FOREWORD
The tables in this collection provide an analysis of selected socio-economic data from the 1996 Census of Population and Housing for New South Wales State Electoral Districts as determined by the 1998 redistribution. For the effects of the redistribution, see Antony Green's background paper 1997/98 New South Wales Redistribution: Analysis of Final Boundaries (no.4/98).

Data for each characteristic is presented in two tables. The first table ranks each Electoral District, in descending order, on the relative value of the selected data item. The second lists the same information for each electorate in alphabetical order. An average score for each data item has been included in each table in this publication. The mean score is shown at the end of each table while the median (middle) score is denoted within each table by the 47th ranked score. The rankings have also been carried over into the alphabetically sorted Electorate tables in this publication. The political party shown next to each electorate is based on the party notionally holding the seat as calculated in Antony Green's paper cited above.

All data has been extracted from the Census96 spreadsheet data provided to the NSW Parliamentary Library by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The data used presents the 1996 census data in relation to the New South Wales state electoral boundaries as redistributed in 1998. Electoral square kilometre size was extracted from the 1998 NSW State Electoral Redistribution report. The ranked tables that appear in this publication have been produced using Microsoft Excel 5.0. For its format, this publication draws upon Electorate Rankings: Census 1996 by Andrew Kopras, Parliament of Australia, Parliamentary Library, Background Paper 14 1997-98.