Ethnicity in Australia

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. A few of them came from Africa

Official data

Although the Australian Bureau of Statistics does not collect data on race or ethnicity, each census asks Australian residents to indicate up to two ancestries. These ancestry responses are categorised into broad standardised ancestry groups. Immigration minister Andrew Giles has promised to include a question on ethnicity in the 2026 Australian census.

Ancestral groups

At the 2021 census, the ancestry responses categorised as European were 57.2% (46% North-West European and 11.2% Southern and Eastern European), Asian ancestral groups were 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 were 3.2%, Peoples of the Americas were 1.4% and Sub-Saharan African groups were 1.3%. Also at the 2021 census, 3.2% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of Indigenous Australians, with 26.3% identifying as Indigenous.

The proportion of ancestry responses categorised within Oceanian ancestry groups is 33.8% of the total population. 29.9% are in the "Australian" ancestry group. Most of them are at least partially Anglo-Celtic or other European ancestry. The population of European descent was estimated at 72% or 76% in 2018.