AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH

The cultural and linguistic diversity of Australia's resident population has been reshaped over many years by migration. Historically, more people immigrate to, than emigrate from, Australia. At 30 June 2016, 28.5% of the estimated resident population (ERP) was born overseas (6.9 million persons). This was an increase from 30 June 2015, when 28.2% of the population was born overseas (6.7 million persons). In 2006, ten years earlier, 24.6% of the population was born overseas (5.0 million persons).


Persons born in the United Kingdom continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 5.0% of Australia's total population at 30 June 2016. This was followed by persons born in New Zealand (2.5%), China (2.2%), India (1.9%) and the Philippines and Vietnam (both 1.0%).


Over the last 10 years, the proportion of the Australian population who were born in the United Kingdom decreased from 5.5% in 2006 to 5.0% in 2016. Conversely, the proportions increased for people born in New Zealand (from 2.1% to 2.5%), China (from 1.2% to 2.2%) and India (from 0.8% to 1.9%).

In terms of Australia's population growth, for the top 50 countries of birth (excluding Australia) at 30 June 2016, persons born in Nepal had the highest rate of increase between 2006 and 2016 with an average annual growth rate of 27.8%. However, this growth began from a small base of 4,400 persons at 30 June 2006. The second fastest increase over this period was in the number of persons born in Pakistan (13.2% per year on average), followed by those born in Brazil (12.1%), India (10.7%) and Bangladesh (8.9%). Of the top 50 countries of birth, the fastest decline was for persons born in Malta, with an average annual decrease of 1.5%, followed by persons born in Poland (1.3%).