Please Note: As announced by the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on 25 June 2017, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) retired the paper-based Outgoing Passenger Cards (OPC) from 1 July 2017. The information previously gathered via paper-based outgoing passenger cards is now be collated from existing government data and will continue to be provided to users. Further information can be accessed here: http://www.minister.border.gov.au/peterdutton/Pages/removal-of-the-outgoing-passenger-card-jun17.aspx.

Due to the retirement of the OPC, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) undertook a review of the OAD data based on a new methodology. Further information on this revised methodology is available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/3401.0Appendix2Jul%202017?opendocument&tabname=Notes&prodno=3401.0&issue=Jul%202017&num=&view=

A sampling methodology has been applied to this dataset. This method means that data will not replicate, exactly, data released by the ABS, but the differences should be negligible.

Due to ‘Return to Source’ limitations, data supplied to ABS from non-DIPB sources are also excluded.

Overseas Arrivals and Departures (OAD) data refers to the arrival and departure of Australian residents or overseas visitors, through Australian airports and sea ports, which have been recorded on incoming or outgoing passenger cards. OAD data describes the number of movements of travellers rather than the number of travellers. That is, multiple movements of individual persons during a given reference period are all counted. OAD data will differ from data derived from other sources, such as Migration Program Outcomes, Settlement Database or Visa Grant information. Travellers granted a visa in one year may not arrive until the following year, or may not travel to Australia at all. Some visas permit multiple entries to Australia, so travellers may enter Australia more than once on a visa. Settler Arrivals includes New Zealand citizens and other non-program settlers not included on the Settlement Database. The Settlement Database includes onshore processed grants not included in Settler Arrivals.

These de-identified statistics are periodically checked for privacy and other compliance requirements. The statistics were temporarily removed in March 2024 in response to a question about privacy within the emerging technological environment. Following a thorough review and risk assessment, the Department of Home Affairs has republished the dataset.

This dataset presents the estimates of the internal and overseas migration statistics of Australia by age by Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The dataset spans from the 2016-17 financial year up to the 2019-20 financial year. Overseas migration is the movement of people from overseas to Australia's sub-state areas and vice-versa. It cannot be directly measured and is estimated by breaking down overseas migrant arrivals and departures at the state level to sub-state areas, using information from the most recent Census. The state-level overseas migration data is sourced from Department of Home Affairs processing systems, visa information, and incoming passenger cards, and is published in National, state and territory population. Internal migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary within Australia involving a change in place of usual residence. It cannot be directly measured and is instead estimated using administrative data. The movement of people between and within Australia's states and territories cannot be directly measured and is estimated using administrative data. Internal migration is estimated based on a combination of Census data (usual address one year ago), Medicare change of address data (provided by Services Australia), and Department of Defence records (for military personnel only). The Medicare source data is assigned to a state or territory and GCCSA for a person's departure and arrival locations, based on the postcodes of their residential addresses as registered with Medicare. Postcodes are assigned wholly to a state/territory and GCCSA based on best fit. Where a postcode is split across areas, it is assigned to the area that contains the majority of that postcode's population. For more information please visit the Regional population methodology. AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

The 1991 Census Usual Residents Community Profiles present 25 tables containing summary characteristics of usual residents for Local Government Areas (LGA) in Australia. This table contains data relating to birthplace (countries) by year of arrival. Counts are of persons born overseas excluding overseas visitors, based on their usual place of residence; excludes Australians overseas; and excludes adjustment for under-enumeration. The data is by LGA 1991 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. This data is ABS data (cat. no. 2101.0 & original geographic boundary cat. no. 1261.0.30.001) used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The tabular data was processed and supplied to AURIN by the Australian Data Archives. The cleaned, high resolution 1991 geographic boundaries are available from data.gov.au. For more information please refer to the 1991 Census Dictionary. Please note: (a) Includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (b) Includes the Baltic States. (c) Includes 'inadequately described', 'at sea' and 'not elsewhere classified'.

This dataset presents a range of data items sourced from a wide variety of collections, both Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and non-ABS. The data is derived from the November 2024 release of Data by region. Individual data items present the latest reference year data available on Data by region. This layer presents data by Local Government Areas (LGA), 2021.

The Persons born overseas theme is based on groupings of data within Data by region. Concepts, sources and methods for each dataset can be found on the Data by region methodology page.

