Demographics of Australia

Demographics of Australia
Indicator	Rank	Measure
Population
Population	50th	26,798,409
Economy
GDP (PPP) per capita	16th	$40,680
GNP	18th	$66,934
Unemployment rate	↓ 57th	4.30%
CO2 emissions	12th	18t†
Electricity consumption	16th	200.70TWh
Economic freedom	3rd	82.5
Politics
Human Development Index	2nd	0.937
Political freedom	1st (equal)*	1
Corruption (A higher score means less (perceived) corruption.)	↓ 8th	8.7
Press freedom	18th	5.38
Society
Literacy Rate	21st	99%
Broadband uptake	17th	13.8%
Beer consumption	5th	4.49 L†
Health
Life Expectancy	5th	81.2
Birth rate	148th	13.8‡
Fertility rate	137th	1.969††
Infant mortality	202nd	4.57‡‡
Death rate	122nd	7.56‡
Suicide Rate	33rd	♂ 20.1†‡ ♀ 5.3†‡
HIV/AIDS rate	108th	0.10%
Notes
↓ indicates rank is in reverse order    (e.g. 1st is lowest) † per capita ‡ per 1000 people †† per woman ‡‡ per 1000 live births †‡ 100,000 people per year ♂ indicates males, ♀ indicates females

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Australia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religions, and other aspects of the population.

The demographics of Australia covers basic statistics, most populous cities, ethnicity and religion. The population of Australia is estimated to be 26,798,409 as of 27 July 2024. Australia is the 52nd most populous country in the world. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas and is expected to exceed 28 million by 2030.

Australia's population has grown from an estimated population of about 350,000 at the time of British settlement in 1788 due to numerous waves of immigration during the period since. Also due to immigration, the European component of the population is declining as a percentage, as it is in many other Western countries.

Australia has scarcely more than two persons per square kilometre of total land area. With 89% of its population living in urban areas, Australia is one of the world's most urbanised countries. The life expectancy of Australia in 1999–2001 was 79.7 years, among the highest in the world.

Indigenous population

See also: Indigenous Australians

The earliest accepted timeline for the first arrivals of indigenous Australians to the continent of Australia places this human migration to at least 40,000 years ago most probably from the islands of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

These first inhabitants of Australia were originally hunter-gatherer peoples, who over the course of many succeeding generations diversified widely throughout the continent and its nearby islands. Although their technical culture remained static—depending on wood, bone, and stone tools and weapons—their spiritual and social life was highly complex. Most spoke several languages, and confederacies sometimes linked widely scattered tribal groups. Aboriginal population density ranged from one person per square mile along the coasts to one person per 35 square miles (91 km²) in the arid interior. Food procurement was usually a matter for the nuclear family, requiring an estimated 3 days of work per week. There was little large game, and outside of some communities in the more fertile south-east, they had no agriculture.

Australia may have been sighted by Portuguese sailors in 1701, and Dutch navigators landed on the forbidding coast of modern Western Australia several times during the 17th century. Captain James Cook claimed the east coast for Great Britain in 1770, the west coast was later settled by Britain also. At that time, the indigenous population was estimated to have been between 315,000 and 750,000, divided into as many as 500 tribes speaking many different languages. In the 2006 Census, 407,700 respondents declared they were Aboriginal, 29,512 declared they were Torres Strait Islander, and a further 17,811 declared they were both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. After adjustments for undercount, the indigenous population as of end June 2006 was estimated to be 517,200, representing about 2.5% of the population.

Since the end of World War II, efforts have been made both by the government and by the public to be more responsive to Aboriginal rights and needs. Today, many tribal Aborigines lead a settled traditional life in remote areas of northern, central, and western Australia. In the south, where most Aborigines are of mixed descent, most live in the cities.

General Demographic statistics

Australia's age and gender structure in 2005, illustrated in a population pyramid.

Much of the data that follows has been derived from the CIA World Factbook and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, through censuses.

Population

The following figures are ABS estimates for the resident population of Australia, based on the 2001 and 2006 Censuses and other data.

26,798,409 (as of 27 July 2024)

21,262,641 (July 2009 – CIA World Factbook)

21,180,632 (end December 2007 – preliminary)

20,848,760 (end December 2006 – preliminary)

20,544,064 (end December 2005)

20,252,132 (end December 2004)

20,011,882 (end December 2003)

19,770,963 (end December 2002)

19,533,972 (end December 2001)

States and territories

See also: States and territories of Australia

State/territory	Land area (km²)	Population (2006)	Population density (/km²)	% of population in capital
Australian Capital Territory	2,358	344,200	137.53	99.6%
New South Wales	800,642	6,967,200	8.44	63%
Victoria	227,416	5,297,600	23.87	71%
Queensland	1,730,648	4,279,400	2.26	46%
South Australia	983,482	1,601,800	1.56	73.5%
Western Australia	2,529,875	2,163,200	0.79	73.4%
Tasmania	68,401	498,200	7.08	41%
Northern Territory	1,349,129	219,900	0.15	54%

Age structure

0–14 years: 19.3%

15–64 years: 67.5%

65 years and over: 13.2% (2008 estimate)

Median age

Total: 37.3 years

Male: 36.6 years

Female: 38.1 years (2009 est.)

