Ethnicity in Australia
The English used in this article or section may not be easy for everybody to understand. (August 2023) |
This article needs to be wikified. (August 2023) |
The people of Australia have diverse ethnic origins. The territory of what today is Australia was first inhabited by numerous indigenous peoples. The first European settlers came during the period of British colonization, beginning in the 16th century. Following independence from United Kingdom in the 20th century, numerous migration waves took place, most of these migrants came from Europe and Asia, small of them also came from Africa.
The largest ancestral groups in Australia are English Australians, Irish Australians, Scottish Australians, Chinese Australians, Italian Australians, German Australians, Indian Australians, Aboriginal Australians,[N 1] Greek Australians, Filipino Australians, Dutch Australians, Vietnamese Australians, Lebanese Australians and various others.
Official data change
Although the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) does not collect data on race or ethnicity, each census asks Australian residents to indicate up to two ancestries, and these ancestry responses are categorised into broad standardised ancestry groups.[1][2] Immigration minister Andrew Giles has promised to include a question on ethnicity in the 2026 Australian census.[3]
Ancestral groups change
At the 2021 census, the ancestry responses categorised within European ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted 57.2% (46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European), Asian ancestral groups amounted 17.4% (6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian and 4.5% South-East Asian), North African and Middle Eastern groups amounted 3.2%, Peoples of the Americas amounted 1.4% and Sub-Saharan African groups amounted 1.3%.[4] Also at the 2021 census, 3.2% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.[N 2][5][6] The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Indigenous Australians, with 26.3% of the population identifying as beign Indigenous.[7]
The proportion of ancestry responses categorised within Oceanian ancestry groups is 33.8% of the total population, although of which 29.9% are within the "Australian" ancestry group, which most of them are at least partial to be of Anglo-Celtic or other European ancestry.[8][9] Regardless of the census, the population of European descent was estimated at 72% or 76%.[10][11]
References change
- ↑ "Understanding and using Ancestry data". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 28 June 2022.
- ↑ "Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG), 2019". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 18 December 2019.
- ↑ "'If you're not counted, you don't know that you exist': Federal government to collect data on Australians' ethnicity". ABC News. 16 June 2022.
- ↑ "Australian Bureau of Statistics : Census of Population and Housing: Cultural diversity data summary, 2021" (XLSX). Abs.gov.au. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ↑ "2021 Australia, Census All persons QuickStats". Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- ↑ "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: Census". Australian Bureau of Statistics. June 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
- ↑ "Northern Territory: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population summary". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 1 June 2022. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
- ↑ "Feature Article – Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Australia (Feature Article)". 1301.0 – Year Book Australia, 1995. Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
- ↑ "Australian Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic Groups (ASCCEG), 2019 | Australian Bureau of Statistics". 18 December 2019.
- ↑ "Leading for Change A blueprint for cultural diversity and inclusive leadership revisited" (PDF). humanrights.gov.au. April 2018. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
- ↑ Groutsis, Dimitria; Martin, Lee; Lattouf, Antoinette; Soutphommasane, TIm; Lumby, Catharine; Young, Nareen; Crawford, Joanne; Robertson, Adam (2022). "Who Gets to Tell Australian Stories?" (PDF). mediadiversityaustralia.org. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
Notes change
- ↑ Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, they have a broadly shared, complex genetic history, but only in the last 200 years were they defined as, and started to self-identify as, a single group.
- ↑ Indigenous identification is separate to the ancestry question on the Australian Census and persons identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander may identify any ancestry.