Here's an admission... no matter how hard we plan for each 5 yearly Census update, the task never seems to get easier and always has its challenges - apparently it doesn't just happen with the push of a button! (or so the people in .id's technical team tell me).

Anyway, we are greatly relieved to provide you with the Australian Census Second Release updates in profile.id.

In our recently posted blogs we have also provided an interesting analysis of the recently released Subnational Population Estimates for New Zealand (by Nenad).

Glenn has written an interesting blog about Ancestry; which along with Simone's blog on 'Living Arrangements' highlights how diverse we are as a nation - particularly when we look at our characteristics at the suburb level.

On the subject of Ancestry however, the more you look into it, the more complex the important questions 'Cultural Identity' become. Nevertheless, issues of ethnicity and cultural identity (of which ancestry is a part) are increasingly important questions for Australia as we become more linked into the global economy.

Immigration has always been an important part of Australia's development path and will increasingly become so. Much of our population growth is driven by immigration and living as a multicultural society is an essential part of who we are.

The impacts of our large and diverse immigration program will not only provide us with the challenges of rapid population growth but a growing need to understand different cultures.

Understanding each other will enable us to collectively build more socially sustainable communities and will provide us with insights into other cultures.

This is knowledge that will also benefit our economic engagement overseas.

It is interesting to see that the Chinese and Indian ancestry groups are among the biggest increases in the past 5 years.

I suspect that despite the recent federal government announcements about 'Australia's Asian Century', this is a process that is already well underway - or so the evidence from the Census is suggesting.