Population growth rate

As of the end of June 2009 the population growth rate was 1.2%. This rate was based on estimates of:

• one birth every 1 minute and 45 seconds,
• one death every 3 minutes and 40 seconds,
• a net gain of one international migrant every 1 minutes and 51 seconds leading to
• an overall total population increase of one person every 1 minutes and 11 seconds.

In 2009 the estimated rates were:

• Birth rate – 12.47 births/1,000 population (Rank 164)
• Mortality rate – 6.68 deaths/1,000 population (Rank 146)
• Net migration rate – 6.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population. (Rank 15)

At the time of Australian Federation in 1901, the rate of natural increase was 14.9 persons per 1,000 population. The rate increased to a peak of 17.4 per thousand population in the years 1912, 1913 and 1914. During the Great Depression, the rate declined to a low of 7.1 per thousand population in 1934 and 1935. Immediately after World War II the rate increased sharply as a result of the beginning of the post–World War II baby boom and the immigration of many young people who then had children in Australia, with a plateau of rates of over 13.0 persons per 1,000 population for every year from 1946 to 1962.

There has been a fall in the rate of natural increase since 1962 due to falling fertility. In 1971 the rate of natural increase was 12.7 persons per 1,000 population; a decade later it had fallen to 8.5. In 1996 the rate of natural increase fell below seven for the first time, with the downward trend continuing in the late 1990s. Population projections by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicate that continued low fertility, combined with the increase in deaths from an ageing population, will result in natural increase falling below zero sometime in the mid 2030s. However in 2006 the fertility rate rose to 1.81, one of the highest rate in the OECD, arguably as a result of some pro-fertility state and federal government campaigns, including the Federal Government's baby bonus.

Since 1901, the crude death rate has fallen from about 12.2 deaths per 1,000 population to 6.4 deaths per 1,000 population in 2006. (ppt)

Vital statistics since 1900

Source:

