 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2019) |
In 2020, 29.1% of the Australian resident population, or 7,502,000 people, were born overseas. [1]
| This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(February 2019) |
In 2020, 29.1% of the Australian resident population, or 7,502,000 people, were born overseas. [1]
Australia has one of the highest amounts of foreign-born residents in the world (both in total numbers, and per capita), as well as one of the highest immigration rates in the world.
Immigrants account for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations. [2] [3]
In 2015, Australia had the 8th highest foreign-born population in the world, behind Canada but ahead of France (both countries had very close numbers to Australia). The United States was ranked 1st, with over 46 million foreign-born residents. The over 7 million immigrants in Australia constituted 3.1% of all immigrants in the world.
For foreign-born residents per capita, Australia was ranked the 11th highest sovereign country ahead of Lebanon and behind Jordan (both countries experienced a large influx of refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria). Vatican City was 1st, its population of 800 were 100% foreign-born. If dependent territories (e.g.: Guam, Macau, Channel Islands) were included, then Australia's rank would fall to 27th.
From 2010 to 2015, Australia had the 14th highest net migration rate in the world. For 2015–2020, Australia's migration rate was projected to fall (statistics published in 2019), however the country's rank was expected to remain steady at 14th due to similar falls in other countries.
The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2022. It shows only countries or regions of birth with a population of over 100,000 residing in Australia.
| Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) [4] | |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Estimated resident population [upper-alpha 1] |
| Total Australian-born | 18,332,620 |
| Total foreign-born | 7,680,450 |
 England [upper-alpha 2] | 961,370 |
 India | 753,520 |
 China [upper-alpha 3] | 597,440 |
 New Zealand | 586,020 |
 Philippines | 320,300 |
 Vietnam | 281,810 |
 South Africa | 206,730 |
 Malaysia | 176,210 |
 Italy | 161,560 |
 Nepal | 151,140 |
 Sri Lanka | 145,430 |
 Scotland [upper-alpha 4] | 125,030 |
 United States | 112,580 |
 Hong Kong [upper-alpha 5] | 112,520 |
 South Korea | 108,810 |
 Germany | 104,710 |
 Iraq | 104,170 |
 Pakistan | 103,120 |
The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth during historical census years. Only countries with over 25,000 Australian residents are shown.
| Place of birth | Status | Estimated resident population, 2021 census [5] | Estimated resident population, 2016 census [6] | Estimated resident population, 2011 census [7] | Estimated resident population, 2006 census [2] | Estimated resident population, 2001 census [2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia |  Increasing | 17,019,815 | 15,614,834 | 15,017,846 | 14,072,946 | 13,629,685 |
| England | Increasing | 927,490 | 907,568 | 911,593 | 856,939 | 847,365 |
| India | Increasing | 673,352 | 455,385 | 295,362 | 147,106 | 95,452 |
| China | Increasing | 549,618 | 509,558 | 318,969 | 206,588 | 142,780 |
| New Zealand | Increasing | 530,492 | 518,462 | 483,398 | 389,465 | 355,765 |
| Philippines | Increasing | 293,892 | 232,391 | 171,233 | 120,540 | 103,942 |
| Vietnam | Increasing | 257,997 | 219,351 | 185,039 | 159,850 | 154,831 |
| South Africa | Increasing | 189,207 | 162,450 | 145,683 | 104,132 | 79,425 |
| Malaysia | Increasing | 165,616 | 138,363 | 116,196 | 92,335 | 78,858 |
| Italy |  Decreasing | 163,326 | 174,042 | 185,402 | 199,124 | 218,718 |
| Sri Lanka | Increasing | 131,904 | 109,850 | 86,412 | 62,256 | 53,461 |
| Nepal | Increasing | 122,506 | 54,757 | 24,635 | 4,566 | |
| Scotland |  Stagnant | 118,496 | 119,416 | 133,432 | 130,206 | 137,252 |
| South Korea | Increasing | 102,092 | 98,775 | 74,538 | 52,763 | 38,900 |
| United States | Increasing | 101,309 | 86,126 | 77,009 | 61,721 | 53,694 |
| Germany | Stagnant | 101,255 | 102,594 | 108,002 | 106,524 | 108,220 |
| Hong Kong | Increasing | 100,148 | 86,886 | 74,955 | 71,803 | 67,122 |
| Iraq | Increasing | 92,922 | 67,353 | 48,169 | 32,520 | 24,832 |
 Greece | Stagnant | 92,314 | 93,740 | 99,938 | 109,990 | 116,431 |
| Pakistan | Increasing | 89,633 | 61,918 | 30,221 | 16,993 | |
