Total population | |
---|---|
684,002 (2021) 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 |
Year | Pop. | ±% 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 by country |
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Full list |
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]
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.
The following dates briefly outline the arrival of Hinduism.
Year | Percent | Increase |
---|---|---|
1986 | 0.14% | - |
1991 | 0.25% | +0.11% |
1996 | 0.38% | +0.13% |
2001 | 0.51% | +0.13% |
2006 | 0.75% | +0.24% |
2011 | 1.28% | +0.53% |
2016 | 1.90% | +0.62% |
2021 | 2.7% | +0.80% |
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 territory | 2016 census | % 2016 census | 2011 census | % 2011 census | 2011–16 growth | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New South Wales | 181,402 | 2.4% | 119,843 | 1.7% | +61,559 | [17] |
Victoria | 134,939 | 2.3% | 83,102 | 1.6% | +51,837 | [18] |
Queensland | 45,961 | 1.0% | 28,609 | 0.7% | +17,352 | [19] |
Western Australia | 38,739 | 1.6% | 21,048 | 0.9% | +17,691 | [20] |
South Australia | 22,922 | 1.4% | 13,616 | 0.9% | +9,306 | [21] |
Capital Territory | 10,211 | 2.6% | 6,053 | 1.7% | +4,158 | [22] |
Northern Territory | 3,562 | 1.6% | 1,642 | 0.8% | +1,920 | [23] |
Tasmania | 2,554 | 0.5% | 1,608 | 0.3% | +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]
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]
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]
TT | Y11 | Y16 | Y21 [32] | Hindus as % of language speakers |
---|---|---|---|---|
Total | 275,534 | 440,300 | 684,002 | 2.70% |
Hindi | 81,892 | 119,284 | 155,242 | 78.8% |
Nepali | 21,766 | 50,629 | 111,353 | 83.7% |
English | 39,800 | 58,855 | 88,832 | 0.5% |
Gujarati | 29,250 | 45,884 | 71,976 | 88.5% |
Tamil | 36,940 | 53,766 | 69,807 | 73.2% |
Telugu | 16,717 | 30,723 | 52,583 | 90.2% |
Punjabi | 9,442 | 16,546 | 36,367 | 15.2% |
Marathi | 8,774 | 11,589 | 19,780 | 88.8% |
Malayalam | 5,938 | 11,687 | 17,772 | 22.6% |
Kannada | 5,383 | 8,783 | 13,419 | 91.2% |
Bengali | 5,685 | 8,481 | 11,810 | 16.8% |
Fijian Hindi | 572 | 1,257 | 2,407 | 50.5% |
Indonesian | 1,171 | 1,755 | 2,215 | 3.0% |
French | 1,180 | 1,401 | 1,425 | 2.0% |
Konkani | 609 | 845 | 1,370 | 37.6% |
Odia | 282 | 694 | 1,338 | 95.5% |
Sindhi | 277 | 521 | 892 | 33.9% |
Tulu | 348 | 543 | 845 | 93.2% |
Mauritian Creole | 514 | 883 | 813 | 22.5% |
South Asian nfd | 3,531 | 3,770 | 548 | 7.8% |
Malay | 435 | 591 | 487 | 2.3% |
Assamese | 165 | 302 | 479 | 82.3% |
Italian | 158 | 158 | 322 | 0.1% |
Fijian | 129 | 213 | 198 | 1.9% |
Balinese | 129 | 156 | 193 | 80.8% |
Vietnamese | 109 | 225 | 192 | 0.0% |
Sinhalese | 232 | 163 | 167 | 0.2% |
Indo-Aryan nfd | 1,988 | 633 | NA | NA |
There are currently over forty Hindu temples in Australia. [34]
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]
Hinduism is practised by the small number of Malaysian Indians in Christmas Island. [38] [39]
The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno-religious sovereign state called Khalistan in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan.
Hinduism in Southeast Asia had a profound impact on the region's cultural development and its history. As the Indic scripts were introduced from the Indian subcontinent, people of Southeast Asia entered the historical period by producing their earliest inscriptions around the 1st to 5th century CE. Today, Hindus in Southeast Asia are mainly Overseas Indians and Balinese. There are also Javanese and Balamon Cham minority in Cambodia and south central Vietnam who also practice Hinduism.
According to the Book of Idols by the medieval Arab scholar Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, Hinduism was present in pre-Islamic Arabia. Ibn Al-Kalbi explains the origins of idol worshipping and the practice of circumambulation as rooted in India and Hinduism.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in Myanmar, being practised by 1.7% of the population of Myanmar. Hinduism is practised by about 890,000 people in Myanmar, and has been influenced by elements of Buddhism, with many Hindu temples in Myanmar housing statues of the Buddha. There is a sizable population of Hindus with the Myanmar Tamils and minority Bengali Hindus having the biggest population share.
