The figure accounts for 0.9 per cent of all couples living together.

The 2016 Census figures are the highest on record, with the number of cohabitating same-sex couples increasing by 39 per cent since the 2011 Census, which counted 33,700 same-sex couples, the ABS said.

2016 Census Director Sue Taylor said the latest figures reflect generational changes in the Australian community.

“Most of the increase in same-sex couples living together (86 per cent) was due to higher levels of reporting in people aged 20-39 at the time of the 2016 Census,” Ms Taylor said.

The Australian Capital Territory had the highest proportion of same-sex couples in 2016 at 1.4 per cent of all couples. The next highest states/territories were New South Wales and Victoria. Almost two-thirds of same-sex couples (63 per cent) lived in NSW or Victoria.

Ms Taylor also pointed out domestic work was more evenly shared between partners in same-sex couples.

“Partners did the same amount of unpaid domestic work in 57 per cent of female same-sex couples, 56 per cent of male same-sex couples and 39 per cent of opposite-sex couples,” Ms Taylor said.

“In opposite-sex couples, females did more unpaid domestic work than males in 54 per cent of couples, with males doing more domestic work than females in just 7.3 per cent of couples.”

Partners in same-sex couples (compared to partners in opposite-sex couples) were more likely in 2016 to: 

The ABS said all these insights and more are available in the newly released analytical article on same-sex couples.