Lyla Lindsey
Australia has a much smaller Black population than the USA, and has historically been a country built by white people. However, in recent years, large-scale immigration from Africa has diversified the population, with African Australians now making up 1.3% of the population. This includes both naturalised Australians with Sub-Saharan African heritage and descendants of such immigrants. While the exact number of Black people in Australia is unclear, the African Australian population is rapidly growing, and the country has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Total population of Australia | 27,971,500 as of 8 August 2025 |
| Population born outside Australia | 31.5% |
| Population born in Sub-Saharan Africa | 372,151 as of 2021 |
| Population of African descent | Not found |
| Largest cities in Australia | Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Adelaide |
| Cities with a large African population | Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart |
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What You'll Learn
Black Australians' experiences of anti-black racism
Australia has a long history of official and unofficial racism towards Black people. Notably, the White Australia policy, in effect from 1901 until the 1970s, prohibited the immigration of Black Africans, among other non-white groups. Even after the policy ended, negative stereotypes about Black people remained prominent in Australian culture.
Black Australians have faced discrimination, criminalisation, and racialisation in their interactions with the majority society. A strong negative association between Blackness and criminality exists in Australian culture. For example, in 2018, African Australians, predominantly of South Sudanese descent, comprised 19% of young people in custody in Victoria, despite making up less than 0.5% of the overall population. The 2016 Challenging Racism Project found negative attitudes towards Black people were common in Australia. 21% of respondents felt that African refugees increased crime in Australia, and 16.1% stated they felt "very negative or somewhat negative" towards African Australians.
Instances of anti-Black racism in Australia also include the "'racialised moral panic' around so-called "African gangs" in Melbourne. This resulted in many examples of racist discourse on social media, and Black people in Melbourne reported fearing arrest simply for congregating in public spaces. South Sudanese people also reported high levels of targeting by police.
Black Australians have also experienced discrimination due to the perception of them as "perpetual foreigners", not truly "Australian". This is despite the fact that Black Australians come from diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic, religious, educational, and employment backgrounds, and many have come to Australia to seek better opportunities, start a new life, and pursue their dreams and aspirations.
To improve outcomes for Black Australians, systemic anti-Black racism and "Othering" practices must be tackled through policies and practices that promote racial equity and create a more just and socially inclusive multicultural society.
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The African Australian identity
Historically, Australia's demographics were largely homogeneous, with European Australians outnumbering Indigenous Australians around 1840. The country's population has since grown exponentially due to numerous waves of immigration, making it the world's eighth-largest immigrant population. However, immigration from Africa to Australia remained limited until the 1990s, with peaks between 1996 and 2005 due to the influx of refugees and displaced persons on humanitarian grounds from Central, East, and West Africa.
African Australians constitute about 1.7% of Australia's total population, with over 430,000 people identifying as African-born as of 2021. This includes individuals from various African countries, such as South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, and Mauritius, each bringing their unique cultural and historical contexts. Despite their relatively small numbers, African Australians have faced significant challenges due to widespread racism and systemic anti-black racism in the country. The notion of ""African gangs"" and the overrepresentation of South Sudanese individuals in Victoria's youth custody system have contributed to a "racialised moral panic," impacting the perception and treatment of African Australians.
Despite these challenges, African Australians have enriched the country's cultural fabric and added an important chapter to its immigration history. Their diverse backgrounds and aspirations for better opportunities contribute to a dynamic and evolving Australian society. As Australia continues to grapple with its colonial legacy and works towards racial equity, the African Australian identity will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in shaping the nation's future.
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Black Australians' religious beliefs
Australia is a diverse and tolerant society with people from various cultures and ethnic backgrounds. The country has no official religion, and its constitution guarantees religious freedom, making it illegal to discriminate based on religious beliefs.
Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples followed a set of beliefs known as "The Dreaming," which provided a basis for their identity. These beliefs are linked to the land and specific sites of significance. However, the introduction of Christianity and colonialism significantly impacted their spiritual practices and traditions.
In the 2021 Census, only 0.03% of Australians identified as practicing an 'Australian Aboriginal traditional religion', with 1.4% of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people identifying their religion as such. This small percentage may not accurately represent the number of people sharing these worldviews due to historical factors. The Northern Territory had the highest number of people recorded as practising Aboriginal traditional religions (3,437), followed by New South Wales (1422), Western Australia (1096), and Queensland (979).
Overall, Christianity remains 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. Within Christianity, the major denominations are Catholic, Anglican, Uniting Church, Eastern Orthodox, Presbyterian, Reformed, Baptist, and Pentecostal. Approximately 30% of Australians reported being either Anglican or Catholic in 2021.
