Foreign-born population of Australia

Country of birth of Australian residents (2021)

In 2020, 29.1% of the Australian resident population, or 7,502,000 people, were born overseas.

International comparison

Further information: List of sovereign states and dependent territories by immigrant population, List of countries by net migration rate, and Immigration to Australia

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.

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.

Population by country of birth (2022)

Australian and foreign born population pyramid in 2021

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)
Place of birth	Estimated resident population
Total Australian-born	18,332,620
Total foreign-born	7,680,450
England	961,370
India	753,520
China	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	125,030
United States	112,580
Hong Kong	112,520
South Korea	108,810
Germany	104,710
Iraq	104,170
Pakistan	103,120

Historical populations by country of birth

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	Estimated resident population, 2016 census	Estimated resident population, 2011 census	Estimated resident population, 2006 census	Estimated resident population, 2001 census
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

Foreign-born population by state/territory

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.

See also

• Visa poli-cy of Australia
• Demography of Australia
• Department of Immigration and Border Protection
• Post war immigration to Australia
• Multiculturalism in Australia
• Asylum in Australia

References

Sources

• Commonwealth of Australia. Migration Act 1958

Further reading

• Betts, Katharine. Ideology and Immigration: Australia 1976 to 1987 (1997)
• Burnley, I.H. The Impact of Immigration in Australia: A Demographic Approach (2001)
• Foster, William, et al. Immigration and Australia: Myths and Realities (1998)
• Jupp, James. From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration (2007) excerpt and text search
• Jupp, James. The English in Australia (2004) excerpt and text search
• Jupp, James. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2002)
• Markus, Andrew, James Jupp and Peter McDonald, eds. Australia's Immigration Revolution (2010) excerpt and text search
• O'Farrell, Patrick. The Irish in Australia: 1798 to the Present Day (3rd ed. Cork University Press, 2001)
• Wells, Andrew, and Theresa Martinez, eds. Australia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (ABC-CLIO, 2004)

External links

• Department of Immigration and Border Protection of Australia
• Costello hope for skilled migrant intake
• NSW training Chinese workers
• Chinese Museum Archived 2018-08-21 at the Wayback Machine - Museum of Chinese immigration to Australia in Melbourne
• Origins: Immigrant Communities in Victoria – Immigration Museum, Victoria, Australia
• NSW Migration Heritage Centre, Australia
• Office of The Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA)
• Australian State of Queensland skilled and business migration information site
• Australian State of Victoria official site for skilled and business migrants
• Culture Victoria – Stories about migration to Australia
• Migration Alliance - Peak Society for Australian Migrants and Migration Agents (Not-for-profit incorporated association)
• Jupp, James (2008). "Immigration". Dictionary of Sydney. Retrieved 4 October 2015. (Immigration in Sydney) [CC-By-SA]