Frequently Asked Questions
Diversity can be any attribute that makes us different from one another. Diversity is both attributive and cognitive, and can refer to differences based on cultural heritage, gender, age, language, religion, disability and sexual orientation, and to many more dimensions such as education, occupation, tenure, personality, socioeconomic status, marital or parental status, and so on. The list is almost endless!
We have given great consideration to the metrics that best capture salient diversity for any organisation. We regularly review and conduct research in order to ensure Diversity Atlas captures key diversity data. We emphasise cultural diversity, demographic diversity and intersectionality in order to provide nuanced, considered and useful insights in diversity results.
Based on research, and acknowledging that these weights will vary somewhat in time and place, the Diversity Atlas team created an index for measuring cultural diversity across the top four key parameters:
- Cultural Heritage – 30%
- Country of Birth – 23%
- Language – 23%
- Worldview/Religion –24%
From here, we created a mathematical formula that generates a ‘diversity index’ based on the value of each parameter within a particular group.
For more background and technical details refer to our paper A Practical Approach to Measuring Cultural Diversity on Australian Organizations and Schools, published in the International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 7, No. 12, December 2017.
We are committed to periodically reviewing the weighted index. Our current review, undertaken in 2019, surveyed attitudes towards these various pillars of cultures from people in Europe, Asia and Oceania.
Diversity Atlas measures various aspects of both cultural and demographic diversity. In doing so it gives organisations an in-depth understanding of the types and extent of diversity within their workforce, communities, customer base, schools, beneficiaries and more.
- Cultural diversity: country of birth x 3 generations, languages, worldview/religion and cultural identity, ancestry and experience. These are the accepted dimensions of cultural diversity as drawn from the discipline of cultural anthropology and our own research and thought. See below for more information on each of these pillars.
- In addition to the categories of diversity that are considered cultural, we also survey data that is primarily demographic but are also known to be significant in shaping individual attitudes, values and behaviours. These include age, gender, disability, sexuality, appearance, education level and position.
The data is stored in accordance with our privacy policy.
Each page of DA has an SSL certificate. Our web servers are located in highly secured domains where security is guaranteed. All website data is backed up on a daily, weekly and monthly basis – The integrity and availability of any data on DA is our highest priority, and all data is encrypted in transit and at rest. All personal data is protected in line with any or all statutory authorities in any country, state or jurisdiction in which the survey is deployed, including but not limited to GDPR (EU).
By default, yes. No Personal Identifiable Information or IP addresses are collected. The platform will provide your organisation with a whole-group diversity snapshot, but no information can be attributed to any participant individually.
We also employ a ‘rule of 20’ to prevent reidentification. No survey results are shown unless 20 people submit a survey, and no filtered results are shown if the filter query has less than 20 participants. For example, if your administrator has collected 40 surveys, group results are shown, but if those 30 surveys are from 21 men and 19 women, only ‘men’ can be filtered to see their results in isolation. This is very important when thinking about other filter options such as ‘Disability’ or ‘People over the age 55’ etc.
We use the UN database of countries and follow the UN’s classification of countries and dependent territories. The criteria for the selection of countries listed in Diversity Atlas can be categorised as:
- A full member of the United Nations
- UN Non-Member Permanent Observer States
Members of specialized agencies of the UN - Countries connected to a full member and in the process of being decolonized
- Islands associated with a Full Member State – e.g, Christmas Island and Norfolk Island are part of Australia.
- Non-Self Governing Territories
Or a region/ overseas territory connected to a country which is a full member of the UN such as the following:
- Overseas Territories/Collectivity/Departments/Regions of France
- Overseas Territories/Department of Britain
- Constituent Country
Unincorporated Territories of the US & Commonwealth - Constituent State/Country – e.g, Antigua is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
- Associated State
We also list countries that fulfil the following three criteria:
- Recognised by at least two UN full member states.
- Are self-governing
- Have their own official currency, or utilise a currency from a major multi-lateral movement or a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Countries that do not meet the criteria as described in the above section are not included in our list. For this reason, countries such as England and Tibet do not appear in the Countries page of Diversity Atlas. However, should you be in a situation where your country is not listed, as an interim measure we hope that your diversity can be attributed via the cultural heritage and language questions.
We also include options for ‘Not Listed’, ‘Unknown’ and ‘Prefer not to Answer’.
We’re committed to reviewing our databases, so please do get in touch to share your feedback.
Worldview is the term we use to encompass both secular and religious beliefs. We acknowledge that the term ‘worldview’ can have a variety of meanings, and in this context, we draw from the sociology of religion, and its use in reference to both religious and non-religious worldviews. We use the term ‘worldview’ to refer to profound questions such as those about the nature of reality. While religious traditions have historically been the dominant voices in answering these questions, there are of course spiritual, folk, non-religious, and/or secular frameworks from which people derive meaning. For instance, Australia’s Census has shown a significant shift in how Australians identify in terms of their beliefs, and there has been a shift towards ‘No religion’ which includes secular beliefs, new age religious beliefs, atheism and the like.
