The Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas is an online interactive data asset that uses geospatial and temporal visualisation to map health and wellbeing indicators for children and young people aged 0 to 24 across Australian communities.

This freely accessible resource enables government agencies, researchers, and community organisations to systematically identify and address child and youth wellbeing priorities in a rigorous and cost-effective way.

What is the Atlas?

Our mission is to accelerate national access to and use of spatial data, deepen understanding of inequities and improve the wellbeing, health and development of children and young people.

Through the Atlas, we strive to enable equitable access to information, contributing to the democratisation of data for a more inclusive and informed society.  

Our vision and mission

Our goals

  • Provide insights into the associations between community-level factors and children's outcomes.

  • Help guide the development of geographically sensitive policy, which acknowledges the relationships between the spatial patterns of children’s wellbeing outcomes, and the provision of services in an area.

  • Identify gaps, priorities, and research opportunities, aiding policy and investment decisions for tangible health improvements.

  • Expand a national network of experts in child and youth wellbeing and data monitoring, including policymakers, researchers, clinicians, and community representatives.

History of the Atlas

The Western Australian Child Development Atlas (CDA) was a geospatial tool designed to explore data concerning children and young people aged 0 to 24 years across Western Australia (WA).

Launched in 2018 (pilot launch), the CDA demonstrated the value of displaying child health and wellbeing indicators in a digital atlas, and laid the groundwork for the creation of the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas, expanding the project into a nationwide platform.

The CDA provided the foundation for the design and construction of the National Atlas. The ACYWA team has since enhanced features that had previously been found useful in the CDA, while also adding new capabilities. All datasets within the CDA were migrated into the ACYWA platform, which was officially launched in November 2023.