How old are the overseas born? Most overseas born residents in the ACT are young with 53.3 per cent aged less than 45 years and 16.6 per cent aged 65 years or more. European-born residents tend to be older with 73.7 per cent aged over 45 years and more than 11,000 people aged 65 years or more. In contrast, Asian-born residents are generally younger, with 70.2 per cent of ACT residents born in Asian countries aged less than 45 years. Over two-thirds of residents born in North Africa and the Middle East (69.4 per cent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (67.5 per cent) were also aged less than 45 years.

The overseas born population of the ACT

2011 Census fact sheets

Issue #5 September 2012

Nearly one in every five residents of the ACT was born overseas.

When did people arrive? Almost one-quarter (86,324 people or

24.2 per cent) of ACT usual residents were born overseas. Over half (58.7 per cent) of these people have lived in Australia for at least 15 years. European birthplaces (54.4 per cent) dominate for these longer-term residents with only 25.8 per cent born in Asian countries.

Nearly one-quarter (23.8 per cent) of overseas born residents of the ACT arrived in Australia since 2005 (19,758 people), with 2009 the peak year. In every year, Asian-born people represented more than half of overseas born ACT residents who arrived during this period.

Recent arrivals from both New Zealand and Northern America peaked in 2010, with numbers in 2011 (to 9 August) also strong.

What are the main countries of birth? England (15.1 per cent of

overseas born residents) is the most common birthplace for overseas born residents of the ACT, followed by China (7.6 per cent), India (6.8 per cent), New Zealand (5.1 per cent) and Vietnam (3.4 per cent). There were in excess of 1,000 ACT residents from 22 different countries. Countries that are the birthplaces of at least 1,500 ACT residents are shown below.

All data on this factsheet is sourced from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing, available for

analysis from the ABS website (see www.abs.gov.au)

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

0-4 5-14 15-24 25-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85 years

Overseas born residents by age, ACT, 2011

Ancestry More than four out of every ten

residents (44.0 per cent) of the ACT had either their Mother, Father or both parents born overseas. The most common ancestry (after Australian) was English (24.1 per cent of responses), followed by Irish (9.2 per cent) and Scottish (7.2 per cent). Other ancestries are shown in the graph below.

13,051

6,591

5,886

4,389

2,954

2,424

2,413

2,332

2,265

2,206

2,167

2,034

1,631

1,560

0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000

England

China

India

New Zealand

Vietnam

Philippines

United States of America

Germany

Sri Lanka

Malaysia

Scotland

Italy

South Africa

South Korea

Country of birth of ACT residents, 2011

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

Country of birth for overseas born residents who arrived in Australia before 1997, ACT, 2011

Note: 2011 is up to 9 August only

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Overseas born residents who arrived in Australia 2006-2011, ACT, 2011

15,533

14,943

11,634

8,059

6,420

4,558

4,509

4,090

4,034

3,320

2,671

2,594

2,243

2,141

0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000

German

Chinese

Italian

Indian

Dutch

Greek

Croatian

Vietnamese

Polish

Filipino

New Zealander

Welsh

Spanish

French

Other common ancestries, ACT, 2011

Europe compared with Western Europe. Twice as many people born in North-East Asia are aged between 15 and 24 years as from other parts of Asia, while over half of people born in Southern and Central Asia were aged between 25-44 years.

What languages are spoken in the ACT?

Of the 64,673 people who spoke a language other than English at home, 87.0 per cent spoke English ‘very well’ or ‘well’. However, English proficiency for 7,667 people or 11.9 per cent was rated as ‘not well’ or ‘not at all’. The main languages spoken by this group were Mandarin (915 people), Vietnamese (802 people) and Cantonese (609 people). Mandarin was also the most common language spoken by all people speaking a language other than English at home. Cantonese followed closely meaning that there were nearly 11,000 Chinese language speakers resident in the ACT. Other popular languages were Vietnamese (3,787 people), Italian (3,312 people), Spanish (2,924 people), Greek (2,777 people), Arabic (2,420 people), Croatian (2,402 people) and Hindi (2,314 people).

Age structure of the overseas born There were very similar numbers of people born in Europe compared to those born in Asia resident in the ACT. However, people born in Europe tend to have larger proportions in the older age groups than do people born in Asia. Ageing is more pronounced among those born in Southern and Eastern

What are the growth areas for overseas born people counted in the ACT?

Over the decade to 2011, the fastest increase in overseas born people counted in the ACT was for people born in Iraq (up 300 per cent) from 80 people in 2001, to 320 people in 2011. Next fastest growth was for people born in India (up from 1,814 people to 5,927 people by 2011) and people born in China (up from 2,045 people to reach 6,585 people by 2011). The number of people born in South Korea also increased rapidly, from 647 people in 2001 to 1,556 people in 2011. While numbers of people from 10 birthplaces declined over the decade, including 953 fewer people from the United Kingdom, large increases in the numbers of people from other areas occurred. These included the already mentioned China and India, but also an increase of 1,018 people born in the Philippines, 909 extra people born in South Korea, 860 people from Sri Lanka, 772 people from Vietnam, 728 people from South Africa and more than 500 extra people from both the United States of America and Malaysia. Over the decade to 2011, there was an increase of 2,453 people who spoke a language other than English at home and spoke English not well or not at all. The increase of 1,257 people aged less than 15 years in this category accounted for more than half the total growth.

This data refers to the enumerated rather than resident population.

More details… 2011 Census fact sheets

Issue #5 June 2012

Classifications

1. The country of birth of a person is coded using the Standard Australian Classification of Countries, Second Edition, Revision 1. New for the 2011 Census is information on the birthplace of a person’s mother and father.

2. Ancestry is coded using the Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups, Second Edition, Revision 1. Respondents were asked to report up to two ancestries.

3. Language spoken at home is classified using the Australian Standard Classification of languages, Second Edition, Revision 1.

4. A new variable for Year of arrival in Australia (ranges) is available for the 2011 Census data.

5. See ABS, Census Dictionary, Catalogue Number 2901.0 for more information.

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the Territory Records Office, Community and Infrastructure Services, Territory and Municipal Services, ACT Government. GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601.

Assistance from Data and Research, Community Services Directorate in compiling this fact sheet is gratefully acknowledged. Enquiries about this publication should be directed to: Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate ACT Government actdemography@act.gov.au

http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/policystrategic/actstats

© Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2012

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Perc

ent o

f tot

al p

opul

atio

n

Age structure by region of birth, ACT residents, 2011

Australian born European-born Asian-born