Foreign-born population of Australia

In 2020, 29.1% of the Australian resident population, or 7,502,000 people, were born overseas.^[1]

Country of birth of Australian residents (2021)

International comparison

Further information: List of sovereign states and dependent territories by immigrant population, List of countries by net migration rate, and Immigration to Australia

Australia has one of the highest amounts of foreign-born residents in the world (both in total numbers, and per capita), as well as one of the highest immigration rates in the world.

Immigrants account for 30% of the population, the highest proportion among major Western nations.^[2][3]

In 2015, Australia had the 8th highest foreign-born population in the world, behind Canada but ahead of France (both countries had very close numbers to Australia). The United States was ranked 1st, with over 46 million foreign-born residents. The over 8.6 million immigrants in Australia constituted 3.1% of all immigrants in the world.

For foreign-born residents per capita, Australia was ranked the 11th highest sovereign country ahead of Lebanon and behind Jordan (both countries experienced a large influx of refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Syria). Vatican City was 1st, its population of 800 were 100% foreign-born. If dependent territories (e.g.: Guam, Macau, Channel Islands) were included, then Australia's rank would fall to 27th.

From 2010 to 2015, Australia had the 14th highest net migration rate in the world. For 2015–2020, Australia's migration rate was projected to fall (statistics published in 2019), however the country's rank was expected to remain steady at 14th due to similar falls in other countries.

Population by country of birth

Australian and foreign born population pyramid in 2021

The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2024. It shows only countries or regions of birth with a population of over 100,000 residing in Australia.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2024)[4]
Place of birth	Estimated resident population[A]
Total Australian-born	18,617,690
Total foreign-born	8,576,680
England[B]	963,650
India	916,330
China[C]	700,120
New Zealand	617,960
Philippines	394,380
Vietnam	318,760
South Africa	224,160
Nepal	197,800
Malaysia	183,490
Sri Lanka	172,800
Italy	156,070
Pakistan	134,720
Scotland	124,880
Hong Kong[C]	124,550
Indonesia	120,160
South Korea	119,190
United States	118,000
Thailand	114,280
Iraq	109,600
Ireland	103,080
Germany	102,960
Lebanon	97,500
Fiji	92,550
Iran	91,580
Greece	90,100
Afghanistan	88,730
Bangladesh	73,660
Brazil	72,920
Singapore	70,700
Colombia	70,010
Taiwan	68,400
Netherlands	65,440
Japan	59,710
Canada	59,650
Zimbabwe	50,440
North Macedonia	49,410
Croatia	48,650
Egypt	48,480
Poland	47,680
Myanmar	46,790
Türkiye	46,150
France	46,040
Cambodia	45,880
Chile	39,900
Samoa	38,850
Bhutan	37,530
PNG	37,150
Syria	36,610
Kenya	35,780
Malta	35,130
Russia	31,620
Wales	31,230
Bosnia and Herzegovina	30,350
Mauritius	29,950
Argentina	29,690
Serbia	29,390
Northern Ireland	25,920
Ukraine	21,360
Spain	21,100
Nigeria	20,620
Tonga	19,730
Sudan	18,860
United Arab Emirates	18,250
Portugal	18,190
Ethiopia	17,660
Cyprus	16,970
Hungary	16,750
Peru	16,470
Saudi Arabia	16,440
Romania	16,160
Mongolia	15,290
Timor-Leste	14,060
Austria	13,890
Switzerland	13,630
Israel	12,620
Laos	12,610
Sweden	11,930
El Salvador	11,220
Czech Republic	10,840
Uruguay	10,380
Mexico	9,980
Somalia	9,660
Jordan	9,640
Denmark	9,360
Ghana	9,310
South Sudan	9,090
Vanuatu	9,020
Zambia	8,730
Kuwait	8,720
Democratic Republic of the Congo	8,520
Venezuela	8,480
Solomon Islands	8,190
Belgium	8,160
Finland	8,050
Cook Islands	7,930
Slovakia	6,860
Eritrea	6,830
Slovenia	5,510
Ecuador	5,380
Uganda	5,360
Tanzania	5,090
Sierra Leone	4,260
Norway	4,250
Albania	4,170
Estonia	3,960
Bulgaria	3,930
Liberia	3,720
Brunei	3,560
Burundi	3,450
Latvia	3,380
Lithuania	3,280
Macau	3,250
Palestine	3,120
Qatar	3,040
Morocco	2,930
Kazakhstan	2,910
Libya	2,810
Seychelles	2,680
Uzbekistan	2,670
Belarus	2,610
Republic of the Congo	2,560
Bahrain	2,520
Oman	2,250
Kiribati	2,210
Malawi	2,040
Namibia	1,970
Botswana	1,930
Trinidad and Tobago	1,890
Kosovo	1,800
Algeria	1,740
Montenegro	1,720
New Caledonia	1,690
Moldova	1,530
Armenia	1,510
Rwanda	1,500
Jersey	1,490
Yemen	1,390
Jamaica	1,350
Bolivia	1,310
Guinea	1,150
Mozambique	1,100
Cuba	1,050
Niue	1,000
Isle of Man	930
Georgia (country)	920
Nauru	910
Nicaragua	900
Guatemala	880
Guernsey	860
Azerbaijan	850
Tunisia	840
Maldives	800
Kyrgyzstan	770
Cameroon	750
Paraguay	710
Costa Rica	700
Ivory Coast	690
Norfolk Island	620
Bermuda	620
Tokelau	610
Guyana	580
Angola	580
French Polynesia	540
Honduras	540
American Samoa	530
Senegal	500
Tuvalu	470
Gibraltar	460
Barbados	430
Iceland	420
Madagascar	380
Eswatini	380
Panama	370
Dominican Republic	350
Togo	350
Luxembourg	330
Bahamas	310
Central African Republic	270
Tajikistan	250
Puerto Rico	240
Réunion	230
Djibouti	210
Cayman Islands	200
Lesotho	180
Turkmenistan	170
Suriname	160
Curaçao	160
Haiti	150
Gambia	150
Guam	140
Grenada	140
Chad	140
Monaco	110
Benin	100
Falkland Islands	90
Belize	80
Aruba	80
Saint Lucia	80
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	70
Burkina Faso	70
Antigua and Barbuda	60
Gabon	60
Mali	60
Marshall Islands	50
North Korea	50
Martinique	50
Saint Kitts and Nevis	50
Cape Verde	50
Mauritania	50
Dominica	40
Guadeloupe	40
Saint Helena	40
Northern Mariana Islands	30
Palau	30
Greenland	30
Andorra	30
French Guiana	30
Guinea-Bissau	30
Niger	30
Comoros	30
Micronesia	20
Faroe Islands	20
British Virgin Islands	20
United States Virgin Islands	20
Equatorial Guinea	20
São Tomé and Príncipe	20
Wallis and Futuna	10
Liechtenstein	10
Åland Islands	10
San Marino	10
Western Sahara	10
Montserrat	10
Sint Maarten	10

