54.8% ▲ +15.1%
Higher than 99% of council (lga) areas.
- 2011: 47.6%
- 2016: 55.7%
- 2021: 54.8%
Share of people born outside Australia (birthplace-not-stated excluded).
Melbourne · Council (LGA)
Ancestry & Birthplace in Melbourne
Where people and their families come from — the ancestries they identify with and where they were born.
Over half of the people living in Melbourne were born overseas, one of the highest proportions for any similar area. This international character is reflected in the city's diverse roots, with Chinese and English as the most common ancestries.
Ancestry
The ancestries people most identify with.
Chinese ancestry is the most frequent at 23.0%, followed by English at 19.4% and Australian at 13.9%. Irish (7.9%) and Indian (6.6%) also represent significant portions of the population.
Country of birth
Australia and the largest overseas communities.
People born overseas make up 54.8% of the population, which is far above the national figure of 27.7% and rose 7.2 percentage points since 2011. While 38.0% were born in Australia, the most common overseas birthplaces are China (11.2%) and India (6.7%).
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Melbourne
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Ancestry & Birthplace in Melbourne [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/lga/LGA24600/melbourne/topic/ancestry-heritage