The Persons born overseas theme includes:

Population (Census) Age (Census) Year of arrival (Census) Citizenship status (Census) Religious affiliation (Census) English proficiency (Census) Occupation (Census) Highest educational attainment (Census) Labour force status (Census) Total personal income (Census)

When analysing these statistics:

Time periods, definitions, methodologies, scope, and coverage can differ across collections.
Some data values have been randomly adjusted or suppressed to avoid the release of confidential data, this means

    some small cells have been randomly set to zero
    care should be taken when interpreting cells with small numbers or zeros.

Data and geography references

Source data publication: Data by region Geographic boundary information: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 Further information: Data by region methodology, reference period 2011-24 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

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This dataset presents the estimates of the internal and overseas migration statistics of Australia by age by Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The dataset spans from the 2016-17 financial year up to the 2019-20 financial year. Overseas migration is the movement of people from overseas to Australia's sub-state areas and vice-versa. It cannot be directly measured and is estimated by breaking down overseas migrant arrivals and departures at the state level to sub-state areas, using information from the most recent Census. The state-level overseas migration data is sourced from Department of Home Affairs processing systems, visa information, and incoming passenger cards, and is published in National, state and territory population. Internal migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary within Australia involving a change in place of usual residence. It cannot be directly measured and is instead estimated using administrative data. The movement of people between and within Australia's states and territories cannot be directly measured and is estimated using administrative data. Internal migration is estimated based on a combination of Census data (usual address one year ago), Medicare change of address data (provided by Services Australia), and Department of Defence records (for military personnel only). The Medicare source data is assigned to a state or territory and GCCSA for a person's departure and arrival locations, based on the postcodes of their residential addresses as registered with Medicare. Postcodes are assigned wholly to a state/territory and GCCSA based on best fit. Where a postcode is split across areas, it is assigned to the area that contains the majority of that postcode's population. For more information please visit the Regional population methodology. AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

This dataset presents the estimates of the internal and overseas migration statistics of Australia by age by Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The dataset spans from the 2016-17 financial year up to the 2019-20 financial year. Overseas migration is the movement of people from overseas to Australia's sub-state areas and vice-versa. It cannot be directly measured and is estimated by breaking down overseas migrant arrivals and departures at the state level to sub-state areas, using information from the most recent Census. The state-level overseas migration data is sourced from Department of Home Affairs processing systems, visa information, and incoming passenger cards, and is published in National, state and territory population. Internal migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary within Australia involving a change in place of usual residence. It cannot be directly measured and is instead estimated using administrative data. The movement of people between and within Australia's states and territories cannot be directly measured and is estimated using administrative data. Internal migration is estimated based on a combination of Census data (usual address one year ago), Medicare change of address data (provided by Services Australia), and Department of Defence records (for military personnel only). The Medicare source data is assigned to a state or territory and GCCSA for a person's departure and arrival locations, based on the postcodes of their residential addresses as registered with Medicare. Postcodes are assigned wholly to a state/territory and GCCSA based on best fit. Where a postcode is split across areas, it is assigned to the area that contains the majority of that postcode's population. For more information please visit the Regional population methodology. AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

The 1991 Census Expanded Community Profiles present 44 tables comprising more detailed information than that of the basic community profiles which provide characteristics of persons and/or dwellings for Local Government Areas (LGA) in Australia. This table contains data relating to birthplace (countries) by year of arrival. Counts are of persons born overseas excluding overseas visitors, based on place of enumeration on census night which; excludes Australians overseas; and excludes adjustment for under-enumeration. The data is by LGA 1991 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. This data is ABS data (cat. no. 2101.0 & original geographic boundary cat. no. 1261.0.30.001) used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The tabular data was processed and supplied to AURIN by the Australian Data Archives. The cleaned, high resolution 1991 geographic boundaries are available from data.gov.au. For more information please refer to the 1991 Census Dictionary. Please note: (a) Includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. (b) Includes the Baltic States. (c) Includes 'inadequately described', 'at sea' and 'not elsewhere classified'.

Permanent additions consists of two components: 1. Those persons who were in Australia on a temporary basis and were granted a permanent visa while in Australia. 2. Those persons who made an initial arrival from overseas on a permanent visa granted while they were outside Australia. These are termed settler arrivals. Note: The ABS revised figures for Settler Arrivals in September 2017, which are not included in years prior to 2016-17. These de-identified statistics are periodically checked for privacy and other compliance requirements. The statistics were temporarily removed in March 2024 in response to a question about privacy within the emerging technological environment. Following a thorough review and risk assessment, the Department of Home Affairs has republished the dataset.

