Hinduism in Australia

Last updated

Australian Hindus
Aum Om red.svg
Perth sivan koyil.jpg
Total population
Increase2.svg 684,002 (2021)
Increase2.svg 2.7% of the Australian population [1]
Regions with significant populations
Languages
English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali, Fiji Hindi, Nepali, Mauritian Creole, Indian languages
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1911 414    
1933 212−3.00%
1986 21,500+9.11%
1991 43,580+15.18%
1996 67,270+9.07%
2001 95,473+7.25%
2006 148,123+9.18%
2011 275,534+13.22%
2016 440,300+9.83%
2021 684,002+9.21%

Hinduism is the third largest religion in Australia consisting of more than 684,002 followers, making up 2.7% of the population as of the 2021 census. [2] Hinduism is the fastest growing religion in Australia mostly through immigration. [3] Hinduism is also one of the most youthful religions in Australia, with 34% and 66% of Hindus being under the age of 14 and 34, respectively. [4]

Contents

In the nineteenth century, the British first brought Hindus from India to Australia to work on cotton and sugar plantations. Many remained as small businessmen, working as camel drivers, merchants and hawkers, selling goods between small rural communities. Today, many Hindus are well educated professionals in fields such as medicine, engineering, commerce and information technology, constituting a model minority.[ citation needed ] The Hindus in Australia are mostly of Indian origin; other origins include those from Sri Lanka, Fiji, Malaysia, Bali, Cham, Singapore, Mauritius, and Nepal.

History

The following dates briefly outline the arrival of Hinduism.

Demographics

Hindu population by year

YearPercentIncrease
19860.14%-
19910.25%+0.11%
19960.38%+0.13%
20010.51%+0.13%
20060.75%+0.24%
20111.28%+0.53%
20161.90%+0.62%
20212.7%+0.80%

Hindus by state or territory

Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religion in absolute numbers in every state and territory of Australia. Fastest Growing Religions in Australia 2016.png
Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religion in absolute numbers in every state and territory of Australia.
People who are affiliated with Hinduism as a percentage of the total population in Australia divided geographically by statistical local area, as of the 2011 census Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Australia by SLA - BCP field 2775 Hinduism Persons.svg
People who are affiliated with Hinduism as a percentage of the total population in Australia divided geographically by statistical local area, as of the 2011 census

Data from the 2011 Census showed that all states (and A.C.T and the Northern Territory) apart from New South Wales had their Hindu population double from the 2006 census. New South Wales has had the largest number of Hindus since at least 2001.

State or territory2016 census % 2016 census2011 census % 2011 census2011–16 growthReference
New South Wales 181,4022.4%119,8431.7%+61,559 [17]
Victoria 134,9392.3%83,1021.6%+51,837 [18]
Queensland 45,9611.0%28,6090.7%+17,352 [19]
Western Australia 38,7391.6%21,0480.9%+17,691 [20]
South Australia 22,9221.4%13,6160.9%+9,306 [21]
Capital Territory 10,2112.6%6,0531.7%+4,158 [22]
Northern Territory 3,5621.6%1,6420.8%+1,920 [23]
Tasmania 2,5540.5%1,6080.3%+946 [24]

The majority of Australian Hindus live along the Eastern Coast of Australia, mainly in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. About 39% of Hindus lived in Greater Sydney, 29% in Greater Melbourne, and 8% each in Greater Brisbane and Greater Perth. The states and territories with the highest proportion of Hindus are the Australian Capital Territory (2.57%) and New South Wales (2.43%), whereas those with the lowest are Queensland (0.98%) and Tasmania (0.50%). [25]

According to the 2006 Census, 44.16% of all Australians who were born in India were Hindu, so were 47.20% of those born in Fiji, 1.84% born in Indonesia, 3.42% from Malaysia, and 18.61% from Sri Lanka. [26]

In Tasmania, Hinduism is practised mainly by the ethnic Lhotshampa from Bhutan. [27]

Hindu converts

Hinduism is also more popular among the Anglo-Australians. [28] Many Caucasians in Australia also visit the Hindu temple at Carrum Downs (Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple) and learn Vedic Hindu scriptures in Tamil. [29] The ISKCON Hindu community in Australia has 60,000 members - 70% of whom are Hindus from overseas, with the other 30% being Anglo Australians. [30] The 2016 Census noted 415 Hindus belonging to the indigenous community of Australia (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people). [31]

Languages

As per the Census of 2021, 13.0% of the Australian Hindus use English at home. English (88,832 or 13.0%) is the third most common language spoken by Australian Hindus, behind Hindi (155,242 or 22.7%) and Nepali (111,353 or 16.3%). [32] The number of Australian Hindus speaking various languages in their home according to the 2006 census: [33]

TTY11Y16Y21 [32] Hindus as % of
language speakers
Total275,534440,300684,0022.70%
Hindi81,892119,284155,24278.8%
Nepali21,76650,629111,35383.7%
English39,80058,85588,8320.5%
Gujarati29,25045,88471,97688.5%
Tamil36,94053,76669,80773.2%
Telugu16,71730,72352,58390.2%
Punjabi9,44216,54636,36715.2%
Marathi8,77411,58919,78088.8%
Malayalam5,93811,68717,77222.6%
Kannada5,3838,78313,41991.2%
Bengali5,6858,48111,81016.8%
Fijian Hindi5721,2572,40750.5%
Indonesian1,1711,7552,2153.0%
French1,1801,4011,4252.0%
Konkani6098451,37037.6%
Odia2826941,33895.5%
Sindhi27752189233.9%
Tulu34854384593.2%
Mauritian Creole51488381322.5%
South Asian nfd3,5313,7705487.8%
Malay4355914872.3%
Assamese16530247982.3%
Italian1581583220.1%
Fijian1292131981.9%
Balinese12915619380.8%
Vietnamese1092251920.0%
Sinhalese2321631670.2%
Indo-Aryan nfd1,988633NANA

Hindu temples in Australia

There are currently over forty Hindu temples in Australia. [34]

Contemporary society

According to a national survey reported in 2019, Hindu Australians continues to experience the highest rates of discrimination even after being the model minority. [35] The survey showed that a three quarters of respondents (75%) had experienced discrimination on public transport or on the street. [36] The total fertility rate (TFR) among Hindus is also the second least (least being Buddhists) in Australia with 1.81, which is lower than Christians (2.11) and Muslims (3.03). [37]

Overseas territories

Hinduism is practised by the small number of Malaysian Indians in Christmas Island. [38] [39]

Attacks on Hindu Community

See also

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Sources