April 2, 2013
Cherbourg has been ranked as one of the most disadvantaged areas in Australia by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The “Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage, 2011”, released last Thursday, assesses data collected during the 2011 Census.
Cherbourg was named as the second-most disadvantaged community in the nation, just behind Yarrabah, south of Cairns.
And while the South Burnett and Gympie council areas are both ranked higher than Cherbourg, they’re not markedly better off.
Gympie Regional Council area was ranked the 25th most disadvantaged Local Government Area in the State (98th in Australia) and the South Burnett was rated slightly worse at 23rd in Queensland (and 94th in Australia).
The North Burnett was rated higher than both, at 28th in Queensland (and 104th in Australia).
By comparison, Toowoomba Regional Council’s area ranks 58th in Queensland (and 348th in Australia).
The ABS stressed that it was important to remember that indexes are assigned to geographic areas, not to individuals, and that it was possible for a relatively advantaged person to live in an area which might have a low score on some or all of ABS’s Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) indexes.
It was also not uncommon to see local government areas containing pockets of both advantage and disadvantage.
The latest Census release assesses the socio-economic characteristics of communities according to “people’s access to material and social resources, and their ability to participate in society”.
The top-ranking Local Government Area in Australia is Peppermint Grove, in Western Australia, with a rank of 565.
Brisbane is the most advantaged local government area in Queensland, coming in at the top spot of 74 on the ABS index for Queensland (and 513 for Australia).
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