Melbourne:
For the first time in history, Indians have become the fastest growing migrant group in the Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria. They have recorded a growth of 2.3 per cent in the last ten years, according to latest census figures.
There were higher proportions of India-born residents in Victoria followed by Italy, Vietnam, Greece and Sri Lanka than any other state or territory, it said.
According to the latest figures released by Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in Victoria, Indians have emerged as the fastest growing migrant group in the state.
Victoria is the country’s most densely populated state and its second-most populous state overall.
In terms of population growth nationally, for the top 50 countries of birth in 10 years, people from Nepal had the highest rate of increase with an average annual growth rate of 27.8 per cent which stood at a small base of 4,400 persons in 2006.
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The second fastest increase over the period was in the number of persons from Pakistan at 13.2 per cent per year on average followed by those from Brazil at 12.1 per cent, India at 10.7 per cent and Bangladesh at 8.9 per cent.
Persons from the UK continued to be the largest group of overseas-born residents, accounting for 5.0 per cent of Australia’s total population till June last year followed by persons from New Zealand at 2.5 per cent, China at 2.2 per cent, India at 1.9 per cent and Philippines and Vietnam at both one per cent.
New South Wales had the highest proportion of people from China grown at 2.6 per cent since 2006.
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Nationally, the proportion of Australians born overseas continued to reach new heights recording a growth of over 28 per cent.
During the period of 10 years, the number of Australian residents born overseas, particularly in India and China, have both more than doubled in this time, according to official data.
In contrast, Australian residents in Germany have had almost zero growth and those in Italy have seen more than a 10 per cent drop.
Over the last 10 years, the proportion of the Australian population who were born in the UK decreased from 5.5 per cent in 2006 to 5.0 per cent in 2016.
Conversely, the proportions increased for people from New Zealand from 2.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent, China from 1.2 per cent to 2.2 per cent and India from 0.8 per cent to 1.9 per cent.
