Just How Average Are You?

“Average” – possibly the worst word to describe many things, but yet a word that we rely on so much to describe normality. It’s a word that’s used to make us feel ok, because, hey, it’s what everyone else is doing, right?

Well, in light of the upcoming census results, we though to share a few interesting findings from the data so far – a lot of people seem to be interested in seeing just how similar they are to the “average Australian,” so what we explore next will give you a really clear idea of who you’ll be comparing yourself to.

Before we go there though, we would just like to remind our readers that the 2016 Australian Census was and still is Subject to much scrutiny following what appeared to be – although entirely denied – a series of DDoS attacks on the Census’ servers.

Has The Census Been Corrupted?

To be honest, we might never know, but from the information that’s been released to date, it would seem that the sheer volume of online applicants at one time may have been the cause of the interruptions to the service. Quoting the figures, one article cited that some 15,000,000 people were expected to fill in the online form at a given time, while the servers had only been tested to accommodate 1,000,000 per hour.

Interesting mathematics considering the majority of the online traffic was expected to come in between the hours of 7pm and 9pm – just 2 hours.

So, has the census been corrupted? It’s unlikely that data has fallen into malicious hands, but this does paint a picture on just how “behind the times” our Government appears to be in the tech department.

It was revealed some time after the server failures that only one router was used to provide a geoblock on foreign applications, when two is standard practice, for example.

Meet “Claire,” The Average Australian

Go on, shake hands…

… Can’t see her? That’s because she doesn’t exist.

Claire isn’t a real person; she is a compilation and personified collation of data derived from our Census submissions. As such, she is an amalgamation of averages, taking into consideration variables such as date of birth, sex, education, and marital status.

Claire, the average Australian, is 38 years’ old; she lives in a three-bedroom house with two cars and a mortgage; she is married to an Aussie bloke and has two children and; she does 5 to 14 hours of unpaid housework a week – in contrast, the average Aussie man does less than 5 hours at the age of 37!

Other Insights from The Census Include:

The following is a summarised list of the statistics found in the original Guardian article, available here. 

• On Average, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are 15 years younger than all other Aussies;
• The average Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is a woman, aged just 23;
• Your average modern Australian was born in Australia to two Aussie parents with English ancestry;
• The Average Australian in New South Wales, Victoria or Western Australia, however, has at least one parent who was not born in Australia.
• The average migrant in Victoria was born in India;
• The average migrant in Queensland was born in New Zealand;
• The average migrant in New South Wales was born in China;
• Of those Aussies born abroad, the average person is a 44-year-old woman from England;
• In Western Australia, the typical Australian is a 37-year-old male;
• In the Northern Territory, the average Aussie is a 34-year-old male and;
• Among persons born overseas, the median age was 44, and the typical person was a woman born in England.
• The only states where men outnumbered women were the Northern Territory and Western Australia, where the typical person was a 34-year-old male and a 37-year-old male respectively.

Some Interesting Census Statistics:

• 4.9 million online forms were completed and submitted;
• 3.5 million paper forms were completed and submitted;
• The Census saw a response rate of 96%;
• 58% of Australians completed their Census online with;
• 2.2 million more households participated in the online version of the Census, compared to 2011;

The Census, released in June, will contain data compiled by over 700 ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) staff and represent information derived from over 23,000,000 clerical operations, containing some 80,000 summaries of local area data; almost 3,000,000 tables and more than 68,000,000 pieces of data.

So, while it might take a long time to process, and the fact that several obstacles may have impeded the overall operation, it’s good to be able to sit back and reflect on what, exactly, the whole thing entailed.

Oh, and just FYI, the budget for the 2016 Census was a whopping $440 million!

Stay tuned for more insights like this, along with a host of true private investigation case stories, “how-to”s and handy hints and tips for everyday life!

Don’t forget the Precise Investigation Social Media Competition! 

Each week, we’ll be releasing a new image across all of our social platforms for you, our clients, friends, fans and followers to engage with. All you need to do is either spot the difference between two pictures, or tell us what aspects of a photograph have been modified! It’s that easy.

Each contestant will need to earn points to win the amazing GoPro Hero 5 that we’ll be giving away and, to do that, all you need to do is respond to our weekly competition post with your answer; like the post, share it or even comment – every engagement you make with the post will earn you the points you need 😉 For more information, please click here.

To take part in our competition, just click on one of the following links to have a go:

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