Overseas Born Highest Since Federation - ABS
3 October 2005 at 1:10 pm
One in four Australian residents were born overseas according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics – the highest proportion recorded since Federation – 100 years ago!
The population at June 30th shows that 24%, or 4.8 million people were born outside Australia.
People born in the United Kingdom make up the largest group of overseas-born with 1.1 million people (or 6% of the total Australian population).
Other major groups are New Zealand (2%), Italy, main land China and Vietnam (each 1%).
Almost half of the overseas-born population in Australia (49%, or 2.3 million people) were born in Europe. This figure has declined over the past eight years, while migration from other regions has increased.
Sudanese-born people are the fastest growing group, increasing by an average 26% per year over the past eight years (but starting from a low base of only 2,600 people in 1996), followed by Afghanistan (12% per year, on average) and Iraq (11% per year).
The largest net addition to Australia’s population between 1996 and 2004 was from people born in New Zealand (up by 127,000). People born in China (60,800), South Africa (47,400) and India (43,800) also made strong contributions over this period.
Birthplace groups with decreasing numbers in this eight-year period were led by Italy (down 31,200 people) and the United Kingdom (29,900).
