On 30 March 2017, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures released the proportion of Australians born overseas continues to reach new heights, with over 28% of Australia’s population born overseas.

Over the past 10 years, the number of Australian residents born overseas has continued to increase, in particular those born in India and China have both more than doubled in this time.

In contrast, Australian residents born in Germany have had almost zero growth and those born in Italy have seen more than a 10 per cent drop.

The number of Australian residents born in neighboring Asian countries had the largest growth in the past year, including Japan (24 per cent), China (8 per cent), Malaysia (7 per cent) and India (6 per cent).

Change in Australia’s migrant mix is particularly evident in the median age of certain groups. Migrants born in Germany had a median age increase from 58.8 in 2006 to 64.1 in 2016 indicating the ageing of this migrant group. In contrast, migrants from China had a reduction in median age from 38.7 in 2006 to 34.7 in 2016.

Net Overseas Migration for 2015-16 recorded an annual estimate increase of 182,200 persons from the previous year, 3 per cent (5,300 persons) more than in 2014-15. At state level the largest net gains were in New South Wales with 71,200, Victoria with 65,000 and Queensland with 20,000.

In the Net Interstate Migration figures for 2015-16, Victoria continues to have the largest gains, increasing to 16,700 compared with 10,200 from the previous year. Queensland had the second highest net gain from interstate migration with 11,600. New South Wales once again recorded the largest net loss in 2015-16 (-11,300), however this is a significant reduction from the net loss of 25,600 in 2005-06.

More information can be found in Migration, Australia, 2015-16 (cat. no. 3412.0), available for free download from http://www.abs.gov.au/.

Source: Over 28 per cent of Australians born overseas.