27.7% ▲ +12.6%
- 2011: 24.6%
- 2016: 26.3%
- 2021: 27.7%
Share of people born outside Australia (birthplace-not-stated excluded).
Australia · Australia
Ancestry & Birthplace in Australia
Where people and their families come from — the ancestries they identify with and where they were born.
Over a quarter of the population was born outside Australia, making the nation a diverse mix of backgrounds. English and Australian ancestries remain the most common, though the share of people born overseas continues to grow.
Ancestry
The ancestries people most identify with.
English ancestry is the most frequent at 33%, followed by Australian at 29.9% and Irish at 9.5%. Scottish and Chinese ancestries also feature prominently at 8.6% and 5.5% respectively.
Country of birth
Australia and the largest overseas communities.
People born overseas now make up 27.7% of the population, a figure that rose 3.1 percentage points since 2011. While 66.9% of people were born in Australia, the most common overseas birthplaces are England, India, China, and New Zealand.
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Australia
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Ancestry & Birthplace in Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/aus/AUS/australia/topic/ancestry-heritage