India overtakes England as Australia’s top overseas country of birth
One country has come out on top as Australia has the largest group of people born overseas, narrowly beating out the UK.
New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that Indian-born residents now account for 971,020 of the 8.8 million people born overseas, while the UK-born population stands at 970,950.
The ABS said almost every country was represented in the birthplaces of Australia’s population last year.
Those born in India also saw the largest increase in the decade between 2015 and 2025, with more than 500,000 people.
Figures for the decade 2015-2025 showed that four countries (India, China, Philippines and Nepal) ranked among the top four birthplaces, with a combined population increase of more than one million.
In the same decade, four countries (Britain, Italy, Greece and Germany) lost a total of more than 100,000 people.
The earliest records from 1891 show that 32 percent of people were born abroad.
More than fifty years later, that figure had fallen to just 10 percent due to two World Wars and the Great Depression.
Migration flows have continued steadily over the last 20 years, with an average annual growth rate of three percent.
