Recent Census Reveals Australia is More Asian Than Ever

June 27, 2017

A recent census revealed that the highly diversified population of Australia is now more Asian than ever before.

The new data showed that just a little over half of Australia’s residents had two Australian-born parents. The figure, which now stands at only 50.7%, is a significant drop from 54% in 2011 and 57% back in 2006.

According to The Age, last year’s figures show that over a quarter (26.3%) of the country’s population was born overseas.

Interestingly, the majority of the overseas-born came from Asian countries rather than European nations. Most of the foreign-born residents have reportedly come from China, India, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia.

The current trend of the australia immigration process has also somehow aided in slowing down the country’s aging population as Asian immigrants tend to be relatively much younger than European immigrants in general. It was found that in 2016, 15.8% of Australians were aged 65 and over, while 4% were 85 or over.

From 29% of residents a decade ago, only 23.5% identified their ancestry in 2016 as Australian, which 25% described themselves as English. The use of the English language has also become less common, with 72.7% of Australian households admitting they speak only English at home.

Around 2.2% of Australians speak Mandarin at home, while 1.4% speak Arabic, 1.2% speak Vietnamese and 1.2% use Cantonese. In total, the census found 300 different languages being used in Australian households in 2016. The number also includes Indigenous languages.

According to Australia’s Bureau of Statistics, there were around 23.4 million Australian residents as of August 2016.

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