New Census data on gender difficult for average Australian to understand, demographer says

A leading demographer is concerned new gender identity terms in the upcoming Census to include the trans community will be too hard for the average Australian to understand leading to issues with data collection.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed the August 11 Census will collect new data including whether someone is a “cis man” or a “cis woman” to denote that their biological sex corresponds with their gender identity.

The term “cisgender” covers straight and gay men and women free of gender dysphoria, where their biological sex doesn’t align with their personal perception of gender.

The Census will collect information on whether an individual is a “trans man”, “trans woman” and “trans, not further defined” to include those who have had gender surgery or who are transitioning.

While sex has been asked at every Census since 1911, the 2026 survey will for the first time ask about an individual’s sex recorded at birth and their gender, with the options of male, female or “another term”.

Those answers are forming the basis of more detailed data on gender experience.

“Gender relates to a person’s social or cultural identity as a man, woman, non-binary person or another term,” an ABS spokeswoman said.

“A person’s gender may change over time and may not be the same as their sex recorded at birth.”

Demographer Mark McCrindle, who conducts focus groups for a living, said there was a risk that Australians would misunderstand the gender terms, including many with English as a second language.

“The understanding of it has to be universal, it has to be clear for all people,” he told The Nightly.

“If the average, Australian-born person is perhaps not familiar with these terms, it gets more challenging as we bring in other language groups as well.

“The big risk is that we’re going to get false data or incomplete data, they just don’t understand what’s being asked and I think that’s a reasonable assumption.”

Mr McCrindle said society had not yet grappled with questions of gender identity.

“The whole area of gender identity, of the decoupling of gender from sex and even these sexuality options, have moved more quickly than the average population has in their understanding of this whole area of analysis,” he said.

Sydney-based cartoonist Norrie, who had gender reassignment surgery in 1989, successfully convinced the High Court in 2014 to create a “non-specific” sex category, which led to the creation of a “non-binary” sex option in the 2016 Census.

“It’s important so the Government knows which services to provide people and it’s important that everyone feels included in the Census,” Norrie told The Nightly.

“They’ll probably collate a lot of those answers together.”

But Kirralie Smith, the national spokeswoman for trans-critical group Binary, said the “cisgender” data, separating sex from gender identity, erased the identity of biological women.

“It is offensive, quite frankly, because there’s many words you can use to describe me as a woman but I’m simply a woman and females have a certain experience that’s common to all in life as do males,” she said.

The term “non-binary” describes an individual whose gender identity is neither exclusively male or female - with the Census to also collect data new terms such as “genderqueer”, “genderfluid”, “agender” and “gender diverse”.

Sexuality will also feature as an optional question for the first time.

The ABS has admitted privacy may be a problem and has listed a toll free number on their website for individuals to complete the Census separately to other household members.

“This question is about sexual identity and attraction, how a person thinks of their own sexuality, the term they identify with, and their romantic or sexual attraction to others. This question is asked only of people aged 16 years and older,” the spokeswoman said.

“People can also select the ‘Prefer not to answer’ option.”

The Census for 2026 has listed a range of categories for gender, gender experience and sexuality but respondents will have to provide specific detail for extra data to be included on categories like “cisgender” or “trans”.

Data will be collected on terms including “pansexual”, covering those who are attracted to someone regardless of gender or gender identity and “multi-gender attraction” — nine years after gay marriage was legalised.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August 2024 ruled out including a sexuality question in the next Census only to backflip following a backlash from Labor MPs.