Damon Mcknight
Australia is a multicultural nation with a diverse range of people and cultures. The majority of Australians live in metropolitan areas near the coastlines, with five cities having populations of over one million people. The country has a long history of immigration, with waves of settlers and immigrants contributing to its population growth over time. Today, Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants making up 30% of its residents, and the Indigenous population mostly living on the east coast.
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What You'll Learn
Population distribution
Australia is a multicultural nation with a large immigrant population. Most Australians live in metropolitan areas near coastlines, with five cities (including their suburbs) having populations of over one million people. The population has quadrupled since World War I, largely due to immigration. In recent years, Asia has been the largest source of immigrants.
Historically, between 1788 and World War II, the majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles, particularly England, Ireland, and Scotland. There was also significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. Following Federation in 1901, a "White Australia" policy was strengthened, restricting migration from these areas. However, this policy was relaxed after World War II, leading to a large wave of immigration from across Europe, particularly Southern and Eastern Europe.
The population distribution in Australia is uneven, with a higher population density in urban centres and along the coastlines. The states of New South Wales and Queensland on the east coast have a significant Indigenous population, with almost 60% of Indigenous Australians living in these two states, representing 2-5% of the states' populations. The Northern Territory has an Indigenous population of 61,115, which represents 26.3% of the territory's total population.
The fertility rate in Australia has been falling since the 1960s, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics projects that the natural increase in population will fall below zero by the mid-2030s due to low fertility rates and an aging population. Despite this, Australia remains a country with a diverse and dynamic population, shaped by its history of immigration and Indigenous culture.
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Immigration history
Australia's national identity has been shaped by immigration since 1788, when millions of people migrated to the country by sea. The reasons for immigration have remained consistent over the years: people seek a place to belong and call home, in search of fortune, opportunity, and freedom.
Before the First Fleet arrived in Australia, the continent was visited by voyagers from across the seas. Some stayed after experiencing shipwrecks, while others left. The newcomers arrived in waves, spurred on by rumours and hearsay, leading to events like the 1850s gold rushes. Others sought to escape adverse situations, like the social upheavals of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, or the effects of the reunification of Vietnam in the 1970s.
During the second half of the 19th century, several colonies funded the immigration of skilled immigrants from Europe, starting with German vintners to South Australia. The Australian government found that subsidizing migration was necessary to attract immigrants due to the great distance from Europe, which made Australia a more expensive and less practical destination than countries like Canada or the United States.
After Federation in 1901, Australia's newly formed Federal Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act, which imposed strict restrictions on immigration, particularly targeting Chinese, South Sea Islanders, and others. The dictation test was used to implement these policies at the border, with immigrants being ordered to write sentences specifically chosen to be challenging. However, these practices were not just used against new arrivals but also served as a tool to deport long-term foreign residents of Australia.
In the post-World War II era, Australia stepped up its immigration program with the slogan "Populate or perish!" The country negotiated agreements to accept migrants and displaced people from Europe, offering assisted £10 passages to British migrants, nicknamed "Ten Pound Poms." The migration schemes favoured people of British descent, reflecting the White Australia policy of the time, which aimed to exclude non-European immigrants.
In the 1980s, debates around immigration and multiculturalism, sparked by comments from historian Professor Geoffrey Blainey, led to the One Australia policy. This policy, launched by opposition leader John Howard, aimed to slow the rate of Asian immigration to Australia for the sake of social cohesion.
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Indigenous Australians
The Indigenous population prior to European settlement was small, with estimates ranging widely from 318,000 to more than 3,000,000 in total. Given geographic and habitat conditions, they were distributed in a pattern similar to that of the current Australian population. The majority were living in the south-east, centred along the Murray River. Before contact with Europeans, the indigenous people of Australia led lives perfectly adapted to its often hostile landscapes. The typical lifestyle, but not always, was nomadic. By moving between areas as food sources depleted, families were able to thrive without sustained agriculture. They also had little need for sedentary housing. Some cultures slept outside near fires or in natural shelters such as caves. More permanent homes were built in areas with abundant resources or cold, wet weather.