	Average population (x 1,000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1,000)	Crude death rate (per 1,000)	Natural change (per 1,000)	Fertility rates
1900	3,715	102,221	44,060	58,161	27.3	11.8	15.5
1901	3,765	102,945	46,330	56,615	27.1	12.2	14.9
1902	3,824	102,776	48,078	54,698	26.7	12.5	14.2
1903	3,875	98,443	47,293	51,150	25.3	12.1	13.2
1904	3,916	104,113	43,572	60,541	26.4	11.0	15.4
1905	3,974	104,941	43,514	61,427	26.2	10.9	15.3
1906	4,032	107,890	44,333	63,557	26.6	10.9	15.7
1907	4,091	110,347	45,305	55,042	26.7	11.0	15.7
1908	4,161	111,545	46,426	55,119	26.6	11.1	15.5
1909	4,232	114,071	44,172	59,899	26.7	10.3	16.4
1910	4,323	116,801	45,590	61,211	26.7	10.4	16.3
1911	4,425	122,193	47,869	74,324	27.2	10.6	16.6
1912	4,573	133,088	52,177	80,911	28.6	11.2	17.4
1913	4,746	135,714	51,789	83,925	28.2	10.7	17.5
1914	4,893	137,983	51,720	86,263	28.0	10.5	17.5
1915	4,971	134,871	52,782	82,089	27.1	10.6	16.5
1916	4,969	131,426	54,197	77,219	26.6	11.0	15.6
1917	4,917	129,965	48,029	81,936	26.3	9.7	16.6
1918	4,982	125,739	50,249	75,490	25.0	10.0	15.0
1919	5,080	122,290	65,930	56,360	23.6	12.7	10.9
1920	5,303	136,406	56,289	80,117	25.5	10.5	15.5
1921	5,411	136,198	54,076	82,122	24.9	9.9	15.0	3.12
1922	5,510	137,496	51,311	86,185	24.7	9.2	15.5	3.11
1923	5,637	135,222	56,236	78,986	23.7	9.9	13.8	3.02
1924	5,755	134,927	54,980	79,953	23.2	9.4	13.8	2.97
1925	5,882	135,792	54,658	81,134	22.9	9.2	13.7	2.95
1926	6,000	133,162	56,952	76,210	22.0	9.4	12.6	2.85
1927	6,124	133,698	58,282	75,716	21.6	9.4	12.2	2.80
1928	6,251	134,078	59,378	74,700	21.3	9.4	11.9	2.77
1929	6,355	129,480	60,857	68,623	20.2	9.5	10.7	2.64
1930	6,436	128,399	55,331	73,068	19.8	8.6	11.2	2.58
1931	6,500	118,509	56,560	61,949	18.2	8.7	9.5	2.36
1932	6,552	110,933	56,757	54,176	16.9	8.6	8.3	2.19
1933	6,603	111,269	59,117	52,152	16.8	8.9	7.9	2.17
1934	6,656	109,475	62,229	47,246	16.4	9.3	7.1	2.11
1935	6,707	111,325	63,599	47,726	16.5	9.4	7.1	2.12
1936	6,755	116,073	63,932	52,141	17.1	9.4	7.7	2.18
1937	6,810	119,131	64,496	54,635	17.4	9.4	8.0	2.21
1938	6,871	120,415	66,451	53,964	17.4	9.6	7.8	2.21
1939	6,935	122,891	69,147	53,744	17.6	9.9	7.7	2.22
1940	7,004	126,347	68,384	57,963	17.9	9.7	8.2	2.26
1941	7,077	134,525	71,176	63,349	18.9	10.0	8.9	2.36
1942	7,143	136,708	75,191	61,517	19.1	10.5	8.6	2.38
1943	7,201	149,295	74,486	74,809	20.6	10.3	10.3	2.57
1944	7,269	153,344	69,596	83,748	21.0	9.5	11.5	2.63
1945	7,347	160,560	70,231	90,229	21.7	9.5	12.2	2.74
1946	7,430	176,379	74,661	101,718	23.6	10.0	13.6	2.99
1947	7,517	182,384	73,468	108,916	24.1	9.7	14.4	3.08
1948	7,637	177,976	76,839	101,137	23.1	10.0	13.1	2.99
1949	7,792	181,261	75,260	106,001	22.9	9.5	13.4	3.03
1950	8,045	190,591	78,187	112,404	23.3	9.6	13.7	3.07
1951	8,307	193,298	81,788	111,510	23.0	9.7	13.3	3.06
1952	8,527	201,650	81,597	120,053	23.4	9.5	13.9	3.18
1953	8,739	202,235	80,188	122,047	22.9	9.1	13.8	3.19
1954	8,902	202,256	81,805	120,451	22.5	9.1	13.4	3.20
1955	9,089	207,677	82,036	125,641	22.6	8.9	13.7	3.28
1956	9,311	212,633	86,088	126,545	22.5	9.1	13.4	3.33
1957	9,530	220,358	84,953	135,405	22.9	8.8	14.1	3.42
1958	9,744	222,504	83,723	138,481	22.6	8.5	14.1	3.42
1959	9,947	226,976	89,212	137,765	22.6	8.9	13.7	3.44
1960	10,160	230,326	88,464	141,862	22.4	8.6	13.8	3.45
1961	10,391	239,986	88,961	151,025	22.8	8.5	14.3	3.55
1962	10,642	237,081	93,163	143,918	22.1	8.7	13.4	3.43
1963	10,846	235,689	94,894	140,795	21.5	8.7	12,8	3.34
1964	11,055	229,149	100,594	128,555	20.5	8.7	11.8	3.15
1965	11,280	222,854	99,715	123,139	19.6	8.8	10.8	2.97
1966	11,505	223,731	103,929	119,802	19.3	9.0	10.3	2.89
1967	11,704	229,796	102,703	127,093	19.4	8.7	10.7	2.85
1968	11,912	240,906	109,547	131,359	20.0	9.1	10.9	2.89
1969	12,145	250,175	106,496	143,681	20.4	8.7	11.7	2.93
1970	12,407	257,516	113,048	144,468	20.5	9.0	10.5	2.94
1971	12,663	276,361	110,650	165,711	21.5	8.6	12.9	2.98
1972	13,067	271,960	110,191	161,769	20.6	8.4	12.2	2.74
1973	13,303	255,848	111,336	144,512	19.1	8.3	10.8	2.49
1974	13,504	243,658	110,179	133,479	17.9	8.1	9.8	2.32
1975	13,722	239,794	114,501	125,293	17.4	8.3	9.1	2.15
1976	13,892	231,135	110,610	120,525	16.6	7.9	8.7	2,06
1977	14,033	226,954	111,490	115,464	16.1	7.9	8.2	2,01
1978	14,192	226,359	108,059	118,300	15.9	7.6	8.3	1,95
1979	14,359	223,370	108,315	115,055	15.5	7.5	8.0	1,91
1980	14,515	223,664	106,654	117,010	15.3	7.3	8.0	1,89
1981	14,695	230,920	109,429	121,491	15.6	7.4	8.2	1,94
1982	14,923	237,076	110,990	116,086	15.7	7.4	8.3	1,93
1983	15,184	241,764	112,918	128,846	15.8	7.4	8.4	1,92
1984	15,393	240,544	110,887	129,657	15.5	7.2	8.3	1,84
1985	15,579	241,814	114,197	127,617	15.4	7.3	8.1	1,92
1986	15,788	239,115	116,069	123,046	15.0	7.3	7.7	1,87
1987	16,018	242,977	116,139	126,838	15.0	7.2	7.8	1,85
1988	16,263	246,200	120,463	125,737	15.0	7.3	7.7	1,83
1989	16,532	250,155	118,767	131,388	15.1	7.1	8.0	1,84
1990	16,814	257,521	125,112	132,409	15.3	7.4	7.9	1,90
1991	17,065	261,158	119,572	141,586	15.2	7.0	8.2	1,85
1992	17,284	259,186	120,836	138,350	14.9	6.9	8.0	1,89
1993	17,494	259,959	121,338	138,621	14.8	6.9	7.9	1,86
1994	17,667	258,314	123,496	134,818	14.5	7.0	7.5	1,84
1995	17,854	258,210	126,232	131,978	14.4	7.0	7.4	1,82
1996	18,071	250,438	126,400	124,038	13.8	6.9	6.9	1,80
1997	18,310	253,660	127,298	126,362	13.7	6.9	6.8	1,78
1998	18,517	249,105	129,255	119,850	13.4	6.9	6.5	1,75
1999	18,711	249,965	128,278	121,487	13.3	6.8	6.5	1,75
2000	18,925	249,310	128,392	120,918	13.1	6.7	6.4	1,75
2001	19,153	247,500	128,913	118,587	12.8	6.7	6.1	1.73
2002	19,413	247,288	130,253	117,035	12.7	6.7	6.0	1.76
2003	19,651	246,663	132,239	114,424	12.5	6.7	5.8	1.75
2004	19,895	249,082	133,231	115,851	12.4	6.7	5.7	1.76
2005	20,127	255,934	131,354	124,580	12.6	6.5	6.1	1.79
2006	20,394	263,540	134,041	129,499	12.8	6.5	6.3	1.82
2007	20,697	274,330	134,785	139,545	13.2	6.4	6.8	1.87
2008	21,015	296,620						1.96
2009		295,700	140,800	154,900				1.90
2010	22,183	297,900	143,500	154,400				1.89
2011	22,485