The 1991 Census Usual Residents Community Profiles present 25 tables containing summary characteristics of usual residents for Local Government Areas (LGA) in Australia. This table contains data relating to proficiency in english by year of arrival. Counts are of persons born overseas (excluding overseas visitors) and aged 5 years or more, based on their usual place of residence; excludes Australians overseas; and excludes adjustment for under-enumeration. The data is by LGA 1991 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. This data is ABS data (cat. no. 2101.0 & original geographic boundary cat. no. 1261.0.30.001) used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The tabular data was processed and supplied to AURIN by the Australian Data Archives. The cleaned, high resolution 1991 geographic boundaries are available from data.gov.au. For more information please refer to the 1991 Census Dictionary.

Australia Visitor Nights: Total data was reported at 69,467.578 Night th in Sep 2019. This records an increase from the previous number of 54,185.652 Night th for Jun 2019. Australia Visitor Nights: Total data is updated quarterly, averaging 51,325.432 Night th from Sep 2005 (Median) to Sep 2019, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 87,124.141 Night th in Mar 2018 and a record low of 29,350.481 Night th in Jun 2006. Australia Visitor Nights: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Tourism Research Australia. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.Q021: Visitor Nights: by Purpose and by Countries (Discontinued). In March 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) completed a rebuild of the Overseas Arrivals and Departures System. The changes reflect major revisions to the methodology.

SA2 based data for Country of Birth of Person by Year of Arrival in Australia, in General Community Profile (GCP), 2016 Census. Count of persons born overseas. G10 is broken up into 3 sections (G10a - G10c), this section contains 'South Africa Year of arrival Before 1946' - 'Total Total'. Where arrival is stated as the year 2016 it corresponds to the period 1 January 2016 to 9 August 2016. The list of countries consists of the most common Country of Birth responses (excluding Australia) reported in the 2011 Census. The data is by SA2 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

The 1991 Census Basic Community profiles present 57 tables containing summary characteristics of persons and/or dwellings for Statistical Local Areas (SLA) in Australia. This table contains data …Show full descriptionThe 1991 Census Basic Community profiles present 57 tables containing summary characteristics of persons and/or dwellings for Statistical Local Areas (SLA) in Australia. This table contains data relating to proficiency in English by year of arrival. Counts are of Persons born overseas (excluding overseas visitors) and aged 5 years or more, based on place of enumeration on census night which excludes adjustment for under-enumeration. The data is by SLA 1991 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. This data is ABS data (cat. no. 2101.0 & original geographic boundary cat. no. 1261.0.30.001) used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The tabular data was processed and supplied to AURIN by the Australian Data Archives. The cleaned, high resolution 1991 geographic boundaries are available from data.gov.au. For more information please refer to the 1991 Census Dictionary. Copyright attribution: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Australian Bureau of Statistics, (1991): ; accessed from AURIN on 12/3/2020. Licence type: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia (CC BY 2.5 AU)

The 1991 Census Basic Community profiles present 57 tables containing summary characteristics of persons and/or dwellings for Census Collection Districts (CD) in Australia. This table contains data relating to proficiency in English by year of arrival. Counts are of Persons born overseas (excluding overseas visitors) and aged 5 years or more, based on place of enumeration on census night which excludes adjustment for under-enumeration. The data is by CD 1991 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. This data is ABS data (cat. no. 2101.0 & original geographic boundary cat. no. 1261.0.30.001) used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The tabular data was extracted from CDATA91 which was supplied to AURIN by the University of Melbourne. The cleaned, high resolution 1991 geographic boundaries are available from data.gov.au For more information please refer to the 1991 Census Dictionary

SA3 based data for Year of Arrival in Australia, for 2011 Census. Count of all persons on Census night based on place of usual residence. Data sourced from: http://www.abs.gov.au/census. For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Services on 1300 135 070. Periodicity: 5-Yearly.

The Australian Census Longitudinal Dataset (ACLD) brings together a 5% sample from the 2006 Census with records from the 2011 Census to create a research tool for exploring how Australian society is changing over time. In taking a longitudinal view of Australians, the ACLD may uncover new insights into the dynamics and transitions that drive social and economic change over time, conveying how these vary for diverse population groups and geographies. It is envisaged that the 2016 and successive Censuses will be added in the future, as well as administrative data sets. The ACLD is released in ABS TableBuilder and as a microdata product in the ABS Data Laboratory.

