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Statistics on Australia's estimated resident population by country of birth.
The ABS has changed the way it publishes the content of the former publication Migration, Australia. In its place are two new annual publications: this release, Australia's Population by Country of Birth, along with another publication called Overseas Migration which was released in December 2021. These publications will be more timely, accessible and reduce duplication where possible. There is no loss of data through these changes. Many of the changes observed in the recent data in this release are mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This release covers data up to 30 June 2021 and therefore includes the first 15 months of the pandemic period. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. Initially the Australian Government placed travel restrictions on those travelling to Australia from mainland China commencing 1 February 2020 and restrictions on other countries soon followed. From 20 March 2020, all overseas travel was banned, with few exceptions. From 19 April to 23 July 2021 a travel bubble with New Zealand was in place. The reference period for this release precedes the continued easing of international travel restrictions which commenced in November 2021. The pandemic continues to disrupt international travel and migration patterns. Australia's estimated resident population (ERP) by country of birth is measured at 30 June each year. National data is available annually. A state and territory breakdown is only available for Census years. Usually, more people immigrate to, than emigrate from, Australia each year thereby adding to the growth of the national population. In 2021 however, this was not the case.
This decrease can be attributed to the COVID-19 travel restrictions and the impact on overseas migration in both directions. The travel and migration intentions of many people changed due to the pandemic. In 2021, there was a decrease in arrivals of people born overseas immigrating to Australia, as well as a decrease of people born in Australia departing to live overseas.
High levels of immigration in the years before 1891 resulted in 32% of the population enumerated as overseas-born in the first country-wide census in 1891. The proportion fell to a low of 10% in 1947, due to lower levels of migration during World War I, the Great Depression and World War II. The proportion then rose rapidly as a result of higher levels of post-war migration. Since then, there has been a fairly steady increase in the overseas-born population. The various waves of migrants from different countries over time, have affected the diversity of Australia's population. Nearly every country from around the world was represented in Australia's population in 2021, but many groups had declined in number due to the pandemic.
In 2021, compared with a decade earlier in 2011, the countries of birth (excluding Australian-born) with the largest increases in Australia's population were:
There are differences in the age structure of the population born in Australia and that born overseas, with Australia's overseas born population tending to be older. The main reason for this is that most people migrate to Australia as adults and are less likely to migrate with young families. The largest five-year age groups among migrants are those of tertiary study or younger working ages. This contrasts with the Australian-born population where children make up the largest five-year age groups. In 2021 the highest proportions of the population for those born:
In 2011 the highest proportions of the population for those born:
Comparing median age over time shows whether the age structure of a given population is changing. It is the age at which half the population is older and half is younger. It helps inform if a population is ageing and how fast that change may be over time. For the Australian-born population, the median age has gradually been increasing over time from 30 years of age in 1996 to be 34 years of age in 2021. In contrast, the overseas-born population has fluctuated over time from a median of 44 years of age in 1996, to a peak of 46 years in 2005, and a drop to 43 years in 2019. In 2021, due to the impact of the pandemic and the decrease in younger people arriving into the country, such as international students, it increased to 45 years.
Migrant populations from countries which were part of the post-second world war migration streams tend to be older. For example, the Greek-born population has a median age of 75 years. Those populations from birthplaces from more recent groups of migrant arrivals are younger. For example, the Nepalese-born population has a median age of 29 years, 5 years younger than those born in Australia. In 2021 (among those overseas-born populations of 100 or more), the group with the:
In 2020, the United Nations estimated there was a stock of 280.6 million international migrants worldwide. This is 3.6% of the global population. When comparing countries by the number of overseas-born in their respective populations, the USA was the highest with 50.6 million migrants. This made up 15.3% of their national population. Germany followed with 15.8 million migrants (18.8% of their population) and then Saudi Arabia with 13.5 million migrants (38.6% of their population). Australia ranked ninth with 7.7 million migrants (29.8% of the population in 2020).
Australia's estimated resident population (ERP) by country of birth is measured at 30 June. At the state and territory level, data is only available for Census years, with the latest being 2016. In 2016, the proportion of Australians born overseas was just under 29%. However, this varied across the nation. The proportions at the state and territory level, from largest to smallest, were as follows:
The proportion of the population born overseas increased for all states and territories from 2011 to 2016:
(a) As at 30 June 2011 and 2016. In 2016, those born in England (just over 1 million people) continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents living in Australia. The New Zealand-born population (568,000) was second largest, follow by the Chinese-born (558,000 people). At the state and territory level, the ranking of countries differed from the national level and from each other. The largest groups of overseas-born residents for each state and territory in 2016 were born in the following countries:
1. Estimated resident population (ERP) for 2021 are preliminary. See Revision status in the methodology page. 2. Country of birth population estimates by state and territory are only available for Census years. 3. The median age is the age at which half the population is older and half is younger. 4. The sex ratio relates to the number of males per 100 females. It has not been calculated for those countries of birth with a population of less than 100 persons. 5. Country classification and codes are from the: Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2016 (cat. no. 1269.0). 6. The ABS has identified an unrealistically high number of deaths from 2012 to 2014 being attributed to persons born in Isle of Man. For the Australian population born in Isle of Man, this has resulted in an underestimate of ERP for the period 2012 to 2015. 7. Estimates of population counts in the data cubes have been rounded to the nearest 10 to maintain confidentiality. Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of component items and totals. All calculations and analysis are based on un-rounded data. Calculations made on rounded data may differ to those published. Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer. 1. Estimated resident population (ERP) for 2021 are preliminary. See Revision status in the methodology page. 2. Country of birth population estimates by state and territory are only available for Census years. 3. The median age is the age at which half the population is older and half is younger. 4. The sex ratio relates to the number of males per 100 females. It has not been calculated for those countries of birth with a population of less than 100 persons. 5. Country classification and codes are from the: Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2016 (cat. no. 1269.0). 6. The ABS has identified an unrealistically high number of deaths from 2012 to 2014 being attributed to persons born in Isle of Man. For the Australian population born in Isle of Man, this has resulted in an underestimate of ERP for the period 2012 to 2015. 7. Estimates of population counts in the data cubes have been rounded to the nearest 10 to maintain confidentiality. Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of component items and totals. All calculations and analysis are based on un-rounded data. Calculations made on rounded data may differ to those published. National, state and territory population Regional population Overseas arrivals and departures, Australia Overseas migration Personal income of migrants, Australia Understanding migrant outcomes - insights from the Australian Census and migrants integrated dataset, Australia — 2016 Insights from the Australian Census and temporary entrants integrated dataset — 2016 Migrant data matrices |