Methodology of evaluating the quality of probabilistic linking

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will begin the formation of a Statistical Longitudinal Census Data Set (SLCD) by choosing a 5% sample of people from the 2006 population census to be linked probabilistically with subsequent censuses. A long-term aim is to use the power of the rich longitudinal demographic data provided by the SLCD to shed light on a variety of issues which cannot be addressed using cross-sectional data. The SLCD may be further enhanced by probabilistically linking it with births, deaths, immigration settlements or disease registers. This paper gives a brief description of recent developments in data linking at the ABS, outlines the data linking methodology and quality measures we have considered and summarises preliminary results using Census Dress Rehearsal data.