On 19 June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced the results of the population census, conducted on August 9, 2011. The nation’s population increased from 19,855,287 in 2006 to 21,507,717 on census night, an increase of 8.3%.
The
median age of Australians is now 37 years (35 years in 2006), with 24.6% born
overseas (21.9% in 2006), 69.8% born in Australia (72.6% in 2006) with 76.8%
speaking English at home (80% in 2006). People over 60 years increased, but
there was also a rapid growth in the late 20s age range, due to high levels of
immigration. In addition, the number of under-five-year-olds also increased due
to higher birth rates in recent years. The percentages of women with three
children decreased across all age groups, and percentages of women with four
children also decreased reflecting a trend to postpone starting a family and to
have smaller families than in previous years.
There
are 548,370 Torres Strait Islanders which is 2.5% of the
Australian population, and an increase from 2006 figures. The median age of Torres Strait Islanders is 21 years, which is 16 years less than
the national median of 37 years. The census revealed that 32.9% of the
indigenous population live in capital cities, with more than half (59.9%) living
in the eastern states of Queensland and New South Wales.
The
census revealed that almost a quarter of the population (24.6%) was born
overseas and 43.1% of people have at least one overseas-born parent. United
Kingdom was the leading country of birth (20.8%), followed by New Zealand
(9.1%), China (6.0%), and India (5.6%). The largest increase was the
Indian-born population accounting for 13% of arrivals between 2006 and 2011,
which was 1% more than the Brits. The largest decrease was of Italian-born and
Greece-born populations. However, with the recent economic challenges, there
has been anecdotally renewed interest of Greeks moving to Australia.
More
than 300 languages are spoken in Australia, according to the 2011 census.
English remained the dominant language in Australia (76.8% reported it as the
only language spoken in the household – a decrease by 1.7% on 2006 statistics),
but 11% don’t speak English at all. The most commonly spoken languages, other
than English, included Mandarin (1.6%), Italian (1.4%), Arabic (1.3%),
Cantonese (1.2%), and Greek (1.2%). Recent migrants who arrived since 2006
reported that 33.5% of them spoke English only within the household, while
54.1% said they spoke English and another language.
People
recording “no religion” increased significantly from 18.7% of the population in
2006 to 22.3% in 2011, particularly with 15-34 year olds. While Christianity
remained the most common religion in Australia (Anglicans and Catholics) at
61.1% (down by 2.8% in 2006), the other common non-Christian religions were
Buddhism (2.5%), Islam (2.2%), and Hinduism (1.3%). Hinduism reported the
fastest growth of all religions.
In
the past five years, Australians populated the northern and western states.
Western Australia increased its population by 14.3% and Queensland, the
Sunshine State, grew by 11%. Home ownership continues to decline, but only
gradually. Sydney house prices increased by 25% between 2006 and 2011 and a
small number of Sydney-siders departed the capital.
Read more about the Census at www.abs.gov.au.
MARTINA NICOLLS
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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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