 Lebanon | Increasing | 87,340 | 78,649 | 76,450 | 74,849 | 71,349 |
 Indonesia | Increasing | 87,075 | 73,218 | 63,159 | 50,974 | 47,158 |
 Thailand | Increasing | 83,779 | 66,228 | 45,464 | 30,554 | 23,600 |
 Ireland | Increasing | 80,927 | 74,891 | 67,318 | 50,256 | 50,235 |
 Iran | Increasing | 70,899 | 58,112 | 34,454 | 22,549 | |
 Fiji | Increasing | 68,947 | 61,472 | 56,978 | 48,142 | 44,261 |
 Netherlands | Decreasing | 66,481 | 70,172 | 76,046 | 78,924 | 83,324 |
 Singapore | Increasing | 61,056 | 54,934 | 48,647 | 39,972 | 33,485 |
 Afghanistan | Increasing | 59,797 | 46,799 | 28,598 | 16,751 | |
 Bangladesh | Increasing | 51,491 | 42,420 | 27,808 | 16,096 | |
 Canada | Increasing | 50,223 | 43,053 | 38,871 | 31,614 | 27,289 |
 Taiwan | Increasing | 49,511 | 46,822 | 28,627 | 24,370 | |
 Brazil | Increasing | 46,720 | 27,625 | 14,508 | 7,493 | |
 Poland | Stagnant | 45,884 | 45,370 | 48,677 | 52,254 | 58,110 |
 Japan | Increasing | 45,267 | 42,420 | 35,377 | 30,778 | |
 Croatia | Stagnant | 43,302 | 43,687 | 48,828 | 50,996 | 51,909 |
 Egypt | Increasing | 43,213 | 39,776 | 36,532 | 33,496 | |
 North Macedonia | Stagnant | 41,786 | 38,986 | 40,222 | 40,656 | 43,527 |
 Zimbabwe | Increasing | 39,714 | 34,789 | 30,251 | 20,155 | |
 Myanmar | Increasing | 39,171 | 32,656 | 21,760 | 12,378 | |
 Cambodia | Increasing | 39,043 | 33,152 | 28,329 | 24,528 | |
 Turkey | Increasing | 38,568 | 32,183 | 32,844 | 30,490 | 29,821 |
 France | Increasing | 36,019 | 31,120 | 24,675 | 19,186 | 17,268 |
 Malta | Decreasing | 35,413 | 37,609 | 41,274 | 43,700 | 46,998 |
 Colombia | Increasing | 35,033 | 18,991 | 11,317 | 5,709 | |
 Papua New Guinea | Increasing | 29,984 | 28,803 | 26,787 | 24,021 | |
 Chile | Increasing | 29,860 | 26,082 | 24,936 | 23,304 | |
 Wales | Stagnant | 29,250 | 28,046 | 28,675 | 25,313 | |
 Syria | Increasing | 29,096 | 15,324 | 8,391 | 6,968 | |
 Samoa | Increasing | 28,107 | 24,016 | 19,092 | 15,240 | |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Stagnant | 26,171 | 23,959 | 25,682 | 24,631 | |
 Mauritius | Increasing | 25,981 | 24,324 | 23,279 | 18,173 | |
 Serbia | Increasing | 25,454 | 20,205 | 20,267 | 17,327 |
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2020) |
As per the 2016 Census, while 6 out of every 10 migrants live in Victoria or New South Wales, there had been a noticeable increase in the number of migrants that settled down Western Australia and Queensland.
In 2016, among all the capital cities in Australia, Sydney – at 1,773,496 – had the highest overseas-born population. Melbourne, on the other hand, had 1,520,253 overseas-born individuals living in the city as per the 2016 Census. Perth, with 702,545 in 2016, came in at the third spot on the list of cities with the highest number of overseas-born population.2
According to the 2016 Census, among all the Australian states and territories, Western Australia had the largest population of overseas-born individuals.
The population of Australia is estimated to be 27,397,800 as of 10 September 2024. It is the 54th most populous country in the world and the most populous Oceanian country. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas, particularly on the Eastern, South Eastern and Southern seaboards, and is expected to exceed 30 million by 2029.
Anglo-Celtic Australians is a contested ancestral grouping of Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles - predominantly in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.
The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago.
Chinese Australians are Australians of Chinese origin. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ancestry than any country outside Asia. As a whole, Australian residents identifying themselves as having Chinese ancestry made up 5.5% of Australia's population at the 2021 census.
The South African diaspora consists of South African emigrants and their descendants living outside South Africa. The largest concentrations of South African emigrants are to be found in the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. At the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 217,180 residents of England and Wales were born in South Africa. In Australia, there were 189,207 South African-born people living in the country at the moment of the 2021 Census. The 2021 American Community Survey identified 123,461 South African-born residents of the country.
