data Availability and Transparency Act 2022 and UWA researchers can request data under the Act from Commonwealth agencies, including data that is currently unable to be shared under other existing legislation. Under the Act, Commonwealth agencies do not have to share the data they hold; however, they must consider a request made by an accredited user within a reasonable period and are encouraged to share data unless there is good reason not to. 

To facilitate data discovery, Dataplace features the Australian Government Data Catalogue, which draws on the data inventories of Australian Government agencies, including open and restricted data. To get started, try searching the data catalogue or browse commonly searched data.

Australian Data Archive (ADA) provides access to research data of more than 6000 datasets from studies as early as1838. 

Popular datasets are categorised by methodology and by theme. 

When searching databases like AustHealth, EMBASE and Medline for statistics, it can be useful to use Subject Headings from the thesauri to make sure your search finds all possible results. ​Suggested subject headings include statistics, biostatistics, statistics as topic, cancer statistics, health statistics, health status indicators, epidemiology, vital statistics, mortality, morbidity, prevalence, incidence, epidemiological data, survival.

You could also use subheadings to add statistical terms to your existing search terms. For example, Medline (below) has a Statistics & Numerical Data subheading:

For detailed information on thesauri and Subject Headings in Medline and CINAHL see the Thesauri information on the Compose a Search guide.

Like any other information you find, it is best to think critically about statistics, and carefully consider if you can rely on the information.

Our Evaluating Information guide can help with this. It is written about journal articles, but also applies to statistics.