Non-Christian religions in Australia include Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism. Islam is the largest non-Christian religion, with 3.2% of the population, followed by Hinduism at 2.7%. About 2.4% of Australians practise Buddhism, while less than 1% follow Sikhism and Judaism, respectively.
It is worth noting that the percentage of Australians reporting no religious affiliation continues to grow. In the 2021 Census, 38.9% of respondents declared "no religion", up from 30.1% in 2016. This category includes atheists, agnostics, and those with spiritual beliefs like New Age.
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Black Australians' health status
Australia does not collect data on race and ethnicity, making it difficult to accurately assess the health status of Black Australians. However, it is clear that Black Australians, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, face significant health disparities and inequalities compared to other Australians. Racism and discrimination, both systemic and individual, are major contributing factors to these disparities, influencing health-seeking behaviours and healthcare delivery.
Historically, Australia has a legacy of slavery and colonial practices, which have resulted in intergenerational trauma for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This trauma, compounded by ongoing experiences of dispossession, has led to a fear of healthcare systems and a preference for avoiding healthcare services altogether. During the BlackLivesMatter protests, the #AboriginalLivesMatter movement in Australia highlighted the increasing rates of incarceration, deaths in custody, poor health, and early death among First Nations Peoples.
Racism within healthcare services is often experienced as more detrimental to health than the health issues themselves. Cultural incompetence among healthcare providers, a lack of cultural safety, and the dominance of whiteness as the norm contribute to negative health outcomes for Black Australians. Furthermore, the aggregation of cultural groups in data collection, such as the "sub-Saharan African" category, can mask the specific needs of visible black African Australian minorities. This aggregation may result in inadequate resource allocation and a failure to address health inequities effectively.
To address these disparities, there have been calls for increased participation of Indigenous peoples and a reduction in institutional and interpersonal racism. Cultural education within medical practices is essential to increase respectful and culturally safe interactions with patients. While studies have shown that initiatives addressing racism can improve health, solid evidence regarding the unique characteristics of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is necessary to create and implement more effective interventions.
In conclusion, Black Australians face significant health disparities influenced by racism and discrimination. To bridge the health gap, Australia must address institutional racism, improve cultural competence in healthcare, and prioritize the collection of meaningful race and ethnicity data to support public interests and achieve health equity.
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Black Australians' educational background
The term "Black Australians" most frequently refers to Indigenous Australians, encompassing Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders. The term may also refer to African Australians, African-American Australians, and people from specific African countries, among other groups.
African Australians come from diverse racial, cultural, linguistic, religious, educational, and employment backgrounds. Large-scale immigration from Africa to Australia is a recent phenomenon, with the majority (72.6%) of African emigrants to Australia originating from southern and eastern Africa. In the 2011-2012 fiscal year, significant migration streams from Africa to Australia included individuals from Burundi, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Malawi, Rwanda, and Tanzania, many of whom arrived via humanitarian programs.
Historically, Indigenous Australians have faced significant discrimination and exclusion in the Australian education system due to colonization practices and the legacy of racist policies. Studies have explored the complex nature of racism and its impact on Indigenous identities within the educational context. Efforts towards racial inclusion in education have been made, with support mechanisms introduced in Australian schools to promote inclusive education and address racism.
Black African migrants to Australia may experience challenges in accessing education due to broader issues of belonging and inclusion in Australian society. The process of adapting to a new social identity in Australia can involve negotiating different forms of racism and reconstructing dual identities. For example, Black South Africans may have experienced significant embodied nostalgia and irretrievable loss from leaving their homes, while also navigating a new sociocultural context with different opportunities for education and employment.
Overall, the educational backgrounds of Black Australians can vary widely depending on their specific cultural and historical contexts. While Australia has a highly multicultural society, ongoing efforts are needed to address racism, promote inclusion, and ensure equal access to education for all Black Australians.
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Frequently asked questions
At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within Sub-Saharan African ancestral groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 1.3%.
Australia does not have as many black people as the US. While the US collects racial and ethnic data, Australia does not, and its official statistics are based on country of origin, not race.
Large-scale immigration from Africa to Australia is a recent phenomenon. Coins minted by the Tanzanian medieval kingdom of Kilwa Sultanate have been found on the Wessel Islands and are the oldest foreign artefacts ever discovered in Australia. In the 19th century, migrants from Mauritius arrived in Australia, and after the 1823 Demerara Slave Rebellion in British Guiana, several hundred enslaved Africans were deported to Queensland, Australia.
Black Africans in Australia face systemic anti-black racism and othering practices. The label ''African gangs'' has been used to demonise and criminalise black African youth, and the media portrays black Africans as a people who deserve to be subjected to police surveillance, racial profiling, and harsh punishments.
