AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH

The cultural and linguistic diversity of Australia's resident population has been reshaped over many years by migration. Historically, more people immigrate to, than emigrate from, Australia. At 30 June 2015, 28.2% of the estimated resident population (ERP) was born overseas (6.7 million persons). This was an increase from 30 June 2014, when 28.0% of the population was born overseas (6.6 million persons). In 2005, ten years earlier, 24.2% of the population was born overseas (4.9 million persons).

Persons born in the United Kingdom continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 5.1% of Australia's total population at 30 June 2015. This was followed by persons born in New Zealand (2.6%), China (2.0%), India (1.8%) and the Philippines and Vietnam (both 1.0%).


Over the last 10 years, the proportion of the Australian population who were born in the United Kingdom decreased from 5.6% in 2005 to 5.1% in 2015. Conversely, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 2.1% to 2.6%), China (from 1.1% to 2.0%) and India (from 0.7% to 1.8%).

In terms of Australia's population growth, for the top 50 countries of birth (excluding Australia) at 30 June 2015, persons born in Nepal had the highest rate of increase between 2005 and 2015 with an average annual growth rate of 27.5%. However, this growth began from a small base of 3,800 persons at 30 June 2005. The second fastest increase over this period was in the number of persons born in Pakistan (13.1% per year on average), followed by those born in Brazil (12.7%), India (11.3%) and Bangladesh (9.7%). Of the top 50 countries of birth, the fastest decline was for persons born in Serbia, with an average annual decrease of 1.4%, followed by persons born in Poland (1.3%).