Based on these trends in a global and ever-changing religious demographic and in line with academic practice, we have used the term ‘worldview’, and have worked to formulate a question that is inclusive to people regardless of their beliefs and invites all users to participate.
We even have Jedi!
Note: We have been asked to include political or socio-political movements into our Worldview datasets, such as ‘Neo-Marxist’ and ‘Conservative’ but thus far we have resisted. This is because we believe that the spirit of the query is to do with one’s perception of reality, not one’s perception of economic or political structures.
Typologies of religious hierarchies are complex because they consider a range of social, organisational and belief (spiritual/existential) factors. We use an (up to) three-tiered structure to classify religious groups which allows users to precisely specify their religious affiliation, as the nuance of differing branches of any religious or spiritual movement are often quite pronounced.
At the top of the hierarchy sits the dominant category of what is, in the case of Christian religions for instance, the ‘church’, with sub-categories of each church listed within the database as well, should participants wish to take a ‘deeper dive’.
Note: We also have options such as ‘Self Defined Christian’ and ‘Non-Religious Buddhist in our datasets.
Examples:
- Christian → Catholic → Roman Catholic
- Christian → Orthodox → Greek Orthodox
- Islam → Sunni → Hanafi
- Buddhist → Mahayana → Zen
- Hindu → Vaishnava → Smarta
- Spiritism → Afro Brazilian → Candomble
- Humanist → at present we do not have other branches or sub groups listed for humanism. Know of any? Please get in touch!
Your ancestors may have belonged to different cultures to you, but the influence of these cultures may still resonate. For us, we are interested just as much by where you came from as who you are now. The dataset contains almost 10,000 options – some are broad descriptors such as ‘European’ but many are very precise, such as the thousands of tribes and mobs around the world, people groups, ethnic groups and nations. You can pick up to four.
Likewise, your sense of cultural belonging may differ from your ancestry, or you may have the same answer/s for both questions. You can select up to four cultures / people-groups that describe the culture to which you feel that you belong.
The database has drawn from a range of sources including Ethnologue, AIATSIS (The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies), the UN and also many years of ongoing research by various members and partners of Diversity Atlas. An important feature of the databases is the ongoing coding and grouping of data according to zones, relational aspect and, where possible, the flow of communities across the globe.
Some entries such as ‘Black British’ came about after feedback from our participants. If any new cultural group is brought to our attention, we ensure research is conducted, citations and references noted, and our panel of SME’s are in agreeance before they are added to our database. This most wonderful act of ‘citizen science’ quite often brings forth real-world cultural identities than western academia has thus far ignored or failed to include.
Our database is an ongoing work, representative of our lifetime commitment to Diversity Atlas becoming a repository for all data around languages, speech communities, worldviews/religions, cultural heritage and national identities, which will ultimately help us to understand the human journey to its fullest.
Disability is any self-reported personal, physical, mental or emotional condition that impacts a person’s life long term. We use the term ‘disability’ rather than other nomenclatures for reasons best expressed by the Australian Network on Disability, who write on their website:
“Differently abled”, “people of all abilities”, “disAbility”, “diffAbled”, “special needs” and the like, are all euphemistic and can be considered patronising. While the intention is usually good, these phrases tend to fall into the trap of making people with disability out to be special or inspirational, just for living with disability.”
- We take a multi-layered approach to privacy. We don’t collect names – only your email as an identifier. This identifier is stored in a separate database from the survey responses – so your identifier is only used to approve or delete your My Story.
- While the combination of survey answers could potentially identify someone, we implement security measures and strict access controls to protect your data. You maintain control at every step – from choosing what to share, to deciding whether to publish your story, to requesting deletion of your data using your email address.
- Survey Data and Identifying information is stored separately on secure servers.
- We implement strict access controls and encryption.
- Regular security assessments ensure systems remain secure.
- Your email survey responses are linked only to your email address and an internal ID.
- We recognize that email addresses often contain personal names and are considered personal data. The AI uses your de-identified survey data to generate your story. Your email is essential – it’s how we notify you when your story is ready AND the only way we can verify your identity if you want to delete your data later. You decide whether to publish your story, and you can request deletion at any point, but only if we can verify your email. While we don’t collect names separately, we treat email addresses as personal data.
- Email addresses are stored securely and separately from survey data.
- Email address is essential for both notifications and verifying your identity.
- Your survey responses are deleted following processing.
No raw personal data is shared with employers
- Only you can see your story initially. It’s sent to you for review, and it’s entirely your choice whether to publish it on the Diversity Atlas website.
- Even after publishing, you can remove it at any time.
- Unpublished stories are only visible to you and authorised Diversity Atlas personnel
- Published stories appear without personally identifying information.
- Our AI processing is based on explicit consent that you provide before participating.
