35.5% ▲ +12.9%
Higher than 99% of remoteness area areas.
- 2011: 31.4%
- 2016: 33.7%
- 2021: 35.5%
Share of people born outside Australia (birthplace-not-stated excluded).
Major Cities of Australia · Remoteness Area
Ancestry & Birthplace in Major Cities of Australia
Where people and their families come from — the ancestries they identify with and where they were born.
A diverse mix of backgrounds shapes daily life across the Major Cities of Australia, where over a third of the population was born overseas. This high level of international arrival creates a multicultural environment that is far more diverse than the national average.
Ancestry
The ancestries people most identify with.
English ancestry is the most common at 25.7%, followed by Australian at 23.5%, Irish at 8.4%, Chinese at 8.2%, and Scottish at 7.2%.
Country of birth
Australia and the largest overseas communities.
About 35.5% of people were born overseas, a figure that is well above the Australian average of 27.7% and has risen by 4.1 points since 2011. While 60.2% were born in Australia, the most common overseas birthplaces are India (4.9%), China (3.3%), England (2.7%), and Vietnam (1.8%).
Sources
- Census of Population and Housing — Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 (CC BY 4.0).
More for Major Cities of Australia
Cite this page
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Ancestry & Birthplace in Major Cities of Australia [Census of Population and Housing]. CensusAtlas, used under CC BY 4.0. https://censusatlas.au/region/ra/RA20/major-cities-of-australia/topic/ancestry-heritage