Hinduism in Thailand is a minority religion followed by 84,400 (0.1%) of the population as of 2020. Despite being a Buddhist-majority nation, Thailand has a very strong Hindu influence. The majority of Thai Hindus reside in Bangkok, Chonburi, and Phuket.
Hinduism is the fourth-largest religion in the United States, comprising 1% of the population, nearly the same as Buddhism and Islam. The majority of American Hindus are immigrants, mainly from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Caribbean, with a minority from Bhutan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Canada, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and other countries.
Hinduism is one of Sri Lanka's oldest religions, with temples dating back over 2,000 years. As of 2011, Hindus made up 12.6% of the Sri Lankan population. They are almost exclusively Tamils, except for small immigrant communities from India and Pakistan.
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 Tamil diaspora refers to descendants of the Tamil speaking immigrants who emigrated from their native lands in the southern Indian subcontinent to other parts of the world. They are found primarily in Malaysia, Arab states of the Persian Gulf, South Africa, North America, Western Europe, and Singapore. It can be divided into two main diasporic clusters, due to geographical, historical and cultural reasons, as Indian Tamil diaspora and Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
Hinduism is a minority religion in Japan mainly followed by the Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepali expatriate residents of Japan, who number about 166,550 people as of 2022. It's also widely integrated into the native Shinto-Buddhist religion which has had a significant impact on Japanese culture; Buddhism being an Indian religion is largely related to Hinduism, and most of its cultural practices are similar to those found in Hinduism.
Hinduism is the third-largest religion in Canada, with approximately 2.3% of the nation's total population identifying as Hindu in the 2021 census. As of 2021, there are over 828,000 Canadians of the Hindu faith.
In Australia, Buddhism is a minority religion. According to the 2021 census, 0.2 percent of the total population or 30,474 of Australia identified as Buddhist. It was also the fastest-growing religion by percentage, having increased its number of adherents by 79 percent between the 1996 and 2001 censuses. The highest percentage of Buddhists in Australia is present in Christmas Island, where Buddhists constitute 18.1% of the total population according to the 2016 Census. Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the country after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
Hinduism is a minority religion practised by 0.3% of the population of Botswana. The practice of Hinduism in Botswana is concentrated in and around Gaborone and Selebi-Phikwe. The community of Hindus began to form in the early 20th century with the beginning of immigration from India to Botswana. Most Hindus in Botswana are of Indian descent.
Hinduism is a minority faith in Denmark. There are 40,000 Hindus in Denmark as of 2020, representing 0.5% of the total population.
Hinduism is the largest religion in Kerala and Hindu lineages together make up 54.7% of the population of the state according to the 2011 census.
Hinduism is the most followed Religion in India and nearly 84% of the total population of Karnataka follows Hinduism, as per 2011 Census of India. Several great empires and dynasties have ruled over Karnataka and many of them have contributed richly to the growth of Hinduism, its temple culture and social development. These developments have reinforced the "Householder tradition", which is of disciplined domesticity, though the saints who propagated Hinduism in the state and in the country were themselves ascetics. The Bhakti movement, of Hindu origin, is devoted to the worship of Shiva and Vishnu; it had a telling impact on the sociocultural ethos of Karnataka from the 12th century onwards.
The history of Jainism in Australia is relatively short when compared to the history of Christianity on the same continent. There are four Jain centres in Australia. The Jain population in Australia was counted in the 2016 census to be 4,047, of whom 38% lived in Greater Sydney, 31% in Greater Melbourne, and 15% in Greater Perth. The states and territories with the highest proportion of Jains are Western Australia (0.025%) and Victoria (0.022%), whereas those with the lowest are Queensland (0.006%) and Tasmania (0.001%). As per the latest census (2021), the Jain population in Australia is 5,851, which is a 44.5% increase between 2016-2021.
Chennai Om Sri Skandashramam is a Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Murugan in Chennai, India. It is located at Selaiyur, Tambaram, a southern neighbourhood of Chennai. The temple is known of its huge idols of several deities, including Kamala Siddhi Vinayakar, Panchamukha Heramba Ganapathy, Dattatreya, Panchamukha Hanuman, Shaniswara, Ayyapan, goddess Ashtadashabhuja Durga Parameswari, Sarabeswara, goddess Prathiyankira, goddess Bhuvaneshwari, Swaminathaswamy, Sudarshanachakathalwar, Lakshmi Narasimhar, Maha Sahasralingamurthy, Nandikeswarar, goddess Annapurani and Chakra Poorna Maha Meru. There is also an idol of Saint Sathguru Santhananda Swamigal, who built the temple.
Religion in Tamil Nadu consists of various religions practiced by the populace of the state. Hinduism is the predominant religion in the state with significant Christian and Muslim minorities. As a home to a multitude of religions, the Tamil culture reflects the influence of the same. Various places of worship are spread across the state.
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