Child social exclusion: an updated index from the 2006 Census

The development of regional measures of child social exclusion for Australia are underpinned by increasing research and policy interest in indicators of child wellbeing, multidimensional measures of poverty, and spatial differences in disadvantage. The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra has developed a small area index of child social exclusion, a concept which encompasses multiple dimensions of poverty, and the cumulative nature of many aspects of disadvantage. This paper describes a recently updated version of the index, based on new data from the 2006 ABS Census of Population and Housing. Variables incorporated in the index include family type, education level and employment status of the child's parents, housing tenure and household income. This paper presents results displaying the regional distribution of child social exclusion risk in 2006, and analyses the characteristics of those areas (both urban and rural) which experience both the most and the least risk of child social exclusion.