Acceptance of diversity

Metrics

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger
Proportion of people who used a language other than English at home

Why this matters

Cultural diversity is one of the greatest assets of Australian society. It provides a basis for the future integration of migrants from varied ethnic, linguistic and faith backgrounds into our social fabric. It also plays an important role in our prosperity, enriching our schools and workplaces and deepening our connections with the world.

Linguistic ability is a proxy for whether a society celebrates diversity.

Ongoing acceptance of multiculturalism and immigrants from a diverse range of countries is a key indicator of cohesion, helping protect our society from social divisions.

Progress

People who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger

According to the Mapping Social Cohesion Report, in 2023, 78% of people agree that 'accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger', consistent with the value reported in 2022.

This has been trending upwards since 2018, when 63% of people agreed that accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger.

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger (a)(b)
	Telephone surveys (%)	Online and telephone surveys (%)
2007	67
2009	68
2010	62
2011	64
2012	65
2013	62
2014	68
2015	67
2016	67
2017	63
2018	66	63
2019	68	67
Jul-20		71
Nov-20		74
2021		76
2022		78
2023		78

Proportion of people who agree or strongly agree accepting immigrants from many different countries makes Australia stronger (a)(b)

["","Telephone surveys","Online and telephone surveys"]

[["2007","2009","2010","2011","2012","2013","2014","2015","2016","2017","2018","2019","Jul-20","Nov-20","2021","2022","2023"],[[67],[68],[62],[64],[65],[62],[68],[67],[67],[63],[66],[68],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null]],[[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[null],[63],[67],[71],[74],[76],[78],[78]]]

[]

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Data for 2007 - 2019 was sourced from the Mapping Social Cohesion 2019 Report. The survey was not run in 2008 and was run twice in 2020, in June and November.
In 2018 the Mapping Social Cohesion Survey methodology changed from being administered via telephone only, to telephone and online (using the Life in Australia panel). For further details, please refer to the 2018 Scanlon Mapping Social Cohesion Report.

Data Source

Scanlon Institute: 2023 Mapping Social Cohesion Report

People who used a language other than English at home

According to 2021 Census data:

5.8 million people reported speaking a language other than English at home (23% of the population). This was an increase from 4.9 million people in 2016 (22%).
of the 1.6 million Australian-born people who spoke a language other than English, most had one or both parents born overseas (83%), and almost half were children aged under 15 years (48%).
the top five most common languages spoken in Australia other than English are Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Punjabi.

Proportion of people who use a language other than English at home
	Persons (%)
2006	16
2011	18
2016	22
2021	23

Proportion of people who use a language other than English at home

["","Persons"]

[["2006","2011","2016","2021"],[[15.800000000000001],[18.199999999999999],[21.600000000000001],[22.800000000000001]]]

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Data Source

Customised ABS Census data