Urbanisation

Urbanisation population: 89% of total population (2008)

Rate of urbanisation: 1.2% annual rate of change (2005–2010)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15–64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female

Total population: 1 male(s)/female (2009)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 4.75 deaths/1,000 live births

country comparison to the world: 196

Male: 5.08 deaths/1,000 live births

Female: 4.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total: 81.63 years

country comparison to the world: 70

Male: 79.25 years

Female: 84.15 years

Total fertility rate

1.969 children born/woman (2008)

For more detailed regionwise TFR details see Birth rate and fertility rate in Australia.

country comparison to the world: 159

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2007 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 18,000 (2007 est.)

Deaths: fewer than 200 (2003 est.)

Country of birth

Countries of birth of Australian estimated resident population, 2006.
Source:Australian Bureau of Statistics

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in mid-2006 there were 4,956,863 residents who were born outside Australia, representing 24% of the total population. The Australian-resident population comprises people born in these countries:

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics
Country of Birth	Estimated Resident Population
United Kingdom	1,153,264
New Zealand	476,719
Italy	220,469
People's Republic of China (Excluding SARs and Taiwan Province)	203,143
Vietnam	180,352
India	153,579
Philippines	135,619
Greece	125,849
South Africa	118,816
Germany	114,921
Malaysia	103,947
Netherlands	86,950
Lebanon	86,599
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	76,303
Sri Lanka	70,908
Serbia and Montenegro	68,879
Indonesia	67,952
United States	64,832
Poland	59,221
Fiji	58,815
Ireland	57,338
Croatia	56,540
Singapore	49,819
South Korea	49,141
Malta	48,978
North Macedonia	48,577
Iraq	40,400
Egypt	38,782
Turkey	37,556
Canada	33,198
Thailand	32,747
Taiwan	31,258
Japan	29,469
Sudan	29,282
Cambodia	28,175
Bosnia and Herzegovina	27,328
Papua New Guinea	26,302
Chile	26,204
Iran	25,659
Hungary	23,065
Russia	21,436
Cyprus	21,149
Zimbabwe	21,142
Afghanistan	21,140
Austria	20,214
France	20,054
Pakistan	19,768
Mauritius	19,375
Samoa	17,822
Portugal	17,382

For more information about immigration see Immigration to Australia.

Ancestry of Australian population

Main article: Australians

This article is about the peoples of Australia. For Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, see Indigenous Australians. For other uses, see Australian (disambiguation).

Australians

Total population
26,518,400 in Australia (2023) Map of the Australian diaspora Common ancestries: English, Aboriginal Australian, Irish, New Zealander, German, Italian, Chinese, and Indian.
Regions with significant populations
Australian diaspora: 577,255 (2019)
United Kingdom	165,000 (2021)
United States	98,969 (2019)
New Zealand	75,696 (2018)
Vietnam	22,000 (2013)
Canada	21,115 (2016)
South Korea	15,222 (2019)
Hong Kong	14,669 (2016) 100,000
Germany	13,600 (2020)
Mainland China	13,286 (2010)
Japan	12,024 (2019)
Turkey	13,286 (2010)
Portugal	1,400 (2020)
Languages
English; also Australian Aboriginal languages; Auslan; and other minority languages, including Mandarin Arabic Cantonese Vietnamese Italian Greek Hindi Bengali Spanish Punjabi
Religion
Christianity (Catholicism, Anglicanism and other denominations), various non-Christian religions and irreligion

Australians, colloquially known as Aussies or Antipodeans, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being Australian. Australian law does not provide for a racial or ethnic component of nationality, instead relying on citizenship as a legal status. Since the postwar period, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism and has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30 percent of the population in 2019.

