Researchers have attacked the Bureau of Statistics' plan to start publishing Australia's national census every decade, rather than every five years, saying the census is the envy of other developed countries and the social ramifications would be far-reaching.

The ABS has asked the Abbott government to legislate to remove the requirement that it conduct a census every five years and replace it with a requirement to conduct the survey only once every 10 years, as happens in Britain and the United States.

The ABS chief executive, David Kalisch, confirmed on Thursday that the bureau had spent more than a year developing means of producing accurate population information without a census and believed it could accurately update state populations every three months and smaller populations every year.

But asked how the bureau would be able to provide sufficiently accurate population information without surveying the entire population, Mr Kalisch said he wasn't in a position to say.

The next census is due in August, 2016, but Fairfax Media understands the ABS is well behind schedule and unable to deliver it without cutting its size or compromising its quality.

Delaying the census will only be possible if the Census and Statistics Act is amended by Parliament.

Dr Alison Taylor, Executive Director of Demography and Economics in the NSW Planning & Environment Department, said it would be "very sad" if Australia ended up with a 10-year census because it would affect everything from Closing the Gap reports to economic and demographic information used by academics, government departments, financial markets and economists.

"If we move to a 10-year census, as is the case in some other countries, there will be a commensurate decline in the quality and relevance of the information," Ms Taylor told Fairfax Media.

"Already we suffer enough with the census data when it's five years out of date. If we move to a situation where we only have this data once every 10 years, then who knows what it will be like?" she said.

Professor Martin Bell, Queensland Centre for Population Research, University of Queensland, said the national census is the benchmark for all population estimates and Australia could not afford to rely on 10-year old data.

"It's the one benchmark we have for population dynamics in Australia, and 10 years is way too long to wait for a benchmark to enable one to put together effective, accurate information," Mr Bell said.

"This comes at a time when Australia is undergoing the most significant immigration program in its history. If we are to provide services for people [in our immigration program], we need up-to-date, detailed information. We need to know where the growth in immigration is occurring within Australia, and the census is the only thing that gives us that."

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen said the government needed to be "open and transparent" about what its plans were for the census.

"This is a very serious matter and I've seen reports that this is an ABS proposal or a Government proposal. Now we'll need to see the detail," Mr Bowen said.

"We'd want reassurance that this would improve the quality of statistics collection. If we could be reassured of that, we'd be comfortable with that, if we couldn't, we'd oppose it," he said.

The 2011 census cost $440 million. It employed 29,000 census collectors, making it what the bureau described at the time as Australia's largest ever peace-time operation.

The ABS wants to use much of the money that would have been used for the 2016 census to modernise its computing systems, some of which are up to 40 years old and need specialised knowledge to maintain.

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