4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, Dec 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 14/12/2011   
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MEDIA RELEASE
14 December 2011
Embargoed: 11.30 am (AEST)
161/2011
20% of tertiary students are from overseas


International Students
One in five tertiary education students in 2009 in Australia were international students, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In 2010-11, 20% of all student visa applications granted were from China and twelve percent were from India.

The international education sector is important, not only to Australian society, but also to the country's economy, with onshore education services contributing $16.3 billion in 2010-11. Australia was the third largest provider of international education in 2009, behind the U.S and the U.K

Household Wealth
In 2009-10, the largest single component of household wealth was the equity that households held in their own home. Other property, such as rental properties and holiday homes, were owned by one in five households.

At the same time, Australians were less likely to own shares directly, or to owe money on their vehicle but were more likely to have some superannuation assets than in 2003-04.

Fifty years of Labour Force: Now and then
Over the last 50 years, work in Australia has changed significantly, from tea ladies doing the rounds and smoking permitted in the workplace to flexible working hours and notes in the staff kitchen asking people to clean up after themselves.

In August 2011, more than half of all couple families were likely to have both partners employed (55%) and women's participation in the labour force was almost double that of August 1961 (59% compared with 34%).

More details on these topics are available in the December edition of Australian Social Trends (cat. no. 4102.0)


Media Note:
When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.