Sri Lankan Australians are people of Sri Lankan heritage living in Australia; this includes Sri Lankans by birth and by ancestry. Sri Lankan Australians constitute one of the largest groups of Overseas Sri Lankan communities and are the largest diasporic Sri Lankan community in Oceania. Sri Lankan Australians consist of people with Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher, Malay and Chinese origins among others.
The Australian diaspora are those Australians living outside of Australia. It includes approximately 598,765 Australian-born people living outside of Australia, people who are Australian citizens and live outside Australia, and people with Australian ancestry who live outside of Australia.
Sudanese Australians are people of Sudanese origin or descent living in Australia. The largest population of Sudanese Australians reside in Victoria (6,085).
Post-war immigration to Australia deals with migration to Australia in the decades immediately following World War II, and in particular refers to the predominantly European wave of immigration which occurred between 1945 and the end of the White Australia policy in 1973. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Ben Chifley, Prime Minister of Australia (1945–1949), established the federal Department of Immigration to administer a large-scale immigration program. Chifley commissioned a report on the subject which found that Australia was in urgent need of a larger population for the purposes of defence and development and it recommended a 1% annual increase in population through increased immigration.
Sydney is Australia's most populous city, and is also the most populous city in Oceania. In the 2021 census, 5,231,147 persons declared themselves as residents of the Sydney Statistical Division–about one-fifth (20.58%) of Australia's total population. With a population density of 2037 people per square kilometre, the urban core has population density five times that of the greater region.
Serbian Australians, are Australians of ethnic Serb ancestry. In the 2021 census there were 94,997 people in Australia who identified as having Serb ancestry, making it a significant group with the global Serb diaspora.
Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Australian. Australian law does not provide for a racial or ethnic component of nationality, instead relying on citizenship as a legal status, though the Constitutional framers considered the Commonwealth to be "a home for Australians and the British race alone", as well as a "Christian Commonwealth". Since the postwar period, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism and has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30 percent of the population in 2019.
English Australians, also known as Anglo-Australians, are Australians whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2021 census, 8,385,928 people, or 33% of the Australian population, stated that they had English ancestry. It is the largest self-identified ancestry in Australia. People of ethnic English origin have been the largest group to migrate to Australia since the establishment of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788.
Indian Australians or Indo-Australians are Australians of Indian ancestry. This includes both those who are Australian by birth, and those born in India or elsewhere in the Indian diaspora. Indian Australians are one of the largest groups within the Indian diaspora, with 783,958 persons declaring Indian ancestry at the 2021 census, representing 3.1% of the Australian population. In 2019, the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated that 721,050 Australian residents were born in India.
Ethiopian Australians are immigrants from Ethiopia to Australia and their descendants. However, as Ethiopia is a multi-ethnic country with significant inter-ethnic tensions, not all individuals from Ethiopia accept the label "Ethiopian", instead preferring to identify by their ethnic group. In particular, various Oromo people use the term 'Oromo Australian' instead. In contrast, there are many individuals who prefer to label themselves as Ethiopian Australians. This is because they oppose labelling themselves based on their ethnicity as they see it as divisive and politicising their ethnic identity. This is common among the Amharic-speaking community along with ethnically mixed individuals, compared to others who stand by their ethnic identity.
Melbourne is Australia's second-most populous city and has a diverse and multicultural population.
Singaporean Australians are Australians of Singaporean descent. As Singapore is a multi-racial country, a Singaporean Australian could either be of Chinese, Malay or Indian descent, the main races of Singapore. According to the 2006 Australian census, 39,969 Australians were born in Singapore while 4,626 claimed Singaporean ancestry, either alone or with another ancestry.
This article delineates the issue of immigration in different countries.
Asian Australian history is the history of Asian ethnic and racial groups in Australia who trace their ancestry to Asia. The term Asian Australian, was first used in the 1950s by European Australians who wanted to strengthen diplomatic and trade ties with Asia for the benefit of the Australian community. The term was not originally used to describe or recognise the experiences of people of Asian descent living in Australia. It was only in the late 1980s and 1990s that the term "Asian Australian" was adopted and used by Asian Australians themselves to discuss issues related to racial vilification and discrimination. Today, the term "Asian Australian" is widely accepted and used to refer to people of Asian descent who are citizens or residents of Australia, though its usage and meaning may vary within the Asian Australian community.
Asian immigration to Australia refers to immigration to Australia from part of the continent of Asia, which includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.The first major wave of Asian immigration to Australia occurred in the late 19th century, but the exclusionary White Australia policy, which was implemented to restrict non-European immigration, made it difficult for many Asian immigrants to migrate to the country. However, with the passage of the Migration Act 1958, the White Australia policy began to be phased out and Asian immigration to Australia increased significantly. Today, Asian immigrants from a wide range of countries play an important role in the cultural and economic landscape of Australia.
