More than 7.5 million people living in Australia in 2019 were born overseas, with those born in England continuing to be the largest group, according to new data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
ABS Director of Migration Statistics Jenny Dobak said new figures showed that in 2019 just under 30 per cent of Australia’s resident population were born overseas.
“People born in England continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 986,000 people,” Ms Dobak said. “However, this has dropped from just over one million people recorded between 2012 and 2016.
“People born in Sri Lanka represented the tenth largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 140,000 people, and replacing Scotland in the top 10.”
The table below shows the 10 largest groups of overseas-born residents in 2019, and their proportion of Australia’s population.
Australia’s population by country of birth – 2019(a) | ||
| Country of birth(b) | ‘000 | %(c) |
| England | 986 | 3.9 |
| China | 677 | 2.7 |
| India | 660 | 2.6 |
| New Zealand | 570 | 2.2 |
| Philippines | 294 | 1.2 |
| Vietnam | 263 | 1.0 |
| South Africa | 194 | 0.8 |
| Italy | 183 | 0.7 |
| Malaysia | 176 | 0.7 |
| Sri Lanka | 140 | 0.6 |
| All overseas-born | 7 530 | 29.7 |
| Australia-born | 17 836 | 70.3 |
(a) Estimates are preliminary.
(b) Top 10 countries of birth for overseas-born are at 30 June 2019.
(c) Proportion of the total population of Australia.
In the year to 30 June 2019, 538,000 people arrived to live in Australia, while 298,000 people left Australia to live overseas.
Of those migrant arrivals, 64 per cent were temporary visa holders including 32 per cent who were international students.
There were 30,000 New Zealand citizens who moved to Australia to live however, in the same year, 22,000 New Zealanders left Australia to live overseas.
In addition, in 2018-19 there were 75,000 Australian citizens who returned to Australia after living overseas but in the same year there were nearly 87,000 who decided to emigrate.
