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Census 96: Countries of Birth of the Australian Population
Geoff Winter
Statistics Group
23 March 1998
Introduction
The 1996 Census schedule included questions about each person's country
of birth, the country of birth of their mother and the country of birth
of their father. The table overleaf shows data tabulated from the answers
to these questions. Countries of birth are not strictly an indication
of ethnicity but they are the most accurate statistical measure of cultural
diversity available. Other questions relating to ethnicity, such as religion
and languages spoken at home, were also asked. Data relating to these
questions are included in Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) publications
and other papers (see for example Census of Population and Housing,
Selected Social and Housing Characteristics, ABS 2015.0, and Census
96: Religion, Research Note No. 27, 1997-98).
Countries of Birth
Of the 242 overseas countries and territories separately listed by the
ABS, the Census showed that Australians were born in 229 of them. The
3 902 045 people recorded as born overseas represented 21.98
% of the total population. This figure is slightly lower than in 1991
when it was 22.29 %, after rising from 18.37 % in 1966 to 20.81 % in 1986.
However, currently it is still the highest foreign-born proportion of
the total population of any country in the world except Israel, considerably
higher than Canada and New Zealand, at around 15-16 %, and the USA, 8-9
% (but which had its great wave of immigration much earlier this century).
The table overleaf shows details for the current generation and their
parents, and shows that everyone's 'cultural background' may be determined
by reference to their own birthplace or the birthplaces of their mothers
and fathers. Thus it is possible to have two different 'ethnic' backgrounds
if parents were born in different countries. The table shows how much
of a country of migrants Australia is-only just over half of the population
have both parents born here. If the analysis could have been taken back
a further generation it would have almost certainly shown that well under
half of the current population have four Australian-born grandparents.
Figures in the table also reflect the changes in the mix of settlers
that have taken place, especially since the Second World War. Significantly
less than half of all the people with a European background were born
in Europe, whereas about three-quarters of people with an Asian background
were born in Asian countries. In 1966 the situation was (slightly) the
reverse for Europeans but not for Asians. The figures confirm that migration
from other regions has also increased proportionately at the expense of
European migration. The British still remain by far the biggest 'ethnic'
group, in terms of people born in Britain (although this proportion has
fallen from about 7.6 % in 1966 to about 6.0 % in 1996) and also those
of British background. Among others from English-speaking countries, New
Zealanders are the biggest group. Italians represent the biggest group
from non-English speaking countries with people from the various Chinese
'countries' (combined, and including Singapore) now the next largest.
Parents of the Australian-born
The extent of inter-partnering can also be gleaned from this table (the
double-counting which has been deducted from the total in each line represents
the cases of mothers and fathers from the same country being partnered
together). For example, almost no Canadian-born mothers and fathers (of
Australian-born people) and less than a quarter of New Zealand-born mothers
and fathers (of Australian-born people) were partnered with fellow Canadians
and New Zealanders respectively. This contrasts with over 80 per cent
of Vietnamese-born mothers and fathers (of Australian-born people) being
partnered with fellow Vietnamese. This variation is not merely a difference
between English speakers and non-English speakers-well under a third of
German-born parents are partnered with fellow Germans, with a similar
situation among parents from Austria and the Scandinavian countries.
In terms of inter-regional partnering, over one million, or more than
half, of European-born fathers are not partnered with European-born mothers,
and over 600 000, or almost 40 %, of European-born mothers are not
partnered with European-born fathers. This compares with Asian-born, and
Middle Eastern/North African-born mothers and fathers, more than two-thirds
of whom (in each case) are partnered with fellow Asian-born, and Middle
Eastern or North African-born people respectively.
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