European contact brought this lifestyle to an abrupt halt. Waves of disease like smallpox destroyed whole communities and the knowledge they preserved. In some areas, Aboriginal people were exterminated. Later, efforts were made to divorce Aboriginal Australians from their nomadic ways. Children went to special schools away from their families, where they learned little of their own culture. As adults, they faced racial discrimination in Australian society but lacked the ancient skills needed to survive off the land. During this time, many Aboriginal people were victims of slavery by colonists alongside Pacific Islander peoples who were kidnapped from their homes, in a practice known as blackbirding.
In the 2016 Australian Census, over 33% of the Indigenous population lived in major cities, compared with about 75% of the non-Indigenous population. The Indigenous population of Australia is much younger than the non-Indigenous population, with an estimated median age of 21 years (37 years for non-Indigenous). The federal government's Closing the Gap strategy, created in 2008 and coordinated by the National Indigenous Australians Agency since July 2019, aims to address multiple areas to improve the lives of Indigenous peoples.
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Religion and ancestry
Australia is a secular country with a high degree of religious freedom and diversity. It has no official religion, and its constitution enshrines freedom of religion. The Christian festivals of Easter and Christmas are public holidays.
Christianity is the most common religion in Australia, with 43.9% of the population identifying as Christian in the 2021 census, a decrease from 52.1% in 2016. The major denominations, in order of size, are Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterian, Reformed, Baptist, and Pentecostal. The Catholic Church and Anglican Church were the two largest Christian denominations identified in 2021, with 20% and 9.8% of the population respectively.
Australia's indigenous peoples, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups, traditionally followed a set of beliefs known as The Dreaming. This spirituality has been practised for tens of thousands of years and includes Creation Stories or Legends that provide a basis for identity. In the 2021 census, 7,887 people were recorded as practising Australian Aboriginal traditional religions, with the highest number in the Northern Territory.
Non-Christian religions in Australia include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism. Islam is the largest non-Christian religion, with 3.2% of the total population, followed by Hinduism at 2.7%. The religion with the highest proportional growth since the last census was Yezidi, an ancient religious minority from Northern Iraq. The number of Yezidis in Australia increased from 63 people in 2016 to 4,123 in 2021, due to Australia's Humanitarian Program resettling Yezidi refugees from Iraq and Syria.
Over the past 50 years, there has been a steady decline in the proportion of Australians affiliated with Christianity, along with a consistent rise in other religions and those with no religious affiliation. In the 2021 census, 38.9% of Australians declared "no religion", up from 30.1% in 2016.
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Urban centres
The ABS does not produce an official list of towns and cities in Australia. Urban centres and localities are not an official definition of towns and cities because small towns that do not meet the minimum population criteria are allocated to the "Remainder of State/Territory" classification. Additionally, urban settlements near each other may be combined under one name. For example, several towns are grouped together in the Urban Centre of Central Coast. Towns and cities not included in UCLs may be represented by other geographies such as Statistical Areas Level 2 or approximated Suburbs and Localities.
UCLs are unique within Australia and are identifiable by 6-digit hierarchical codes. Where urban areas cross state or territory boundaries, urban centres are split into two parts so that they can be aggregated up to the state or territory level. However, cross-border urban centres are considered to be one unit for design purposes, for example, Albury-Wodonga.
Significant Urban Areas (SUAs) are defined as significant towns and cities, or agglomerations of smaller towns, that have at least 10,000 total population. 70% of the Australian population live in the top eight most populous cities.
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Frequently asked questions
Most Australians live in metropolitan areas near coastlines.
Australia has five cities with populations of over one million people. The country has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population.
Most of Australia's Indigenous population live on the east coast of Australia, with almost 60% living in New South Wales and Queensland. The Northern Territory has an Indigenous population of 61,115, which represents 26.3% of the territory's population.