- The AI only works with de-identified data.
- Survey responses are deleted after processing.
- You may opt out of AI processing and request deletion of your data at any time.
- You have control over your data, requesting deletion is a simple matter of requesting removal using your email to verify the request.
- To exercise your ‘right to be forgotten,’ you must contact us from the same email you used for the survey – it’s the only way we can verify your identity and link to your data in our system.”
- We only keep your personal information for as long as is necessary.
- Your survey responses are only kept until processing, at which time they are deleted.
- If you publish your story, we retain the story data until you request removal.
- You can request deletion at any time.
- We collect participant email address, which often contains personal names and is considered personal data under privacy laws. This identifying information is stored separately and securely from the survey responses and is used solely for notification and removal of data.
- We acknowledge that the combination of various responses could potentially allow identification in some cases. This is why we seek additional consent prior to publishing any story.
We believe that everyone should be comfortable in bringing their ‘whole self’ to work. An individual should not feel compelled to ‘hide’ their identities, whether it be their accent, gender or religion (or lack thereof), for instance. How can collaboration genuinely take place if only ‘parts’ of you are contributing, or you are stuck behind a facade? To confidently and happily bring your whole self to work implies you’re in a space that values your whole self and fosters your difference. To feel reticent of being yourself at work will impact engagement, mental health, productivity, well-being and communication / collaboration.
Our survey, with its 50,000 fields of available data will show each and every participant that their identities and alignments and beliefs and statuses are noted, included, counted… seen. This will inspire them to bring their whole self to work, with confidence, and perhaps more importantly, inspire their organisation to consider their diversity profile when thinking about their aspirations, programs and work. This is the very definition of ‘best-practice’ in our space.
By mapping an organisation’s workforce diversity profile, our customers will be able to better understand how to operationalise their diversity by creating opportunities for cross-cultural understanding and leveraging linguistic, cultural and demographic assets to enhance trust and communication.
Diversity Atlas will also improve business performance by developing truly inclusive policies that respond to real-time diversity profiles and incorporate workforce-driven feedback into organisational planning.
The Diversity Index is a weighted index that considers various pillars of cultural diversity: cultural heritage, country of birth, language, and worldview/religion. The number of the index has no objective quantitative value. It allows an organisation to track changes to its diversity that occur through recruitment and attrition. It is a useful way to track through a single metric and/or changes to cultural diversity levels over time. It is also a useful way to heuristically compare (with the click of a button) the diversity of different departments, states / regions, countries etc. It will display the areas of an organisation that may be rich in diversity, too diverse, or the very opposite; this then informs an organisation as to the implications of their diversity when tracked against further metrics such as staff retention, productivity, profits and well-being.
Diversity Atlas produces one weighted diversity index, and then separate indices for each of the following metrics: country of birth diversity, language diversity, worldview/religious diversity, and cultural heritage and diversity. Having these additional / separate indices allows you to understand quickly which of the pillars are more or less diverse across departments or geographies of an organisation.
- Diversity Atlas boasts a massive database of languages, cultures, religion and worldviews, enabling participants to precisely identify their diversity profile without being confined to ‘umbrella’ terms.
- In drawing from our databases, participants cannot input false or offensive answers.
- Diversity Atlas also provides diversity analysis and reporting.
- Diversity Atlas focuses on cultural diversity, whereas Google Forms (for instance) has no particular focus, analysis or academic basis.
No, in fact there’s 14 languages to choose from (see below), and we hope to be adding more soon.
- English
- French
- Croatian
- German
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Japanese
- Korean
- Italian
- Greek
- Vietnamese
- Arabic
Generational labels like Gen Z, Millennials, and Baby Boomers are widely recognized in society, but you might have noticed that their exact age ranges can vary depending on the source. While there isn’t an official global standard for defining generations, one of the most influential sources for understanding generational age groups is the Pew Research Center.
Based on their latest research, here’s the most widely accepted breakdown of generational age ranges in 2025.
- Baby Boomers (1946-1964) : Age 61 – 79 in 2025
- Baby Boomers are often considered the generation that followed World War II, and they significantly shaped societal and cultural norms.
- Generation X (1965-1980) : Age 45 – 60 in 2025
- Gen X is known for being the first generation to embrace digital technology and has experienced both analog and digital shifts.
- Millennials (1981-1996) : Age 29 – 44 in 2025
- Often credited with driving the tech revolution, Millennials are recognized for their adaptability, entrepreneurial spirit, and close relationship with social media.
- Gen Z (1997 – Present) : Age 13 – 28 in 2025
- Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with the internet as a constant part of their lives, influencing everything from how they communicate to how they view the world.
Why Generational Age Ranges Matter?
It is essential for understanding how different age groups interact with various aspects of society, from technology to consumer behavior. By accurately measuring these generational segments, businesses and researchers can tailor their strategies to engage with each group more effectively. It’s crucial to keep these distinctions in mind when analyzing demographic data.