ABS/Universities Australia Agreement

The ABS/Universities Australia Agreement allows university members to access a broad range of topics, including the Census of Population and Housing, health, education, business, labour force, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, migrants, crime, disabilities, ageing and carers for projects covered under the Agreement.

The current ABS/Universities Australia Agreement covers the period from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024. 

The Agreement includes:

• MicrodataDownload services
• Luxemburg Income Study
• Standard DataLab access services for projects with less than 10 analysts.

Under the Agreement, students, staff and researchers are not individually invoiced for their use of the charged ABS data services that are covered under the Agreement. Universities Australia and participating universities have paid for access on behalf of university members.

For more information about Universities Australia, visit www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au or email contact@universitiesaustralia.edu.au.

• Basic microdata (unit record data) can be downloaded to your environment for statistical analyses, such as modelling.
• Members of participating universities that have a Responsible Officer Undertaking in place may access MicrodataDownload (log into Registration Centre to check if you have access).
• New releases are available on the day of release for approved university members to download.
• Find out more about MicrodataDownload and apply for access.

• Secure analytical environment for high-end users who want to undertake real time complex analysis of microdata.
• Members of participating universities covered by the ABS/Universities Australia Agreement are not charged the DataLab annual fee for standard access for projects with up to 10 analysts.
• Charges apply for projects with more than 10 analysts, non-standard DataLab access and custom data integration services.
• Unlike previous Agreements, the number of DataLab projects supported under the Agreement is now capped and wait times may apply.
• Projects may run for up to 2 years under the Agreement, after which time charges will apply.
• New projects may progress their access requests outside of the ABS/Universities Australia Agreement, and will be subject to access fees and charges as outlined on the DataLab webpage.
• Find out more about DataLab and apply for access.

• Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) is a cross-national data archive located in Luxembourg.
• Australian researchers can apply for access to LIS data at no charge. Access is subject to users registering to use LIS through signing an annual pledge and submitting this to LIS. To apply for access to LIS, see the Luxembourg Income Study website.
• LIS is a depository for anonymised household survey microdata provided by international agencies, including ABS Income and Housing Costs microdata. Microdata from international collections in LIS have been adjusted to provide income, demographic, labour market and expenditure information about households, persons and children. Most microdata files in LIS cover multiple reference periods.

The ABS/Universities Australia Agreement applies to all Universities Australia member institutions. A list of participating institutions is published on the Universities Australia website.

If your university is not listed, you may still be able to access charged ABS data services at no additional charge. Email microdata.access@abs.gov.au to find out if your university has subscribed to data services.