STATE AND TERRITORY COMPOSITION OF COUNTRY OF BIRTH
Australia's estimated resident population (ERP) by country of birth at the state and territory level is only available for Census years, with the latest being 2011. Table 1.3 shows the composition by country of birth for each state and territory, for the top fifteen countries ranked at the national level.
Western Australia recorded the highest proportion of overseas born residents in their population at 33.4% (786,500 persons), and also the largest increase in the proportion of overseas born residents, up from 29.9% in 2006. Victoria recorded the second highest proportion with 28.7% of its residents born overseas (1,589,800 persons), up from 26.3% in 2006. Tasmania (12.6% or 64,200 persons) and the Northern Territory (18.8% or 43,600 persons) had the lowest proportion of overseas born residents, both well below the Australian level of 26.9% recorded in 2011 (6,018,200 persons).
In 2011, Western Australia had the highest proportion of people born in the United Kingdom (10.9%), more than double the Australian proportion of 5.4%. The highest proportion of New Zealand born residents was in Queensland (4.8%).
In Victoria, there were higher proportions of residents born in India (2.3%), Italy (1.5%), Vietnam (1.4%), Greece (1.1%) and Sri Lanka (0.9%) than any other state or territory. New South Wales had the highest proportion of people born in China (2.6%) and Lebanon (0.9%). The Northern Territory had the highest proportion of people born in the Philippines (1.9%), while Western Australia recorded the highest proportion of people born in South Africa (1.7%) and Malaysia (1.2%). The proportion of residents born in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States of America were fairly evenly spread across all states and territories.
1.3 ESTIMATED RESIDENT POPULATION, State and territory composition(a) - Top 15 countries of birth(b) - 30 June 2006 and 2011(c) |
|
| | | NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | Aust.(d) |
| | | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 | 000 |
|
2006 | | | | | | | | | |
| Australia | 4 955.4 | 3 729.5 | 3 218.1 | 1 212.6 | 1 436.7 | 433.1 | 176.3 | 256.1 | 15 419.3 |
| Overseas-born | | | | | | | | | |
| | UK, CI & IOM(e) | 291.3 | 221.6 | 210.4 | 128.7 | 232.9 | 24.4 | 7.2 | 16.9 | 1 133.5 |
| | New Zealand | 120.0 | 71.3 | 166.8 | 12.6 | 54.2 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 4.4 | 437.9 |
| | China(f) | 139.4 | 68.5 | 18.4 | 9.7 | 10.0 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 4.4 | 252.0 |
| | Italy | 60.6 | 89.9 | 15.4 | 24.4 | 23.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.4 | 218.0 |
| | Vietnam | 71.1 | 65.2 | 14.5 | 11.7 | 12.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 2.6 | 178.0 |
| | India | 66.7 | 60.0 | 12.7 | 7.6 | 17.7 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 169.7 |
| | Philippines | 68.2 | 31.8 | 22.0 | 6.3 | 8.1 | 1.1 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 141.9 |
| | Greece | 41.5 | 63.3 | 4.8 | 12.3 | 3.6 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 129.0 |
| | Germany | 36.4 | 32.5 | 23.7 | 13.7 | 12.1 | 2.5 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 124.7 |
| | South Africa | 37.7 | 21.8 | 26.1 | 5.1 | 25.9 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 1.2 | 119.5 |
| | Malaysia | 26.6 | 34.7 | 10.9 | 6.0 | 23.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 105.7 |
| | Netherlands | 21.9 | 26.2 | 17.8 | 8.9 | 12.2 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 91.8 |
| | Lebanon | 64.1 | 17.1 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 0.1 | - | 0.4 | 85.9 |
| | Hong Kong | 43.3 | 19.7 | 8.9 | 2.7 | 4.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 81.4 |
| | USA | 26.4 | 16.0 | 14.6 | 4.1 | 8.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 74.7 |
| | Total overseas-born | 1 787.3 | 1 331.8 | 789.9 | 339.9 | 613.9 | 56.2 | 32.7 | 79.1 | 5 031.6 |
| Total | 6 742.7 | 5 061.3 | 4 008.0 | 1 552.5 | 2 050.6 | 489.3 | 209.1 | 335.2 | 20 451.0 |
2011 | | | | | | | | | |
| Australia | 5 175.4 | 3 948.1 | 3 471.5 | 1 250.7 | 1 566.9 | 447.3 | 187.7 | 272.0 | 16 321.8 |
| Overseas-born | | | | | | | | | |
| | UK, CI & IOM(e) | 300.2 | 228.4 | 232.6 | 128.9 | 256.1 | 25.0 | 7.6 | 16.9 | 1 196.0 |
| | New Zealand | 128.8 | 89.3 | 215.6 | 14.1 | 81.0 | 5.5 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 544.0 |
| | China(f) | 190.0 | 112.8 | 33.2 | 19.3 | 20.5 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 8.0 | 387.4 |
| | India | 109.1 | 126.8 | 34.9 | 21.0 | 34.6 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 6.5 | 337.1 |
| | Vietnam | 80.6 | 76.2 | 18.3 | 13.4 | 14.6 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 207.6 |
| | Italy | 56.8 | 82.7 | 14.6 | 22.1 | 21.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 201.7 |
| | Philippines | 79.4 | 42.3 | 33.1 | 9.8 | 19.9 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 2.7 | 193.0 |
| | South Africa | 44.8 | 26.6 | 39.4 | 6.7 | 39.8 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 161.6 |
| | Malaysia | 31.4 | 45.7 | 14.8 | 8.0 | 29.4 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 134.1 |
| | Germany | 36.5 | 32.2 | 24.6 | 12.8 | 13.2 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 2.6 | 125.7 |
| | Greece | 39.0 | 60.1 | 4.2 | 11.4 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 121.2 |
| | Sri Lanka | 27.5 | 50.4 | 9.0 | 3.0 | 6.3 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 99.7 |
| | USA | 31.4 | 19.4 | 18.4 | 4.6 | 10.4 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 90.1 |
| | Lebanon | 66.5 | 18.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 90.0 |
| | Netherlands | 21.1 | 24.6 | 17.3 | 8.2 | 11.8 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 87.7 |
| | Total overseas-born | 2 043.1 | 1 589.8 | 1 005.3 | 388.9 | 786.5 | 64.2 | 43.6 | 96.0 | 6 018.2 |
| Total | 7 218.5 | 5 537.8 | 4 476.8 | 1 639.6 | 2 353.4 | 511.5 | 231.3 | 368.0 | 22 340.0 |
|
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells) |
(a) Country of birth is available at the state and territory level in census years only. |
(b) The top 15 countries of birth are at the Australia level for 2006 and again for 2011. |
(c) Estimates for 2006 have been recast - see paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes. |
(d) Includes Other Territories. See paragraphs 62 - 63 of the Explanatory Notes. |
(e) United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man. |
(f) Excludes SARs and Taiwan. |