Living in Australia: The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey
2023 HILDA Survey Research Conference
The recent 2023 HILDA Survey Research Conference highlighted 36 research papers using HILDA data. Over 200 policy makers, industry leaders and researchers attended and discussed:
- gender equality
- mental health
- retirement
- housing
- labour force participation.
The conference promoted HILDA data’s ability to address a wide range of policy issues.
Read more about past HILDA research or submit your research proposal.
Contact LongitudinalStudies@dss.gov.au for any other enquiries.
Overview
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey is Australia’s first nationally representative household-based longitudinal survey.
HILDA provides longitudinal data on the lives of Australian residents on a wide range of aspects of life. This includes:
- family dynamics
- economic well-being
- subjective well-being
- labour market dynamics.
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) fact sheet
Study participants
The survey commenced in 2001. The study collected data annually through interviews with all people over 15 years old in each household. In Wave one, the study collected data from 7,682 households (13,969 individuals). The wave 11 data collection added a sample top-up of 2,153 households (5,462 individuals).
Sample size and response rates
| Persons | In-Scope Population (Number) |
Respondents (Number) |
Wave response rate (%) |
Retention rate of wave 1 (%) |
| Wave 1 | - | 13,969 | - | - |
| Wave 2 | 16,023 | 13,041 | 81.4 | 85.9 |
| Wave 3 | 16,529 | 12,728 | 77.0 | 80.1 |
| Wave 4 | 16,859 | 12,408 | 73.6 | 75.6 |
| Wave 5 | 17,218 | 12,759 | 74.1 | 74.4 |
| Wave 6 | 17,702 | 12,905 | 72.9 | 72.2 |
| Wave 7 | 18,075 | 12,789 | 70.8 | 68.9 |
| Wave 8 | 18,406 | 12,785 | 69.5 | 67.0 |
| Wave 9 | 19,011 | 13,301 | 70.0 | 66.2 |
| Wave 10 | 19,514 | 13,526 | 69.3 | 64.4 |
| Wave 11 | 24,017 | 17,612 | 73.3 | 62.9 |
| Wave 12 | 24,731 | 17,475 | 70.7 | 61.1 |
| Wave 13 | 25,297 | 17,500 | 69.2 | 59.4 |
| Wave 14 | 25,739 | 17,511 | 68.0 | 58.1 |
| Wave 15 | 26,227 | 17,605 | 67.1 | 56.9 |
| Wave 16 | 26,691 | 17,693 | 66.3 | 55.6 |
| Wave 17 | 27,029 | 17,570 | 65.0 | 54.6 |
| Wave 18 | 27,427 | 17,434 | 63.6 | 52.7 |
| Wave 19 | 27,847 | 17,462 | 62.7 | 51.1 |
| Wave 20 | 28,358 | 17,070 | 60.2 | 49.2 |
Notes:
- Response rates are calculated as a percentage of the in-scope participants at the commencement of fieldwork for each wave. Response rates are not provided for wave 1.
- Retention rates are calculated as a percentage of the Wave 1 participants who completed each wave. They do not account for participants who are no longer in-scope (e.g. moved overseas, passed away) or new sample members recruited in subsequent waves. Therefore, they only partially reflect the full response picture.
- HILDA's in scope population tends to increase as new participants join households and children in existing households come of age to join the study.
- In Wave 11 a large top-up of new households occurred.
Governance
We are responsible for the HILDA Survey.
The Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne are responsible for design and management of the survey.
Roy Morgan Research collected data for Waves 9 to 20. The Nielsen Company collected data for Waves 1 to 8.
The HILDA Executive Reference Group includes leading researchers from a range of disciplines. They provide advice on the development of survey content.
The HILDA Technical Reference Group provides technical advice to the study.
HILDA data access
Data is available to approved researchers from government, academic institutions and non-profit organisations.
Access the HILDA data through Dataverse.
HILDA research
HILDA data has improved our understanding of the issues facing families regarding income and labour dynamics.
Data highlights
Data Highlight No.1/2014: Financial Hardship in Australia by Laura Bennetts Kneebone
Research summaries
Statistical reports
Technical reports
Discussion Paper Series
Previous HILDA Conference papers
See FloSse Research for more research publications.
Contact
For further information, contact LongitudinalStudies@dss.gov.au
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