Editor's Blog

“About 60 per cent of our population growth, roughly, is now coming from overseas, where as about 40 per cent is from the birth of young Australians,” says Assistant director of demography at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Neil Scott in a recent interview with SBS.

The complexion of the Australian population is starting to change with diminishing birth-rates as well as diminishing rates of migration from Australia’s traditional European sources.

The ABS statistics indicate that the rate of increase in migrants from New Zealand, China, India and South Africa are increasing rapidly.

“People born in the United Kingdom remained the largest group of migrants with over 1.2 million calling Australia home, followed by those from New Zealand (608,800), China (427,600) and India (369,700),” said a statement from the ABS

However, the number of migrants coming from the United Kingdom is slowing, but the numbers from New Zealand, China and India are increasing, the report noted.

Comparing across, the states, it was no surprise that Western Australia showed the highest proportion of migrants, with more than one-third of its population born overseas.

"As a whole, the United Kingdom leads the way in every state and territory as it does at the national level. But once you start looking at the next country of birth, the second place for each of the states and territories, at the Australia level you've got New Zealand. That's also the same for Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. But when you start looking at New South Wales and the ACT, it's China. For Victoria, India is in second place. But for South Australia, Italy is in second place," said Mr Scott.

The ABS says many people migrating to Australia now do so on temporary visas, like student or 457 visas before subsequently becoming permanent residents.

By Jerry Gomez, Migration Alliance Editor, RMA (MARN 0854080) & Lawyer.