Statistics

South Australia's Diversity

Statistics from the 2011 Census show that about 350,000 South Australians were born overseas and about 220,000 speak a language other than English at home.

South Australians come from about 200 countries, speak more than 200 languages (including Aboriginal languages) and believe in about 100 religions.

Migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds make up nearly 13 percent of South Australia’s population. When the children of migrants are added, this figure rises to nearly 25 percent.

The main source countries (of the current population) are England, Italy, India, China, Scotland, New Zealand, Vietnam, Germany and Greece.

The main languages other than English spoken at home in Australia are Italian, Greek, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Arabic, German, Polish, Spanish, Punjabi and Hindi.

The largest religions in South Australia are Christian, with 913,341 (nearly 60 percent) nominating Christianity as their religion, Buddhism (28,996), Islam (19,511), Hinduism (13,618), Sikhism (5290), Baha’i (1,523), Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions (1,122) and Judaism (1,087).

The top ancestries claimed by South Australian residents are English, Australian, Scottish, German, Irish, Italian, Greek, Chinese, Dutch, Indian, Polish, Vietnamese, Filipino and Welsh.

In 2011-2012, a total of 1,983 Humanitarian entrants – 724 females and 1,259 males – arrived in South Australia. They came from Afghanistan (607), Bhutan (304); Myanmar/Burma (238), Iran (165), Eritrea (113), Ethiopian (86), Democratic Republic of Congo (72) and several other African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries.

In 2011-2012, a total of 5,177 Skilled migrants arrived in South Australia, mainly from United Kingdom (1086), People’s Republic of China (675), India (735), Sri Lanka (230), Philippines (225) and Malaysia (214).

In 2011-2012, a total of 2,691 Family stream migrants arrived in South Australia, mainly from People’s Republic of China (397), Philippines (276), India (265), United Kingdom (217), Vietnam (196) and Afghanistan (116).

The main birthplaces of new arrivals between 2006 and 2010 were India (12,533), England (9524), China (9138), Philippines (3316), Malaysia (2388), South Africa (2257), New Zealand (1904), Afghanistan (1738), Korea (1692) and Vietnam (1549).

For tables showing snapshots of the 2011 Census data, click here.