Between European colonisation in 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles in the United Kingdom and Ireland (principally England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. Many early settlements were initially penal colonies to house transported convicts. Immigration increased steadily, with an explosion of population in the 1850s following a series of gold rushes. In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Australia received a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe than in previous decades. Since the late 1970s, following the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, a large and continuing wave of immigration to Australia from around the world has continued into the 21st century, with Asia now being the largest source of immigrants. A smaller proportion of Australians are descended from Australia's indigenous people, comprising Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.

The development of a distinctive Australian identity and national character began in the 19th century. The primary language is Australian English. Australia is home to a diversity of cultures, a result of its history of immigration. Since 1788, Australian culture has primarily been a Western culture strongly influenced by early Anglo-Celtic settlers. As the Asian Australian population continues to expand and flourish as a result of changes in the demographic makeup of immigrants and as there has been increased economic and cultural intercourse with Asian nations, Australia has observed the gradual emergence of a "Eurasian society" within its major urban hubs, blending both European and Asian material and popular culture within a distinctly Australian context. Other influences include Australian Aboriginal culture, the traditions brought to the country by waves of immigration from around the world, and the culture of the United States. The cultural divergence and evolution that has occurred over the centuries since European settlement has resulted in a distinctive Australian culture.

History

Main articles: History of Australia and Immigration history of Australia

The Colony of New South Wales was established by the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1788, with the arrival of the First Fleet, and five other colonies were established in the 19th century, now forming the six present-day Australian states. Large-scale immigration occurred following a series of gold rushes in the 1850s and after the First and Second World Wars, with many post-World War II migrants coming from Southern and Eastern Europe. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, immigrants to Australia have come from around the world, and from Asia in particular.

The predominance of the English language, the existence of a parliamentary system of government drawing upon the Westminster system, constitutional monarchy, American constitutionalist and federalist traditions, Christianity as the dominant religion, and the popularity of sports including cricket, rugby football and tennis are evidence of a significant Anglo-Celtic heritage derived from the descendants of early settlers who form an ancestral group known as Anglo-Celtic Australians. As a result of many shared linguistic, historical, cultural and geographic characteristics, Australians have often identified closely with New Zealanders in particular. Australian citizenship prior to 1949 was a social, moral, and political concept. Prior to the introduction of Australian citizenship, Australians had the status of "British subjects". The High Court of Australia in Potter v Minahan (1908) stated that "Although there is no Australian nationality as distinguished from British nationality, there is an Australian species of British nationality."

Ancestries

The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not collect data on race, but asks each Australian resident to nominate up to two ancestries each census. These ancestry responses are classified into broad standardised ancestry groups. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses within each standardised group as a proportion of the total population was as follows: 57.2% European (including 46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European), 33.8% (including 29.9% Australian) Oceanian, 17.4% Asian (including 6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian, and 4.5% South-East Asian), 3.2% North African and Middle Eastern, 1.4% Peoples of the Americas, and 1.3% Sub-Saharan African. At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated individual ancestries as a proportion of the total population were:

• English (33%)
• Australian (29.9%)
• Irish (9.5%)
• Scottish (8.6%)
• Chinese (5.5%)
• Italian (4.4%)
• German (4%)
• Aboriginal (3.8%)
• Indian Australians (3.1%)
• Greek (1.7%)
• Filipino (1.6%)
• Dutch (1.5%)
• Vietnamese (1.3%)
• Lebanese (1%)

European Australians

Main articles: European Australians and Anglo-Celtic Australians

European Australians are Australians of whose descent is wholly or partially European. Australians of European descent are the majority in Australia, with the number of ancestry responses categorised within the European groups as a proportion of the total population amounting to 57.2% (including 46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European). The proportion of Australians with European ancestry is thought to be higher than the numbers captured in the census as those nominating their ancestry as "Australian" are classified within the Oceanian group, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that most who nominate "Australian" as their ancestry are Anglo-Celtic Australians. Since soon after the beginning of British settlement in 1788, people of European descent have formed the majority of the population in Australia.

The largest statistical grouping of European Australians are Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians whose ancestors originate wholly or partially in the British Isles. This includes English Australians, Irish Australians, Scottish Australians and Welsh Australians. Anglo-Celtic Australians have been highly influential in shaping the nation's character. By the mid-1840s, the numbers of freeborn settlers had overtaken the convict population. Although some observers stress Australia's convict history, the vast majority of early settlers came of their own free will. Far more Australians are descended from assisted immigrants than from convicts, the majority of Colonial Era settlers being British and Irish. About 20 percent of Australians are descendants of convicts. Most of the first Australian settlers came from London, the Midlands and the North of England, and Ireland.

Settlers that arrived throughout the 19th century were from all parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, a significant proportion of settlers came from the Southwest and Southeast of England, from Ireland and from Scotland. In 1888, 60 percent of the Australian population had been born in Australia, and almost all had British ancestral origins. Out of the remaining 40 percent, 34 percent had been born in the British Isles, and 6 percent were of European origin, mainly from Germany and Scandinavia. The census of 1901 showed that 98 percent of Australians had Anglo-Celtic ancestral origins. In 1939 and 1945, still 98 percent of Australians had Anglo-Celtic ancestral origins. Until 1947, the vast majority of the population were of British origin.

