Acceptance of diversity

Released 15/09/2025

Metrics

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger
Proportion of people who used a language other than English at home

Why this matters

Cultural diversity is one of the greatest assets of Australian society. It provides a basis for the future integration of migrants from varied ethnic, linguistic and faith backgrounds into our social fabric. It also plays an important role in our prosperity, enriching our schools and workplaces and deepening our connections with the world.

Linguistic ability is a proxy for whether a society celebrates diversity.

Ongoing acceptance of multiculturalism and immigrants from a diverse range of countries is a key indicator of cohesion, helping protect our society from social divisions.

Progress

Attitudes to multiculturalism and diversity

According to the Mapping Social Cohesion Report 2024, 71% of people agree that accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger, a decline from the value reported in 2023 (78%) but still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger (a)(b)
	Telephone surveys (%)	Online and telephone surveys (%)
2007	67
2009	68
2010	62
2011	64
2012	65
2013	62
2014	68
2015	67
2016	67
2017	63
2018	66	63
2019		67
Jul-20		71
Nov-20		74
2021		76
2022		78
2023		78
2024		71

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger (a)(b)

["","Telephone surveys","Online and telephone surveys"]

[["2007","2009","2010","2011","2012","2013","2014","2015","2016","2017","2018","2019","Jul-20","Nov-20","2021","2022","2023","2024"],[[67],[68],[62],[64],[65],[62],[68],[67],[67],[63],[66],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null]],[[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[63],[67],[71],[74],[76],[78],[78],[71]]]

[]

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The survey was not run in 2008 and was run twice in 2020, in June and November.
In 2018 the Mapping Social Cohesion Survey methodology changed from being administered via telephone only, to telephone and online (using the Life in Australia panel). For further details, please refer to the 2018 Scanlon Mapping Social Cohesion Report.

Data Source

Scanlon Institute Mapping Social Cohesion Report 2024

People who used a language other than English at home

According to 2021 Census data:

5.7 million people reported using a language other than English at home (23%). This was an increase from 4.9 million people in 2016 (21%).
Of the 1.5 million Australian-born people who reported using a language other than English at home, most had one or both parents born overseas (83%), and almost half were children aged under 15 years (47%).
The top five most common languages other than English were Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Punjabi.

Proportion of people who used a language other than English at home
	Persons (%)
2006	15.9
2011	18.3
2016	20.9
2021	22.5

Proportion of people who used a language other than English at home

["","Persons"]

[["2006","2011","2016","2021"],[[15.8802892],[18.2621504],[20.8894315],[22.5384014]]]

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Data Source

Customised ABS Census data