The Census of Population and Housing is conducted every five years and aims to measure accurately the number of people and dwellings in Australia on Census Night.

Microdata products are the most detailed information available from a Census or survey and are generally the responses to individual questions on the questionnaire. They also include derived data from answers to two or more questions and are released with the approval of the Australian Statistician. The following microdata products are available for this longitudinal dataset: •ACLD in TableBuilder - an online tool for creating tables and graphs. •ACLD in ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL) - for in-depth analysis using a range of statistical software packages.

This dataset presents the estimates of the internal and overseas migration statistics of Australia by age by Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3) following the 2016 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The dataset spans from the 2016-17 financial year up to the 2019-20 financial year. Overseas migration is the movement of people from overseas to Australia's sub-state areas and vice-versa. It cannot be directly measured and is estimated by breaking down overseas migrant arrivals and departures at the state level to sub-state areas, using information from the most recent Census. The state-level overseas migration data is sourced from Department of Home Affairs processing systems, visa information, and incoming passenger cards, and is published in National, state and territory population. Internal migration is the movement of people across a specified boundary within Australia involving a change in place of usual residence. It cannot be directly measured and is instead estimated using administrative data. The movement of people between and within Australia's states and territories cannot be directly measured and is estimated using administrative data. Internal migration is estimated based on a combination of Census data (usual address one year ago), Medicare change of address data (provided by Services Australia), and Department of Defence records (for military personnel only). The Medicare source data is assigned to a state or territory and GCCSA for a person's departure and arrival locations, based on the postcodes of their residential addresses as registered with Medicare. Postcodes are assigned wholly to a state/territory and GCCSA based on best fit. Where a postcode is split across areas, it is assigned to the area that contains the majority of that postcode's population. For more information please visit the Regional population methodology. AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

SA1 based data for Country of Birth of Person by Year of Arrival in Australia, in Place of Enumeration Profile (PEP), 2016 Census. Count of persons born overseas (excludes overseas visitors). P10 is broken up into 3 sections (P10a - P10c), this section contains 'Canada Year of arrival Before 1946' - 'Ireland Year of arrival 2006 to 2010'. Where arrival is stated as the year 2016 it corresponds to the period 1 January 2016 to 9 August 2016. The list of countries consists of the most common Country of Birth responses (excluding Australia) reported in the 2011 Census. The data is by SA1 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

SA3 based data for Country of Birth of Person by Year of Arrival in Australia, in Place of Enumeration Profile (PEP), 2016 Census. Count of persons born overseas (excludes overseas visitors). P10 is broken up into 3 sections (P10a - P10c), this section contains 'Ireland Year of arrival 2011' - 'Singapore Total'. Where arrival is stated as the year 2016 it corresponds to the period 1 January 2016 to 9 August 2016. The list of countries consists of the most common Country of Birth responses (excluding Australia) reported in the 2011 Census. The data is by SA3 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.

LGA11 based data for Year of Arrival in Australia, for 2011 Census. Count of all persons on Census night based on place of usual residence. Data sourced from: http://www.abs.gov.au/census. For …Show full descriptionLGA11 based data for Year of Arrival in Australia, for 2011 Census. Count of all persons on Census night based on place of usual residence. Data sourced from: http://www.abs.gov.au/census. For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Services on 1300 135 070. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Copyright attribution: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia - Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2011): ; accessed from AURIN on 12/16/2021. Licence type: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Australia (CC BY 2.5 AU)

LGA based data for Country of Birth of Person by Year of Arrival in Australia, in Place of Enumeration Profile (PEP), 2016 Census. Count of persons born overseas (excludes overseas visitors). P10 is broken up into 3 sections (P10a - P10c), this section contains 'Ireland Year of arrival 2011' - 'Singapore Total'. Where arrival is stated as the year 2016 it corresponds to the period 1 January 2016 to 9 August 2016. The list of countries consists of the most common Country of Birth responses (excluding Australia) reported in the 2011 Census. The data is by LGA 2016 boundaries. Periodicity: 5-Yearly. Note: There are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals. For more information visit the data source: http://www.abs.gov.au/census.