1. Only countries with 100,000 or more are listed here.
2. The Australian Bureau of Statistics source lists England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately although they are all part of the United Kingdom. These should not be combined as they are not combined in the source.
3. In accordance with the Australian Bureau of Statistics source, Mainland China, Taiwan and the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are listed separately.

Historical populations by country of birth

The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 100 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2001 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	13,629,685	14,072,946	15,017,846	15,614,834	17,019,815	20.9%
2	England	847,365	856,939	911,593	907,568	927,490	8.2%
3	India	95,452	147,106	295,362	455,385	673,352	357.7%	4
4	mainland China	142,780	206,588	318,969	509,558	549,618	166.0%
5	New Zealand	355,765	389,465	483,398	518,462	530,492	36.2%	2
6	Philippines	103,942	120,540	171,233	232,391	293,892	143.8%	3
7	Vietnam	154,831	159,850	185,039	219,351	257,997	61.4%	1
8	South Africa	79,425	104,132	145,683	162,450	189,207	81.7%	4
9	Malaysia	78,858	92,335	116,196	138,363	165,616	79.4%	4
10	Italy	218,718	199,124	185,402	174,042	163,326	18.0%	5
11	Sri Lanka	53,461	62,256	86,412	109,850	131,904	111.9%	6
12	Nepal		4,566	24,635	54,757	122,506	2583.0%	69
13	Scotland	137,252	130,206	133,432	119,416	118,496	5.0%	9
14	South Korea	38,900	52,763	74,538	98,775	102,092	93.5%	5
15	United States	53,694	61,721	77,009	86,126	101,309	64.1%	3
16	Germany	108,220	106,524	108,002	102,594	101,255	4.9%	5
17	Hong Kong	67,122	71,803	74,955	86,886	100,148	39.5%	1
18	Iraq	24,832	32,520	48,169	67,353	92,922	185.7%	11
19	Greece	116,431	109,990	99,938	93,740	92,314	16.1%	9
20	Pakistan		16,993	30,221	61,918	89,633	427.5%	30
21	Lebanon	71,349	74,849	76,450	78,649	87,340	16.7%	6
22	Indonesia	47,158	50,974	63,159	73,218	87,075	70.8%
23	Thailand	23,600	30,554	45,464	66,228	83,779	174.2%	9
24	Ireland	50,235	50,256	67,318	74,891	80,927	61.0%	1
25	Iran		22,549	34,454	58,112	70,899	214.4%	15
26	Fiji	44,261	48,142	56,978	61,472	68,947	43.2%	2
27	Netherlands	83,324	78,924	76,046	70,172	66,481	15.8%	13
28	Singapore	33,485	39,972	48,647	54,934	61,056	52.7%	1
29	Afghanistan		16,751	28,598	46,799	59,797	257.0%	22
30	Bangladesh		16,096	27,808	42,420	51,491	219.9%	22
31	Canada	27,289	31,614	38,871	43,053	50,223	58.9%	1
32	Taiwan		24,370	28,627	46,822	49,511	103.2%	5
33	Brazil		7,493	14,508	27,625	46,720	523.5%	38
34	Poland	58,110	52,254	48,677	45,370	45,884	12.2%	14
35	Japan		30,778	35,377	42,420	45,267	47.1%	4
36	Croatia	51,909	50,996	48,828	43,687	43,302	15.1%	15
37	Egypt		33,496	36,532	39,776	43,213	29.0%	9
38	North Macedonia	43,527	40,656	40,222	38,986	41,786	2.8%	12
39	Zimbabwe		20,155	30,251	34,789	39,714	97.0%	4
40	Myanmar		12,378	21,760	32,656	39,171	216.5%	18
