4102.0 - Australian Social Trends, 2001
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 06/06/2001
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Population Growth: Coming to Australia
Trends in permanent arrivals Migration contributes to Australia’s population growth because each year there are more people settling permanently in the country than there are leaving permanently. Since the Second World War, around 5.7 million people have migrated to Australia.1 In 1999-2000, 92,300 immigrants came to Australia. The last two years have witnessed modest increases in the numbers of immigrants, due largely to immigration of New Zealand citizens rising from 19,400 in 1997-98 to 31,600 in 1999-2000. Over the past 40 years, the number of permanent arrivals has ranged from a high of 185,100 in 1969-70 to a low of 52,700 in 1975-76. Levels have tended to be higher following buoyant economic conditions, and lower following economic downturn. PERMANENT ARRIVALS Source: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Australian Immigration: Consolidated Statistics, various nos., various years; Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Immigration Update: June Quarter 2000. Age profile Immigrants in 1999-2000 tended to be younger than the Australian population they joined on arrival. They were more likely than Australians in general to be in their 20s or 30s, some with young children. This partly reflects the current immigration policy which targets younger immigrants. Further, there is a global pattern for younger people to be more likely to migrate permanently to another country (see Australian Social Trends 2001, Leaving Australia). AGE DISTRIBUTION OF ALL AUSTRALIANS AND OF 1999-2000 IMMIGRANTS (a) Preliminary estimate of population, December 1999. Source: ABS 2000 Overseas Arrivals and Departures; ABS 2000 Estimated Resident Population. Changing source countries The closing decades of the 20th century saw decreasing immigration from European countries and increasing immigration from the geographically closer countries of the Asia-Pacific region. In recent years, immigrants have become more than twice as likely to have come from New Zealand than from the United Kingdom and Ireland, which had traditionally been the largest single source of migrants to Australia. In 1999-2000, one in four immigrants came from New Zealand. The other largest sources of immigrants were the United Kingdom and Ireland (11%), China (7%), South Africa (6%) and India (5%). The cultural mix of people migrating permanently to Australia has diversified over the past five decades. During the 1950s and 1960s, the high proportion of immigrants from Europe reflected the role Australia played in resettling people displaced by WWII. At the end of the 1960s, the growing proportion of immigrants born in the United Kingdom and Ireland was accompanied by substantial migration from Southern Europe (Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy in particular). During the late 1970s and the 1980s, immigrants became increasingly likely to have been born in countries of the Asia-Pacific region, such as New Zealand, Viet Nam and the Philippines. MAIN SOURCES OF IMMIGRANTS(a)
(b) Immigrants whose country of origin was not known were excluded prior to the calculation of percentages. (c) Includes immigrants whose country of origin was not known. Source: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Australian Immigration: Consolidated Statistics, various nos., various years; Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Immigration Update: June Quarter 2000. A diverse population The outcome of many years of immigration from a wide range of countries is that Australian society has become culturally diverse. Illustrating this breadth of diversity, the 1996 Census showed that Australians had been born in more than 200 countries. In 2000, there were an estimated 4.5 million overseas-born residents, constituting almost one-quarter (24%) of the population. More than half of these (53%) had been born in Europe or the former USSR (predominantly in the United Kingdom, Italy, the former Yugoslavia, Greece and Germany). Nearly one in four (24%) had been born in Asian regions, with greatest representation from Viet Nam, China, the Philippines and India. Smaller proportions had been born in Oceania and Antarctica (mainly from New Zealand), Africa and the Middle East (largely from South Africa, Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey) and the Americas (mostly from the United States of America, Canada and Chile). COUNTRIES OF BIRTH OF THE OVERSEAS-BORN POPULATION, JUNE 2000p Source: Australian Demographic Statistics, September Quarter 2000 (cat. no. 3101.0). Geographic distribution Immigrants are more highly urbanised than the Australian-born population. In 1999, of Australians aged 15 years and over, 80% of those born overseas and 57% of those born in Australia were living in one of the eight capital cities. In 1999, 83% of people who migrated to Australia as an adult between 1997 and 1999 were living in one of the capital cities. These recent immigrants were more likely to have been living in a capital city than those who arrived before 1981 (76%), although they were slightly less likely than people who migrated to Australia earlier in the 1990s (86%), and in the 1980s (84%). In 1999, most immigrants aged 15 years and over lived in either New South Wales (37%) or Victoria (26%) - higher proportions than the Australian born at 33% and 25% respectively. However, recent immigrants were more concentrated than longer established immigrants in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF AUSTRALIANS AGED 15 YEARS AND OVER, 1999