Germans formed the largest non-British Isles ancestry for most of the 19th century. Between 1901 and 1940, 140,000 non-British European immigrants arrived in Australia (about 16 percent of the total intake). Before World War II, 13.6 percent were born overseas, and 80 percent of those were British. Following the Second World War, large numbers of continental Europeans immigrated to Australia, with Italian Australians and Greek Australians being among the largest immigrant groups during the post-war era. During the 1950s, Australia was the destination of 30 per cent of Dutch emigrants and the Netherlands-born became numerically the second largest non-British group in Australia. In 1971, 70 percent of the foreign born were of European origin.

Italian Australians are Australians of Italian ancestry, and comprise the largest non Anglo-Celtic European ethnic group in Australia, with the 2021 census finding 4.4% of the population claiming ancestry from Italy be they migrants to Australia or their descendants born in Australia of Italian heritage. Australia's long-history of Italian immigration has given rise to an Italo-Australian dialect of the Italian language. German Australians are Australians of German ancestry. The German community constitutes the second largest non-Anglo Celtic European ethnic group in Australia, amounting to 4% of respondents in the 2021 Census. Germans formed the largest non-English-speaking group in Australia up to the 20th century. Although a few individuals had emigrated earlier, the first large group of Germans arrived in South Australia 1838, not long after the British colonisation of South Australia.

Asian Australians

Main article: Asian Australians

Asian Australians are Australians with ancestry wholly or partially from the continent of Asia. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within the Asian groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 17.4% (including 6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian, and 4.5% South-East Asian). This figure excludes Australians of Middle Eastern ancestry, who are separately categorised within the North African and Middle Eastern group.

Chinese Australians are Australians of Chinese ancestry, forming the single largest non Anglo-Celtic ancestry in the country, constituting 5.5% of those nominating their ancestry at the 2021 census. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups of Overseas Chinese people, forming the largest Overseas Chinese community in Oceania, and are the largest Asian-Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ancestry than any country outside Asia. Many Chinese Australians have immigrated from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as well as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, while many are descendants of such immigrants. The very early history of Chinese Australians involved significant immigration from villages of the Pearl River Delta in Southern China.

More recent Chinese migrants include those from Mandarin and other Chinese dialects or forms. Less well-known are the kinds of society Chinese Australians came from, the families they left behind and what their intentions were in migrating. Gold rushes lured many Chinese to the Australian colonies. From the mid-19th century, Chinese dubbed Australia the New Gold Mountain after the Gold Mountain of California in North America. They typically sent money to their families in the villages, regularly visited their families, and retired to their home villages after many years working as market gardeners, shopkeepers or cabinet-makers. As with many overseas Chinese groups the world over, early Chinese immigrants to Australia established several Chinatowns in major cities, such as Sydney (Chinatown, Sydney), Melbourne (Chinatown, Melbourne, since the 1850s) and Brisbane (Chinatown, Brisbane), Perth (Chinatown, Perth), as well as in regional towns associated with the goldfields such as Cairns (Cairns Chinatown).

Indian Australians are Australians of Indian ancestry, and are the second-largest Asian Australian ancestry, comprising 3.1% of the total population. Indian Australians are one of the largest groups within the Indian diaspora. Indians are the youngest average age (34 years) and the fastest growing community both in terms of absolute numbers and percentages in Australia. Migration of Indians to Australia followed the pattern of "from 18th-century sepoys and lascars (soldiers and sailors) aboard visiting European ships, through 19th-century migrant labourers and the 20th century's hostile policies to the new generation of skilled professional migrants of the 21st century... India became the largest source of skilled migrants in the 21st century."

Indigenous Australians

Aboriginal Australians, 1981

Australian Aboriginal Flag

Main articles: Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal Australians, and Torres Strait Islanders

Indigenous Australians are descendants of the original inhabitants of the Australian continent. Their ancestors are believed to have migrated from Africa to Asia around 70,000 years ago and arrived in Australia around 50,000 years ago. The Torres Strait Islanders are a distinct people of Melanesian ancestry, indigenous to the Torres Strait Islands, which are at the northernmost tip of Queensland near Papua New Guinea, and some nearby settlements on the mainland. The term "Aboriginal" is traditionally applied to only the indigenous inhabitants of mainland Australia and Tasmania, along with some of the adjacent islands. Indigenous Australians is an inclusive term used when referring to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders (the "first peoples").

Dispersing across the Australian continent over time, the population expanded and differentiated into hundreds of distinct groups, each with its own language and culture. More than 400 distinct Australian Aboriginal peoples have been identified across the continent, distinguished by unique names designating their ancestral languages, dialects, or distinctive speech patterns.

In 1770, fearing he had been pre-empted by the French, James Cook changed a hilltop signal-drill on Possession Island in Torres Strait, into a possession ceremony, fabricating Britain's claim of Australia's east coast. Eighteen years later, the east coast was occupied by Britain and later the west coast was also settled by Britain. At that time, the indigenous population was estimated to have been between 315,000 and 750,000.

