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Australian census analysis

Emeritus Professor Andrew Markus

About the project

The Australian census is conducted every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The 2021 census was conducted on the evening of 10 August 2021 and covered some ten million households and 25.4 million people. It provides the most detailed demographic data on religious groups in Australia. There is, however, a problem with using the census for identification of an ethno- religious group such as the Jewish. The census includes a question asking respondents to indicate the religion of each person in the household, but the question is optional and in 2021 it was not answered by 6% of Victorians. In addition, 39% of Victorians indicated that they have ‘no religion’. It is known that some who regard themselves as culturally Jewish but are not religious include themselves in this category, but their number cannot be established with precision. Some but not all of these persons are identified by a question on ancestry in the census, also by reference to language use in the home.

The challenge for demographers is to estimate the actual Jewish population on the basis of the incomplete enumeration provided by the census. On the basis of extensive statistical analysis, it is estimated that in 2021 Victoria’s Jewish population was an estimated 54,584 persons, which represents 0.8% of the Victorian population. Between 2016 and 2021, Victoria’s Jewish population grew by an estimated 1.6%, slightly less than the estimated growth of 1.7% between 2011 and 2016. Australia’s Jewish population was an estimated 117,000 in 2021, with 47% of the Jewish population resident in Victoria.