Is India set to overtake Britain as the leading country of origin for overseas-born Australians?

Indians migrants overtaking UK in Australia.png

A view of Halden Street in Lakemba, Sydney, New South Wales, during Ramadan. Credit: AAP

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The leading country of origin for overseas-born Australians has traditionally been the UK. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that migration from the UK is trending downwards. In contrast, the number of Australian residents who were born in India continues to rise. If these trends continue, India, currently second on the list of countries of origin for overseas-born Australians, could overtake Britain as soon as this year.

Key Points

The overseas-born population in Australia has grown for the third year in a row: ABS data.
The top five most common countries of birth for those not born in Australia were England, India, China, New Zealand and the Philippines.
In 2024, almost every country in the world was represented in Australia's overseas-born population.

Australian Bureau of Statistics' annual data on migration reveals that 8.58 million people living in Australia were born overseas. This makes 31.5 per cent of Australia's total population. An increase from 30.7 per cent in 2023.

A key driver behind this growth is a significant increase in the number of Indian-born people calling Australia home, with 916,330 Indian-born migrants recorded as of June 2024.

Source: ABS

According to the United Nations, 304 million people worldwide are living outside the countries where they were born. This accounts for approximately 3.7 per cent of the global population.

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ਕੀ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਮੂਲ ਦੇ ਲੋਕ ਇੰਗਲੈਂਡ ਨੂੰ ਪਿੱਛੇ ਛੱਡ, ਆਸਟ੍ਰੇਲੀਆ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵੱਡਾ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਸੀ ਸਮੂਹ ਬਣਨ ਵਾਲੇ ਹਨ?

SBS Punjabi

05/05/202507:03

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