18 April 2018

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the long-awaited Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA, based on 2016 Census) dataset on 27 March 2018 (link).

SEIFA is a modelled measure by integrating a wide range of social and economic attributes about the Australian population in an geographic area. SEIFA is generally regarded as one of the most important datasets derived from the 2016 Census, and can be extremely useful for many applications.

SEIFA actually consists of four specific indexes each on slightly different aspects of the socio-economic condition:

  • the Index of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD);

  • the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD);

  • the Index of Economic Resources (IER); and

  • the Index of Education and Occupation (IEO)

We have processed the SEIFA dataset for each of five geographical areas:

  • Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1)

  • Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2)

  • State Suburbs

  • Postcodes

  • Local Government Areas

Overview maps (at SA1 level) for a few Australian capital cities are shown here. We have also prepared a library of charts for each index (containing both SEIFA scores and deciles) and for each geographical area nationwide. An area with the highest decile (10, left y-axis in the chart) indicates the most advantaged, whereas an area with the lowest decile (1) the most disadvantaged (implying an area has relatively more people with low income, no qualifications or low skilled occupations). Corresponding SEIFA scores (right y-axis in the chart) are also shown; the mean for each index nationwide is 1,000.

SEIFA charts are now included in our property location profile report (Version 4.3, 04/2018). Samples can be found at PropertyLocation.com.au (or website alias RiskMapping.com.au).