41	Cambodia		24,528	28,329	33,152	39,043	59.2%	5
42	Turkey	29,821	30,490	32,844	32,183	38,568	26.5%	9
43	France	17,268	19,186	24,675	31,120	36,019	87.7%	1
44	Malta	46,998	43,700	41,274	37,609	35,413	19.0%	19
45	Colombia		5,709	11,317	18,991	35,033	513.6%	31
46	Papua New Guinea		24,021	26,787	28,803	29,984	24.8%	8
47	Chile		23,304	24,936	26,082	29,860	28.1%	8
48	Wales		25,313	28,675	28,046	29,250	15.6%	14
49	Syria		6,968	8,391	15,324	29,096	317.6%	24
50	Samoa		15,240	19,092	24,016	28,107	84.4%	4
51	Bosnia and Herzegovina		24,631	25,682	23,959	26,171	6.3%	16
52	Mauritius		18,173	23,279	24,324	25,981	43.0%	5
53	Serbia		17,327	20,205	20,267	25,454	46.9%	4
54	Russia		15,354	18,277	20,429	23,864	55.4%	1
55	Northern Ireland		21,296	22,596	23,020	22,995	8.0%	14
56	Kenya		9,935	13,831	17,654	22,348	124.9%	6
57	Argentina		11,368	11,985	13,343	17,977	58.1%	3
58	Spain		12,276	13,056	15,391	17,281	40.8%	1
59	Portugal		15,194	15,328	15,806	17,050	12.2%	4
60	Cyprus		18,383	18,070	16,936	16,737	9.0%	14
61	Hungary		20,161	19,091	17,899	16,655	17.4%	19
62	Sudan		19,049	19,370	17,029	16,609	12.8%	17
63	Romania		13,878	14,050	14,387	15,268	10.0%	7
64	Austria		17,927	17,010	15,390	14,403	19.7%	16
65	Ethiopia		5,634	8,452	11,791	14,092	150.1%	12
66	Ukraine		13,666	13,990	13,366	14,055	2.8%	9
67	United Arab Emirates		2,974	4,898	8,226	13,063	339.2%	22
68	Switzerland		11,261	11,942	12,128	13,017	15.6%	7
69	Nigeria		2,500	4,519	8,487	12,883	415.3%	25
70	Tonga		7,582	9,209	9,967	12,260	61.7%	1
71	Bhutan		139	2,455	5,953	12,002	8534.5%	97
72	Saudi Arabia		3,482	10,517	12,578	11,684	235.6%	14
73	Peru		6,322	8,440	9,554	11,531	82.4%	1
74	Israel		7,788	9,228	9,820	11,035	41.7%	6
75	Laos		9,375	9,932	10,401	10,948	16.8%	10
76	Sweden		7,499	8,353	9,554	10,847	44.6%	6
77	El Salvador		9,397	9,651	9,573	10,119	7.7%	14
78	Timor-Leste	0	0	9,225	9,242	9,761	N/A	119
79	Uruguay		9,381	9,237	8,992	9,205	1.9%	15
80	Denmark		8,967	9,026	8,790	8,874	1.0%	14
81	South Sudan	0	0	3,486	7,697	8,255	NA	116
82	Somalia		4,314	5,686	7,668	8,101	87.8%
83	Jordan		3,719	4,620	5,914	7,959	114.0%	1
84	Finland		7,947	7,939	7,711	7,831	1.5%	17
85	Czech Republic		7,179	7,438	7,705	7,776	8.3%	13
86	Belgium		5,061	5,762	6,377	7,203	42.3%	7
87	Cook Islands		5,027	6,091	6,830	7,112	41.5%	7
88	Zambia		4,078	5,537	6,237	6,847	67.9%	5
89	Mexico		1,802	3,255	4,871	6,845	279.9%	13
90	Kuwait		2,876	4,060	6,016	6,815	137.0%
91	Venezuela		1,539	3,404	5,460	6,627	330.6%	13
92	Ghana		2,769	3,866	5,283	6,322	128.3%	1
93	DR Congo		618	2,575	4,095	6,148	894.8%	38
94	Eritrea		2,015	2,841	4,301	5,629	179.4%	4
95	Mongolia		243	667	2,274	5,397	2121.0%	60
96	Slovenia		6,220	6,099	5,556	5,076	18.4%	21
97	Slovakia		3,323	3,939	4,428	4,781	43.9%	10
98	Tanzania		2,300	3,437	3,831	4,371	90.0%	2
99	Uganda		1,712	2,675	3,368	4,163	143.2%	4
100	Bulgaria		2,677	2,915	3,287	3,718	38.9%	8