At the 2021 census, 3.2% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. Indigenous Australians experience higher than average rates of imprisonment and unemployment, lower levels of education, and life expectancies for males and females that are, respectively, 11 and 17 years lower than those of non-indigenous Australians. Some remote Indigenous communities have been described as having "failed state"-like conditions.

Country of birth

In 2019, 30% of the Australian resident population, or 7,529,570 people, were born overseas. The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2021. It shows only countries or regions or birth with a population of over 100,000 residing in Australia (for more information about immigration see Immigration to Australia and Foreign-born population of Australia):

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021)
Place of birth	Estimated resident population
Total Australian-born	18,235,690
Total foreign-born	7,502,450
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland	967,390
India	710,380
China	595,630
New Zealand	559,980
Philippines	310,620
Vietnam	268,170
South Africa	201,930
Malaysia	172,250
Italy	171,520
Sri Lanka	145,790
Scotland	130,060
Nepal	129,870
United States	109,450
Germany	107,940
South Korea	106,560
Hong Kong	104,990
Greece	100,650

Language

Main article: Languages of Australia

Although Australia has no official language, English has always been entrenched as the de facto national language. Australian English is a major variety of the language with a distinctive accent and lexicon, and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. General Australian serves as the standard dialect.

At the 2021 census, English was the only language spoken in the home for 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Punjabi (0.9%). Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact, of which fewer than twenty are still in daily use by all age groups. About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people. At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 10,112 deaf people who reported that they use Auslan language at home in the 2016 census.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Australia

Australia has no official religion; its Constitution prohibits the Commonwealth government, but not the states, from establishing one, or interfering with the freedom of religion. At the 2021 Census, 38.9% of the population identified as having "no religion", up from 15.5% in 2001. The largest religion is Christianity (43.9% of the population). The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic Church (20% of the population) and the Anglican Church of Australia (9.8%). Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%).

In 2021, just under 8,000 people declared an affiliation with traditional Aboriginal religions. According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation. The Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land.

Population

The current Australian resident population is estimated at 27,686,000 (27 July 2024). This does not include Australians living overseas. In 2015, 2.15% of the Australian population lived overseas, one of the lowest proportions worldwide. This ratio is much lower than many other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Historical population

The data in the table is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The population estimates do not include the Aboriginal population before 1961. Estimates of Aboriginal population prior to European settlement range from 300,000 to one million, with archaeological finds indicating a sustainable population of around 750,000.

Crown colonies (Pre-Federation)
Year	Population	Year	Population
1788	859	1848	332,328
1798	4,588	1858	1,050,828
1808	10,263	1868	1,539,552
1818	25,859	1878	2,092,164
1828	58,197	1888	2,981,677
1838	151,868	1898	3,664,715

Year	Population	% change
1901	3,788,123	–
1906	4,059,083	7.2
1911	4,489,545	10.6
1916	4,943,173	10.1
1921	5,455,136	10.4
1926	6,056,360	11.0
1931	6,526,485	7.8
1936	6,778,372	3.4

Year	Population	% change
1941	7,109,898	4.9
1946	7,465,157	5.0
1951	8,421,775	12.8
1956	9,425,563	11.9
1961	10,548,267	11.9
1966	11,599,498	10.0
1971	13,067,265	12.7
1976	14,033,083	7.4

Year	Population	% change
1981	14,923,260	6.3
1986	16,018,350	7.3
1991	17,284,036	12.8
1996	18,310,714	5.9
2001	19,413,240	6.0
2006	20,848,760	7.4
2011	21,507,717	3.2
2014 (estimate)	23,500,000	9.3

See also

• Australian Americans
• Australian Canadians
• Australian New Zealanders
• Australian Paraguayans
• Australians in the United Kingdom
• Australians in China
• Australians in Greece
• Australians in India
• Australians in Italy
• Australians in Japan
• Australians in Turkey
• Australians in Thailand
• List of prime ministers of Australia
• Australians in the United Arab Emirates
• Australians in Pakistan
• Australians in Singapore
• Australians in Hong Kong
• Australians in Saudi Arabia

References

Citation

• Davison, Graeme; Hirst, John; Macintyre, Stuart (1998). The Oxford Companion to Australian History. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-553597-6.
• Jupp, James (2001). The Australian people: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people, and their origins. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80789-0.
• Teo, Hsu-Ming; White, Richard, eds. (2003). Cultural history in Australia. Sydney: UNSW Press. ISBN 978-0868405896.

External links

• Media related to People of Australia at Wikimedia Commons

Religion

Main article: Religion in Australia

Australia is a religiously diverse country and has no official religion.

Christianity is the predominant faith of Australia. According to the 2006 census, the largest religious denomination is Roman Catholicism, of which 25.8% of the population claimed affiliation. The next largest is the Anglican faith, at 18.7%. Members of other Christian denominations accounted for 19.4% of the population.

