From time to time, for more efficient allocation of resources, the Government may collect data from individuals or households on their demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, and country of birth, as well as their socioeconomic characteristics, such as income, occupation, and expenditure. Some of this data is then aggregated by geographic regions and made available to the public.
In Australia, where I live, the Government through the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) calibrates an index called Economic Resources Index (IER), which rates the relative socioeconomic status of a geographic region using a variety of variables obtained from the five-year census data collection.
IER can be aggregated by various digital borders that divide Australia into geographical regions of different sizes. For example, the state border (dashed line in Image 1) divides Australia into 8 states and territories, while the Statistical area 1 The boundary (SA1) (in Image 2) divides Australia into much more granular regions, sometimes a group of just a few streets.
When checking the IER in different regions in a interactive map provided by the ABS, as shown in the images below, I found that the IER is quite different depending on the regions, even at street level, and I am wondering what the factors may be that explain this.