Foreign-born population by state/territory

As per the 2016 Census, while 6 out of every 10 migrants live in Victoria or New South Wales, there had been a noticeable increase in the number of migrants that settled down Western Australia and Queensland.

In 2016, among all the capital cities in Australia, Sydney – at 1,773,496 – had the highest overseas-born population. Melbourne, on the other hand, had 1,520,253 overseas-born individuals living in the city as per the 2016 Census. Perth, with 702,545 in 2016, came in at the third spot on the list of cities with the highest number of overseas-born population.2

According to the 2016 Census, among all the Australian states and territories, Western Australia had the largest population of overseas-born individuals.

New South Wales

The following table shows New South Wales' population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	4,521,157	4,747,374	4,899,091	5,277,497	16.7%
2	mainland China	114,044	156,034	234,506	247,595	117.1%	1
3	England	218,837	227,521	226,561	231,385	5.7%	1
4	India	57,155	95,387	143,459	208,962	265.6%	3
5	New Zealand	106,614	114,230	117,138	118,527	11.2%	1
6	Philippines	57,719	70,388	86,752	106,930	85.3%
7	Vietnam	63,791	71,838	84,129	97,995	53.6%	2
8	Nepal	3,095	15,296	32,122	64,946	2000.0%	62
9	Lebanon	55,778	56,295	57,375	63,293	13.5%	1
10	Iraq	20,531	29,342	40,276	55,353	169.6%	10

Victoria

The following table shows Victoria's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	3,434,472	3,670,934	3,845,494	4,228,667	23.1%
2	India	52,852	111,787	169,808	258,193	388.5%	7
3	England	163,957	172,068	171,444	174,552	6.5%	1
4	mainland China	56,564	93,896	160,652	171,447	203.1%	2
5	New Zealand	63,995	80,234	93,254	99,344	55.2%	1
6	Vietnam	58,873	68,296	80,790	93,598	59.0%	1
7	Philippines	27,338	38,002	51,287	68,463	150.4%	6
8	Sri Lanka	31,480	43,991	55,833	68,066	116.2%	1
9	Italy	82,851	76,908	70,530	64,796	21.8%	6
10	Malaysia	30,474	39,790	50,048	62,662	105.6%

Queensland

The following table shows Queensland's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	2,935,258	3,192,114	3,343,659	3,679,899	25.4%
2	New Zealand	148,761	192,036	201,202	208,572	40.2%	1
3	England	161,421	179,495	180,775	191,731	18.8%	1
4	India	10,973	30,259	49,144	71,819	554.4%	10
5	mainland China	15,058	27,036	47,111	55,762	270.3%	4
6	Philippines	18,711	29,462	39,656	51,529	175.4%	1
7	South Africa	22,714	35,549	40,133	49,699	118.8%	3
8	Vietnam	13,086	16,269	19,547	24,455	86.9%	3
9	Scotland	22,446	24,057	21,881	22,756	1.4%	4
10	Germany	20,111	21,027	20,387	20,981	4.3%	4