Source: ABS 1999 Characteristics of Migrants Survey. Increasing focus on skills Most immigrants are New Zealand citizens or people entering under the Migration Program or the Humanitarian Program. The two main eligibility categories in the Migration Program are the Family Stream and the Skill Stream. In recent years, there has been a shift in emphasis within the Migration Program from the Family Stream to the Skill Stream. This change aims ‘to ensure that the positive benefits of migration for the economy are maintained and that there are minimal costs to the wider community.2 There has been a steady rise in the number of skilled immigrants and their family members, from 12,800 in 1993-94 to 32,400 in 1999-2000. Conversely, the number of Family Stream immigrants generally declined throughout the 1990s, with falls in the two years following the 1990-91 recession and again in the late 1990s more than offsetting the increase between 1992-93 and 1995-96. SELECTED ENTRY STREAMS OF IMMIGRANTS (a) Data for 1997-98 and subsequent financial years are not strictly comparable with earlier years because of the transformation of the Concessional category of the Family Stream into the Skilled-Australian Linked category of the Skill Stream on 1 July 1997. Source: Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Australian Immigration Consolidated Statistics Number 20 1997–98; Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, Immigration Update: June Quarter 2000. In 1999-2000, there were fewer Family Stream immigrants (19,900) than in any year of the previous decade, comprising a considerably lower proportion (33%) of all people who migrated to Australia with a Migration or Humanitarian Program visa during that year. Through the Humanitarian Program, Australia resettles refugees and fulfils some of its international obligations.3 In recent years, fewer people have been migrating to Australia with visas granted overseas under the Humanitarian Program. The number of these immigrants decreased from 13,800 in 1995-96 to 7,300 in 1999-2000. People are recorded as immigrants (also referred to as ‘settler arrivals’ or ‘permanent arrivals’) if they have been granted a visa for permanent residency prior to arriving in Australia. However, visas for permanent residence granted under the Migration and Humanitarian programs may also be applied for and obtained once in Australia. In total, 76,000 permanent visas are planned to be granted under the 2000-01 Migration Program, including 40,000 via the Skill Stream (4,700 more than were granted visas during 1999-2000). An additional 15,100 places are available under Australia’s 2000-01 Humanitarian Program.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF ADULT IMMIGRANTS PRIOR TO AND ON ARRIVAL, 1999
Recent immigrant characteristics Increased emphasis on the Skill Stream of the immigration program has meant more focussed targeting of people with employable skills and good English language comprehension and expression. Immigrants who arrived in Australia between 1997 and 1999 were more likely than earlier arrivals to have had a job just before migrating, and to have had post-school qualifications on arrival in Australia. In 1999, most recent immigrants (80%) spoke English well or very well. Despite the trend away from Family Stream migration, immigrants have become increasingly likely to have family or friends in Australia prior to migration. In 1999, adults who migrated to Australia between 1997 and 1999 were more likely than earlier immigrants to have had family or friends in Australia just prior to migration (79% compared with 74% of those who arrived earlier in the 90s, and 71% of those who arrived between 1981-1989). SELECTED CHARACTERISTICS OF RECENT(a) ADULT MIGRANTS, 1999
Source: ABS 1999 Characteristics of Migrants Survey. In 1999, approximately one in six recent adult immigrants relied on an Australian government payment for their main source of income, and most of those who were aged 18-64 years were employed (61%). The unemployment rate was relatively high at 10%, and only 49% of those with overseas qualifications had those qualifications recognised in Australia. This relatively high rate of unemployment among recent adult immigrants is partly due to the difficulties experienced by all new entrants to the Australian labour market. The likelihood of an immigrant being unemployed tends to diminish the longer he or she has been living in Australia, to the extent that a long established immigrant is less likely to be unemployed than someone born in Australia.3
Endnotes 1 Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, DIMA Fact Sheet 2 <URL: http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/> 2000 (Accessed 18 December 2000). 2 Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs, DIMA Fact Sheet 3 <URL: http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/> 2000 (Accessed 16 October 2000). 3 Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs 2000, Population Flows: Immigration Aspects 2000 edition, DIMA, Canberra.
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