1. How old are the overseas born?
Most overseas born residents in the ACT are
young with 53.3 per cent aged less than 45 years
and 16.6 per cent aged 65 years or more.
European-born residents tend to be older with
73.7 per cent aged over 45 years and more than
11,000 people aged 65 years or more.
In contrast, Asian-born residents are generally
younger, with 70.2 per cent of ACT residents
born in Asian countries aged less than 45 years.
Over two-thirds of residents born in North Africa
and the Middle East (69.4 per cent) and Sub-
Saharan Africa (67.5 per cent) were also aged
less than 45 years.
The overseas born
population of the ACT2011 Census fact sheets Issue #5 September 2012
Nearly one in every five residents of the ACT was born
overseas.
When did people arrive? Almost one-quarter (86,324 people or
24.2 per cent) of ACT usual residents were born overseas. Over half (58.7 per cent)
of these people have lived in Australia for at least 15 years. European birthplaces
(54.4 per cent) dominate for these longer-term residents with only 25.8 per cent
born in Asian countries.
Nearly one-quarter (23.8 per cent) of overseas born residents of the ACT arrived
in Australia since 2005 (19,758 people), with 2009 the peak year. In every year,
Asian-born people represented more than half of overseas born ACT residents
who arrived during this period.
Recent arrivals from both New Zealand and Northern America peaked in 2010,
with numbers in 2011 (to 9 August) also strong.
What are the main countries of birth? England (15.1 per cent of
overseas born residents) is the most common birthplace for overseas born
residents of the ACT, followed by China (7.6 per cent), India (6.8 per cent), New
Zealand (5.1 per cent) and Vietnam (3.4 per cent). There were in excess of 1,000
ACT residents from 22 different countries. Countries that are the birthplaces of at
least 1,500 ACT residents are shown below.
All data on this factsheet is sourced from the 2011 Census of Population and Housing, available for
analysis from the ABS website (see www.abs.gov.au)
0
20,000
40,000
60,000
80,000
100,000
120,000
0-4 5-14 15-24 25-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75-84 85
years
Overseas born residents by age,
ACT, 2011
Ancestry More than four out of every ten
residents (44.0 per cent) of the ACT had either
their Mother, Father or both parents born
overseas. The most common ancestry (after
Australian) was English (24.1 per cent of
responses), followed by Irish (9.2 per cent) and
Scottish (7.2 per cent). Other ancestries are
shown in the graph below.
13,051
6,591
5,886
4,389
2,954
2,424
2,413
2,332
2,265
2,206
2,167
2,034
1,631
1,560
0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000
England
China
India
New Zealand
Vietnam
Philippines
United States of America
Germany
Sri Lanka
Malaysia
Scotland
Italy
South Africa
South Korea
Country of birth of ACT residents, 2011
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
18,000
20,000
Countryof birth for overseas born residents
who arrived in Australia before1997, ACT, 2011
Note: 2011 is up to 9 August only
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Overseasborn residents who arrived
in Australia 2006-2011, ACT, 2011
15,533
14,943
11,634
8,059
6,420
4,558
4,509
4,090
4,034
3,320
2,671
2,594
2,243
2,141
0 4,000 8,000 12,000 16,000
German
Chinese
Italian
Indian
Dutch
Greek
Croatian
Vietnamese
Polish
Filipino
New Zealander
Welsh
Spanish
French
Other common ancestries, ACT, 2011

2. Europe compared with
Western Europe.
Twice as many people
born in North-East
Asia are aged between
15 and 24 years as
from other parts of
Asia, while over half of
people born in
Southern and Central
Asia were aged
between 25-44 years.
What languages are spoken in the ACT?
Of the 64,673 people who spoke a language other than English at home,
87.0 per cent spoke English ‘very well’ or ‘well’. However, English
proficiency for 7,667 people or 11.9 per cent was rated as ‘not well’ or ‘not
at all’. The main languages spoken by this group were Mandarin (915
people), Vietnamese (802 people) and Cantonese (609 people).
Mandarin was also the most common language spoken by all people
speaking a language other than English at home. Cantonese followed closely
meaning that there were nearly 11,000 Chinese language speakers resident
in the ACT. Other popular languages were Vietnamese (3,787 people),
Italian (3,312 people), Spanish (2,924 people), Greek (2,777 people), Arabic
(2,420 people), Croatian (2,402 people) and Hindi (2,314 people).
Age structure of the overseas born
There were very similar numbers of people born in Europe compared to
those born in Asia resident in the ACT. However, people born in Europe tend
to have larger proportions in the older age groups than do people born in
Asia. Ageing is more pronounced among those born in Southern and Eastern
What are the growth areas for overseas
born people counted in the ACT?
Over the decade to 2011, the fastest increase in overseas
born people counted in the ACT was for people born in
Iraq (up 300 per cent) from 80 people in 2001, to 320
people in 2011. Next fastest growth was for people born
in India (up from 1,814 people to 5,927 people by 2011)
and people born in China (up from 2,045 people to reach
6,585 people by 2011). The number of people born in
South Korea also increased rapidly, from 647 people in
2001 to 1,556 people in 2011.
While numbers of people from 10 birthplaces declined
over the decade, including 953 fewer people from the
United Kingdom, large increases in the numbers of people
from other areas occurred. These included the already
mentioned China and India, but also an increase of 1,018
people born in the Philippines, 909 extra people born in
South Korea, 860 people from Sri Lanka, 772 people from
Vietnam, 728 people from South Africa and more than
500 extra people from both the United States of America
and Malaysia.
Over the decade to 2011, there was an increase of 2,453
people who spoke a language other than English at home
and spoke English not well or not at all. The increase of
1,257 people aged less than 15 years in this category
accounted for more than half the total growth.
This data refers to the enumerated rather than resident population.
More details…
2011 Census fact sheets Issue #5 June 2012
Classifications
1. The country of birth of a person is coded
using the Standard Australian Classification of
Countries, Second Edition, Revision 1. New
for the 2011 Census is information on the
birthplace of a person’s mother and father.
2. Ancestry is coded using the Australian
Standard Classification of Cultural and Ethnic
Groups, Second Edition, Revision 1.
Respondents were asked to report up to two
ancestries.
3. Language spoken at home is classified using
the Australian Standard Classification of
languages, Second Edition, Revision 1.
4. A new variable for Year of arrival in Australia
(ranges) is available for the 2011 Census data.
5. See ABS, Census Dictionary, Catalogue Number
2901.0 for more information.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be
reproduced by any process without written permission from the Territory Records Office, Community and
Infrastructure Services, Territory and Municipal Services, ACT Government.
GPO Box 158, Canberra City ACT 2601.
Assistance from Data and Research, Community Services Directorate in compiling this fact
sheet is gratefully acknowledged.
Enquiries about this publication should be directed to:
Chief Minister and Cabinet Directorate ACT Government
actdemography@act.gov.au
http://www.cmd.act.gov.au/policystrategic/actstats
© Australian Capital Territory, Canberra 2012
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Percentoftotalpopulation
Age structure by region of birth, ACT
residents, 2011
Australian born European-born Asian-born