Facts & Figures
• Indigenous peoples have been living in Australia for some 50,000 years, scientists believe. All other Australians (about 97 per cent) have been settlers or their descendants for more than 200 years.

• Since the end of World War II, more than 600,000 people have arrived under humanitarian programs, as displaced persons and refugees – about 10 per cent of our total migrant numbers.

•  During the 1990s Australia received 900,000 migrants and in 2000-03 more than 93,900 people arrived to settle in Australia. In addition, Australia is one of only a few countries that operate a dedicated offshore resettlement program, which accepts the world’s most needy and desperate people. The program makes available 12,000 new places for refugee and humanitarian entrants each year.

•  As of the 2001 Census the Australian population consisted of 18,769,074 people. Of this population:
– 23 per cent were born overseas
– 43 per cent of the Australian population were either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas
– People from around 200 countries have made Australia their home
– Over 200 languages are spoken in Australia, with the most commonly spoken languages being English, Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic, Vietnamese and Mandarin
– The top religions were Christianity – 12,763,880; Buddhism – 357,814; Islam – 281,586; Hinduism – 95,448; Judaism – 83,990. (p.3)
– People aged five years and over who spoke only English at home totalled 14,041,091.

•  At the 2001 Census, the estimated take-up rate of Australian citizenship for the overseas-born was 75.1 per cent.

• Since planned post-war migration started:
– about 3.2 million males, and 2.9 million females have arrived in Australia;
– more than 599,000 people have arrived under humanitarian programs, initially as displaced persons and more recently as refugees
– the population has risen from about seven million to nearly 20 million.

•The 2001 Census showed the composition of people in Australia, who were born overseas as follows: UK and Ireland 26 per cent, Europe (excluding UK and Ireland) 26 per cent, North Africa and the Middle East 12 per cent, Asia 12 per cent, Oceania 11 per cent, the Americas 4 per cent and Sub-Saharan Africa 3.5 per cent.

• Natural increase has been the main source of population growth over the past hundred years, contributing two-thirds of the increase in population between 1901 and 2001.

• Immigration’s contribution to population growth is likely to increase during the next 30 years as the ageing of Australia’s population leads to the annual number of deaths exceeding births. It is possible that sometime in the 2030s, immigration may become the only source of growth in population.

• At the end of World War II, Australia’s population was just over 7 million, with around 90 per cent born in Australia. Today, the population is 20 million, with slightly more than 75 per cent born in Australia.

•  According to the 2001 Census 410,003 people or 2.2% of the Australian population identified as being of Indigenous origin. This represents an increase of 16% since 1996.

•  The 2001 Census showed that 25% of persons born in Australia had at least one overseas-born parent; that is, they were second generation Australians.

• Of Australian-born children with at least one overseas-born parent 44% had both parents born overseas, 34% had their father born overseas and 22% their mother born overseas. The variety and size of second generation populations reflect past migration and intermarriage patterns.

• The 2001 Census indicated that 2.8 million people (16% of the population) spoke a language other than English at home, which represents an increase of 213,100 people or 8% since 1996.

• In 2001 the five most commonly spoken languages other than English were Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic (including Lebanese) and Vietnamese, with speakers of these languages together comprising 7% of the total population.

• Around 88% of all people aged under 25 years who spoke a language other than English at home spoke English well or very well, compared with 60% of those aged 65 years and over.

• Figures for ancestry show more than 6 million Australians claiming to be of English descent and nearly 2 million of Irish. Just under 7 million claim Australian ancestry. Most of those would be of British or Irish descent as well. This means that almost three out of four Australians are of British and Irish origin, including many from New Zealand, South Africa and other English-speaking countries.

•  The most noticeable change is our population of non-Europeans. This includes 500,000 Chinese and a further 800,000 Asians and Africans. This still leaves at least 4 million of continental European and Middle Eastern origins. Many of these settled before 1964 or are children of those who did, the largest numbers being Italian, German, Greek, Dutch, Maltese and Lebanese.

•  Compared with the ethnic variety of the US, Canada, France, Germany or Britain these are not exceptional totals. Compared with the enormous variety of India or our nearest neighbour, Papua New Guinea, Australia is still dominated, as before, by a large majority from a single origin.

• In the past two decades, the proportion of people marrying outside their ancestry has increased between the first and third generations in every racial and language group in Australia other than the English.