Australia's Population by Country of Birth

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.

• In 2021, 29.1% of Australia's resident population were born overseas (7.5 million migrants)
• One year earlier, in 2020, it was 29.8% of the population (7.7 million migrants)
• This is the first decrease in the proportion of Australia’s overseas-born population since the year 2000.

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.

• England (967,000) continued to be the birthplace of the largest group of overseas-born living in Australia. However, this decreased from just over a million, recorded throughout the period 2012 to 2016
• Those born in India (710,000) were the next largest group but had decreased by 13,000 people during the year 
• Chinese-born (596,000) was the third largest, with an annual decrease of 52,000 people
• The Australia-born population (18.2 million) increased by 196,000 during the year due to a higher number of births than deaths over the year.

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:

• India with an increase of 373,000 people
• China 208,000
• The Philippines 118,000.

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 Australia, were aged 0-4 years and 5-9 years (both 5.8%)
• overseas, were aged 35-39 years (3%).

In 2011 the highest proportions of the population for those born:

• in Australia, were aged 0-4 years (6.2%)
• overseas, were aged 25-29 years (2.4%).

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:

• oldest median age were from Latvia, at 79 years of age
• youngest median age - Cayman Islands, at 14 years of age
• highest sex ratio - Vanuatu, with 252 males per 100 females
• lowest sex ratio - Turkmenistan, with 37 males per 100 females.

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:

• 35% - Western Australia
• 31% - Victoria
• 30% - New South Wales
• 28% - The Australian Capital Territory
• 24% - South Australia
• 24% - Queensland
• 23% - The Northern Territory
• 13% - Tasmania.

The proportion of the population born overseas increased for all states and territories from 2011 to 2016:

• The Northern Territory had the largest increase of 3.7% over the five-year period.
• Tasmania had the smallest increase at 0.6%.

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:

• New South Wales — China (256,000 people)
• Victoria — England (193,000)
• Queensland — New Zealand (220,000)
• South Australia — England (104,000)
• Western Australia — England (214,000)
• Tasmania — England (20,000)
• The Northern Territory — Philippines (7,000)
• The Australian Capital Territory — England (13,000).

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Two Australia's Population by Country of Birth datasets are available in Data Explorer.

1. Estimated resident population, country of birth, age and sex - as at 30 June 1996 to 2021 
2. Estimated resident population, country of birth, state/territory, age and sex - as at 30 June 1996 to 2016, Census years 

National, state and territory population
- includes quarterly data on net overseas migration and net interstate migration estimates.

Regional population
- includes annual data on regional overseas migration and regional internal migration estimates.

Overseas arrivals and departures, Australia
- monthly statistics on all international travel arriving in and departing from Australia.

Overseas migration
- annual statistics on Australia's international immigration and emigration, by state and territory, country of birth, visa, age and sex.

Personal income of migrants, Australia
- statistics on personal income of migrants including employee income, own unincorporated business income, investment income and other income.

Understanding migrant outcomes - insights from the Australian Census and migrants integrated dataset, Australia — 2016
- statistics about permanent migrants: their employment, education, income, housing and geographic distribution.

Insights from the Australian Census and temporary entrants integrated dataset — 2016
- statistics about temporary entrants: their employment, education, income, housing and geographic distribution.

Migrant data matrices
- provides users with links to available summary data on migrants from a wide range of ABS surveys and outputs.