Census night is Tuesday 11 August. We have put together a guide to help you support your community with the 2026 Census.
What is the Census?
The Census happens every five years to count every person and household in Australia.
The Census asks questions about everyday things like your age, what languages you speak, and what you do for work.
What is the Census for?
The government uses the information to understand how Australia is changing and to plan important services for the future, like hospitals, schools, and public transport.
It also helps the government with understanding what languages are spoken in the community to help with resources for local libraries, or what cultural foods should be in local supermarkets.
Who has to do the Census?
Everyone in Australia on 11 August needs to complete the Census. It is the law to complete the Census.
If you are overseas on that day, you do not need to complete the Census. If someone from your household is filling out the Census form at your address, they need to mark you as a ‘away’ but living there.
Learn more about what to do if you are not home on Census night.
How to complete the Census
There are a few different ways to fill out the Census.
- Online: Most households will get a letter with a number. You can use this number and a password to complete the Census safely online at census.abs.gov.au.
- On paper: Order a paper form by calling 1800 130 250 or making an online order on their website.
- Face to face: Visit a Census Pop-up Hub in local shopping centres and other public spaces to get more information or pick up a paper form. There will also be fill in the form sessions for people who need help answering the Census questions. Find where to get face to face support by visiting the website.
Digital skills needed to do the Census online
- Navigating to a website
- Filling in online forms
- Typing, tapping and using a mouse (depending on the device being used)
- Access to a device at home and the internet
Supporting your community around the Census
As a digital mentor, you can support your community to feel more confident filling in the Census online for their household.
Census information is private. Instead of supporting people to fill in the Census form itself, you can help your community to practice filling out the types of questions asked in online forms such as drop down lists, text fields, radio buttons and checkboxes. This is a useful skill for other activities online too like booking tickets or even online shopping!
Do you want to support your community with filling out online forms? Use our Be Connected session plan about online forms.
You can also let your community know how to find reliable information about the Census, and how to access other support to fill it in if they do not feel confident following the instructions to do it online for themselves.
Resources
The Census form is only available in English, but there are a lot of resources you can share with your community.
- Call the Translating and Interpreting Service on 131 450 for help in different languages.
- Visit the Australian Buearu of Statistic website for fact sheets, posters and explainer videos translated into different languages.
- Visit the help page for more information about filling our the census form