South Australia

The following table shows South Australia's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	1,120,083	1,170,789	1,192,549	1,273,353	13.7%
2	England	101,497	102,681	97,392	95,248	6.2%
3	India	6,827	18,739	27,592	44,881	557.4%	8
4	mainland China	8,076	15,932	24,609	25,709	218.4%	5
5	Vietnam	10,546	12,025	14,338	17,033	61.6%	3
6	Italy	22,485	20,708	18,537	16,653	25.9%	3
7	Philippines	5,441	8,858	12,460	15,503	184.9%	7
8	New Zealand	11,364	12,848	12,933	13,461	18.5%	2
9	Scotland	14,291	13,902	11,991	11,470	19.7%	5
10	Germany	11,969	11,410	10,118	9,489	20.7%	5

Western Australia

The following table shows Western Australia's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	1,279,222	1,407,808	1,492,841	1,648,794	28.9%
2	England	174,191	191,932	194,164	196,885	13.0%
3	New Zealand	47,331	70,734	79,222	75,591	59.7%
4	India	15,156	29,915	49,384	61,088	303.2%	4
5	South Africa	22,050	35,326	41,008	44,889	103.6%
6	Philippines	6,831	17,231	30,835	37,524	449.3%	10
7	Malaysia	19,719	24,967	29,124	32,282	63.7%
8	mainland China	8,004	16,692	27,077	28,415	255.0%	6
9	Scotland	24,418	27,185	26,059	26,146	7.1%	5
10	Italy	20,934	19,477	19,204	18,175	13.2%	4

Tasmania

The following table shows Tasmania's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	396,659	414,260	411,490	440,809	11.1%
2	England	18,921	19,468	18,778	19,283	1.9%
3	mainland China	962	1,914	3,031	6,830	610.0%	7
4	Nepal	21	294	810	6,219	29,514.3%	90
5	India	804	1,468	1,980	6,137	663.3%	8
6	New Zealand	4,158	4,927	4,980	5,483	31.9%	3
7	Philippines	960	1,267	1,616	2,441	154.3%	4
8	Scotland	2,693	2,715	2,283	2,280	15.3%	4
9	Netherlands	2,435	2,376	2,196	2,136	12.3%	4
10	South Africa	1,069	1,512	1,521	2,089	95.4%	2

Australian Capital Territory

The following table shows the ACT's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	236,459	255,052	270,036	306,896	29.8%
2	India	2,738	5,887	10,414	17,203	528.2%	3
3	England	12,995	13,048	12,758	13,245	1.9%	1
4	mainland China	3,544	6,591	11,348	12,149	242.7%
5	Nepal	69	287	766	5,689	8,145.0%	81
6	New Zealand	3,915	4,386	4,728	5,122	30.9%	3
7	Philippines	1,663	2,422	3,797	5,058	204.1%	5
8	Vietnam	2,371	2,956	3,336	4,082	72.1%	2
9	United States	1,985	2,416	2,776	3,371	69.8%	1
10	Sri Lanka	1,608	2,268	2,775	3,304	105.5%	3

Northern Territory

The following table shows the NT's population by country of birth during historical census years. The top 10 countries are shown.

Rank	Place of birth	Estimated resident population, 2006 census[2]	Estimated resident population, 2011 census [5]	Estimated resident population, 2016 census[6]	Estimated resident population, 2021 census[7]	% Change 2006-2021	Rank movement 2006-2021
1	Australia	148,169	158,033	157,524	161,568	9.0%
2	Philippines	1,871	3,586	5,912	6,391	241.6%	2
3	England	5,082	5,322	5,584	5,053	0.6%	1
4	India	587	1,917	3,595	5,045	759.2%	8
5	New Zealand	3,295	3,968	4,635	4,041	22.6%	2
6	Nepal	30	350	1,126	2,994	9,880.0%	61
7	mainland China	325	865	1,196	1,705	424.6%	12
8	Indonesia	764	999	1,119	1,439	88.4%	2
9	Vietnam	556	670	935	1,350	142.8%	5
10	Sri Lanka	271	447	777	1,259	364.9%	13

See also

• Australia portal

• Visa policy of Australia
• Demography of Australia
• Department of Immigration and Border Protection
• Immigration to Australia
• Post war immigration to Australia
• Multiculturalism in Australia
• Asylum in Australia