Minority religions practiced in Australia include Buddhism (2.1% of the population), Islam (1.7%), Hinduism (0.7%) and Judaism (0.4%). Two percent of the population stated a different religion, which includes Sikhism and Indigenous beliefs, and 18.7% claimed no religion (this number increased in 2011 to 22.3%), while 11.2% did not respond.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 Census Dictionary statement on religious affiliation states the purpose for gathering such information:

Data on religious affiliation are used for such purposes as planning educational facilities, aged persons' care and other social services provided by religion-based organisations; the location of church buildings; the assigning of chaplains to hospitals, prisons, armed services and universities; the allocation of time on public radio and other media; and sociological research.

As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in church worship is lower than would be indicated by the proportion of the population identifying themselves as Christian; weekly attendance at church services is about 1.5 million, or about 7.5% of the population. Christian charitable organisations, hospitals and schools play a prominent role in welfare and education services. The Catholic education system is the second biggest sector after government schools, with more than 650 000 students (and around 21 per cent of all secondary school enrolments). The Anglican Church educates around 105,000 students and the Uniting Church has around 48 schools.

Languages

English is the de facto national language of Australia and is spoken by the vast majority of the population.

The most commonly spoken languages other than English in Australia are Italian, Greek, German, Spanish, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese languages, Indian languages, Arabic and Macedonian, as well as numerous Australian Aboriginal languages. Australia's hearing-impaired community uses Australian Deaf Sign Language.

Language	Speakers
Only English	15,581,333
Italian	316,895
Greek	252,226
Cantonese	244,553
Arabic	243,662
Mandarin	220,600
Vietnamese	194,863
Spanish	98,001
Filipino	92,331
German	75,634
Hindi	70,011
Macedonian	67,835
Croatian	63,612
Australian Aboriginal Languages	55,705
Korean	54,623
Turkish	53,857
Polish	53,389
Serbian	52,534
French	43,216
Indonesian	42,036
Maltese	36,514
Russian	36,502
Dutch	36,183
Japanese	35,111
Tamil	32,700
Sinhalese	29,055
Samoan	28,525
Portuguese	25,779
Khmer	24,715
Assyrian (Aramaic)	23,526
Punjabi	23,164
Persian	22,841
Hungarian	21,565
Bengali	20,223
Urdu	19,288
Afrikaans	16,806
Bosnian	15,743

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total population: 99%

Male: 99%

Female: 99% (2003 est.)

Education expenditure

4.5% of GDP (2005)

country comparison to the world: 55

Nationality

Main article: Australian nationality law

• noun: Australian(s)
• adjective: Australian

Historical population estimates

Note that population estimates in the table below do not include the Aboriginal population before 1961. Estimates of Aboriginal population prior to European settlement range from 300,000 to one million, with archaeological finds indicating a sustainable population of around 750,000.

Historic population (Estimated)
Year	Indigenous population
pre 1788	750,000 to 1,000,000
Year	Non Indigenous population
1788	8590
1798	4,5880
1808	10,2630
1818	25,8590
1828	58,1970
1838	151,8680
1848	332,3280
1858	1,050,8280
1868	1,539,5520
1878	2,092,1640
1888	2,981,6770
1898	3,664,7150
Year	Total population
1901	3,788,1230
1906	4,059,0830
1911	4,489,5450
1916	4,943,1730
1921	5,455,1360
1926	6,056,3600
1931	6,526,4850
1936	6,778,3720
1941	7,109,8980
1946	7,465,1570
1951	8,421,7750
1956	9,425,5630
1961	10,548,2670
1966	11,599,4980
1971	13,067,2650
1976	14,033,0830
1981	14,923,2600
1986	16,018,3500
1991	17,284,0360
1996	18,310,7140
2001	19,413,2400
2006	20,848,7600

See also

General

• Health care in Australia
• Immigration to Australia
• List of most common surnames in Oceania
• List of cities in Australia by population
• Homelessness in Australia
• Census in Australia

Cities

• Demographics of Sydney
• Demographics of Melbourne

Ethnicities

• African Australian
• Albanian Australian
• American Australian
• Anglo-Celtic Australian
• Asian Australian
• Assyrian Australian
• Bosnian Australian
• Chinese Australian
• Cornish Australian
• Danish Australian
• English Australian
• European Australian
• Filipino Australian
• French Australian
• German Australian
• Greek Australian
• Indian Australian
• Indigenous Australian (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander)
• Iranian Australian
• Irish Australian
• Italian Australian
• Korean Australian
• Latin American Australian
• Lebanese Australian
• Macedonian Australian
• Pakistani Australian
• Scottish Australian
• Serbian Australian
• South African Australian
• Sudanese Australian
• Welsh Australian

References

General References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2024 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2006 edition.)
• Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian * Demographic Statistics

Further reading

• Jupp, James. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2002)
• O'Farrell, Patrick. The Irish in Australia: 1798 to the Present Day (3rd ed. Cork University Press, 2001)
• Wells, Andrew, and Theresa Martinez, eds. Australia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (ABC-CLIO, 2004)

External links

• Australian population: ethnic origins
• Stock of foreign-born population by country of birth, by year