Abbreviated as ANCP; referenced by 2 other explainers
Ancestry shows the ancestries people in an area report. It lists the top ancestries, plus an All other categories group and a Not stated row.
The figures come from Census data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics collects them.
On the Census, a person can name up to two ancestries. Many name one; some name two. So this page counts ancestry responses, not people. A person who names two ancestries adds to two rows. Shares on this page are out of all ancestry responses in the area, so they add to 100 per cent.
Ancestry is how each person describes their own background on the Census. It is not assigned, and it is not a genetic or fixed fact. How a person answers can change between Censuses, and can depend on what the question means to them at the time.
Ancestry is not a count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. One ancestry option here is Australian Aboriginal. A person can mark it, leave it out, or mark another ancestry too. The answer turns on how each person read and filled in the ancestry question. So this row is shaped by the question and the ABS classification, not by a set rule about who is First Nations. For the count of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, see the First Nations marker. It comes from a separate Census question on Indigenous status. The two are not the same. They are not a check on each other. Read each one on its own.
The All other categories row groups ancestries that each fall below the cut-off for their own row in this area. It is not one ancestry, and it can stand for many distinct communities. A community being inside this row is a function of this area's size and mix, not its importance.
Read this page with the Birthplace, Language used at home, and Religion markers. Together they give a fuller picture of cultural background than any one on its own. The Proficiency in English marker adds how well people speak English. Ancestry is one of the fields the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) label is built from. It is not a measure of need on its own.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics gives a separate Not stated count, so this marker shows a Not stated row. It means no ancestry was given on the form. It is a form fact, not a fact about the person.
The total counts people at their usual place of residence. It covers people in non-private homes such as hospitals, aged-care homes, hostels, and student housing. It does not count overseas visitors.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics leaves out ancestries with fewer than ten responses, and it tweaks small-area counts to keep people safe. This is called perturbation. It can hide small cells.
Place Forecast splits each SA1 figure down to mesh blocks and sums them back to the area you see, so the small-area view is downscaled. The cultural diversity downscaling glossary explains the method and its limits.
Each ancestry at the LGA level matches the ABS figure. This is LGA anchoring.
The Australian Aboriginal ancestry row is the one exception. Where every small area in the LGA sits within ABS perturbation noise for this row, Place Forecast does not make up a value at the small-area level, in line with Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles, and the small-area sum can then sit below the ABS LGA total.
For service choices about one community, read small-area figures as patterns, not exact counts. Check them with community organisations before drawing strong claims.