When the latest census data revealed women typically do the lion’s share of unpaid domestic work, Professor Leah Ruppanner wasn’t exactly surprised.

“We have documented these trends for decades – enough. Now it is time for action,” writes Ruppanner, who researches gender and inequalities. Australia urgently needs policies “that allow men to step into care-giving roles without fear of retribution and penalty at work,” she says.

The latest census results also revealed the number of Australians who selected “no religion” has risen again to 38.9%, up from 30.1% in 2016. This makes them the second-largest “religious group” after Christians, who make up 43.9% of the population (down from 52.1% in 2016). This shift, explains Renae Barker, is reflected in laws around issues such as marriage equality, abortion access and euthanasia.

The census also shows the First Nations population has increased by about 25% since 2016. However, writes Bronwyn Carlson, there’s a lack of detail around other facets of Indigenous lives, including family systems.

To get your head around some of the other interesting, illuminating (and occasionally depressing) stats in the 2021 census, we’ve put together eight charts that will give you a quick snapshot.

Sunanda Creagh

Senior Editor

The 2021 Australian census in 8 charts

Wes Mountain, The Conversation

A growing, more diverse population, less religion, more First Nations people and a picture of the long-term health of Australians. But who’s doing the housework?

Yet again, the census shows women are doing more housework. Now is the time to invest in interventions

Leah Ruppanner, The University of Melbourne

We must redress the challenges of unpaid domestic work and the mental load on women’s physical, mental and economic health and well-being.

‘No religion’ is Australia’s second-largest religious group – and it’s having a profound effect on our laws

Renae Barker, The University of Western Australia

An ongoing shift in Australia’s religious demographics is playing out in our laws. Perhaps the most obvious example is marriage equality.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population has increased, but the census lacks detail in other facets of Indigenous lives

Bronwyn Carlson, Macquarie University

The census includes an increase in the number of people who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, but it lacks details about other ways they may identity and how they live.

Census data shows we’re more culturally diverse than ever. Our institutions must reflect this

Sukhmani Khorana, Western Sydney University

More than half of us are either born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas.

Post Roe, women in America are right to be concerned about digital surveillance – and it’s not just period-tracking apps

Uri Gal, University of Sydney

American women are deleting period trackers after the end of Roe v. Wade, but evading digital surveillance will be almost impossible without changes to privacy regulations.

By naming ‘Pennhurst’, Stranger Things uses disability trauma for entertainment. Dark tourism and asylum tours do too

Joanne Watson, Deakin University

The real Pennhurst – a hospital name-checked in the latest series of Stranger Things – was a place of segregation and abuse.

Is 5 senior ministers quitting Victoria’s Andrew’s government a sign of renewal – or decline?

Paul Strangio, Monash University

The hardest thing for an ageing government is to remake itself. On balance, last week’s developments in Spring Street represent the first step towards Victorian Labor performing that elusive feat.

A $400-a-week shortfall: people in their 40s face a bleak retirement on KiwiSaver’s current trajectory

Ayesha Scott, Auckland University of Technology

Over two-thirds of Kiwis are worried they won’t be able to retire. KiwiSaver was supposed to help but the reality is many will still fall well short of what is needed to live comfortably past 65.

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