Migrants from the United Kingdom have long been Australia’s primary immigrant group and in 2023 there were roughly 960 thousand English-born people living in Australia. India and China held second and third place respectively with regard to Australia’s foreign-born population. The relative dominance of Asian countries in the list of top ten foreign-born residents of Australia represents a significant shift in Australia’s immigration patterns over the past few decades. Where European-born migrants had previously overshadowed other migrant groups, Australian migration figures are now showing greater migration numbers from neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific. A history of migration Australia is often referred to as an ‘immigrant nation’, alongside the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Before the Second World War, migrants to Australia were almost exclusively from the UK, however after 1945, Australia’s immigration policy was broadened to attract economic migrants and temporary skilled migrants. These policy changes saw and increase in immigrants particularly from Greece and Italy. Today, Australia maintains its status as an ‘’Immigrant nation’’, with almost 30 percent of the population born overseas and around 50 percent of the population having both that were born overseas. Australian visas The Australian immigration program has two main categories of visa, permanent and temporary. The permanent visa category offers three primary pathways: skilled, family and humanitarian. The skilled visa category is by far the most common, with more than a million permanent migrants living in Australia on this visa category at the last Australian census in 2021. Of the temporary visa categories, the higher education visa is the most popular, exceeding 180 thousand arrivals in 2023.

In 2019 there were 1,262,204 migrants from the United Kingdom in Australia. The next largest migrant groups were people from China and New Zealand at over 600,000 migrants each. More recently Australian migration figures are showing greater migration numbers from neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific and reduced numbers of European-born migrants.

Australia immigration statistics for 2015 was 6,763,663.00, a 14.97% increase from 2010.

• Australia immigration statistics for 2010 was 5,882,980.00, a 20.6% increase from 2005.
• Australia immigration statistics for 2005 was 4,878,030.00, a 11.21% increase from 2000.
• Australia immigration statistics for 2000 was 4,386,250.00, a 5.61% increase from 1995.

International migrant stock is the number of people born in a country other than that in which they live. It also includes refugees. The data used to estimate the international migrant stock at a particular time are obtained mainly from population censuses. The estimates are derived from the data on foreign-born population--people who have residence in one country but were born in another country. When data on the foreign-born population are not available, data on foreign population--that is, people who are citizens of a country other than the country in which they reside--are used as estimates. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 people living in one of the newly independent countries who were born in another were classified as international migrants. Estimates of migrant stock in the newly independent states from 1990 on are based on the 1989 census of the Soviet Union. For countries with information on the international migrant stock for at least two points in time, interpolation or extrapolation was used to estimate the international migrant stock on July 1 of the reference years. For countries with only one observation, estimates for the reference years were derived using rates of change in the migrant stock in the years preceding or following the single observation available. A model was used to estimate migrants for countries that had no data.

As of October 2024, the United States had nearly 413,400 Japanese citizens, making it the country with the highest number of Japanese residents outside of Japan itself. The United States counted around four times as many Japanese citizens as second-placed Australia.  Japanese immigrants in the United States Lately, there has been an increase in the migration of Japanese individuals, especially to the United States, which has the largest immigrant population worldwide. This surge in Japanese migration to the United States can largely be attributed to the substantial presence of Japanese companies with offices in the country, which ranks among the highest globally. Consequently, many Japanese nationals choose to relocate to the United States in pursuit of employment opportunities offered by these companies.  Status of immigrants in Japan The total number of foreign residents in Japan has been rising lately, with Tokyo having the highest number of foreign nationals registered among 47 prefectures. The main nationality of foreign residents living in Japan are people from the Asia region: China, Vietnam, and South Korea. The increasing number of foreign nationals working in Japan is indicative of the growing interest in job opportunities within the country.

Abstract

This dataset, a product of the Trade Team - Development Research Group, is part of a larger effort in the group to measure the extent of the brain drain as part of the International Migration and Development Program. It measures international skilled migration for the years 1975-2000.

The methodology is explained in: "Tendance de long terme des migrations internationals. Analyse à partir des 6 principaux pays recerveurs", Cécily Defoort.

This data set uses the same methodology as used in the Docquier-Marfouk data set on international migration by educational attainment. The authors use data from 6 key receiving countries in the OECD: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US.

It is estimated that the data represent approximately 77 percent of the world’s migrant population.

Bilateral brain drain rates are estimated based observations for every five years, during the period 1975-2000.

Geographic coverage

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, UK and US

Kind of data

Aggregate data [agg]

Mode of data collection

Other [oth]

Among countries with the highest number of overseas Chinese on each continent, the largest Chinese diaspora community is living in Indonesia, numbering more than ten million people. Most of these people are descendants from migrants born in China, who have moved to Indonesia a long time ago. On the contrary, a large part of overseas Chinese living in Canada and Australia have arrived in these countries only during the last two decades. China as an emigration country Many Chinese people have emigrated from their home country in search of better living conditions and educational chances. The increasing number of Chinese emigrants has benefited from loosened migration policies. On the one hand, the attitude of the Chinese government towards emigration has changed significantly. Overseas Chinese are considered to be strong supporters for the overall strength of Chinese culture and international influence. On the other hand, migration policies in the United States and Canada are changing with time, expanding migration opportunities for non-European immigrants. As a result, China has become one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the highest outflows of high net worth individuals. However, the mass emigration is causing a severe loss of homegrown talents and assets. The problem of talent and wealth outflow has raised pressing questions to the Chinese government, and a solution to this issue is yet to be determined. Popular destinations among Chinese emigrants Over the last decades, English speaking developed countries have been popular destinations for Chinese emigrants. In 2022 alone, the number of people from China naturalized as U.S. citizens had amounted to over 27,000 people, while nearly 68,000 had obtained legal permanent resident status as “green card” recipients. Among other popular immigration destinations for Chinese riches are Canada, Australia, Europe, and Singapore.

This dataset is about countries in Australia and New Zealand per year, featuring 3 columns: country, date, and net migration. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

Netherlands Number of Immigrants: Australia data was reported at 1,528.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,489.000 Person for 2016. Netherlands Number of Immigrants: Australia data is updated yearly, averaging 921.000 Person from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2017, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,528.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 504.000 Person in 1995. Netherlands Number of Immigrants: Australia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Netherlands. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Netherlands – Table NL.G005: Number of Immigrants: by Country.

This dataset presents the estimates of the internal migration statistics of Australia by Local Government Areas (LGA) following the 2011 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The dataset spans from the 2006-07 financial year up to the 2015-16 financial year.

Regional internal migration is the movement of people from one region to another within Australia (both interstate and intrastate). For example, it incorporates moves from a Local Government Area (LGA) to any other LGA within the country. Net regional internal migration is the net gain or loss of population through this movement.

The ABS has developed a new series of annual regional internal migration estimates (RIME) based on the 2011 edition of the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The Medicare and Defence data used for estimating interstate migration is now also used to estimate internal migration below the state/territory level. However, as Medicare and Defence change of address counts are supplied to the ABS by postcode a method was developed to convert these counts to SA2, the base spatial unit of the ASGS. The method used correspondences to convert to SA2, and adjustments were applied to account for known deficiencies in the Medicare and Defence data. A similar method was used to prepare RIME at the LGA level, based on 2011 boundaries.

This data is Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data (catalogue number: 3412.0) used with permission from the ABS.

For more information please visit the ABS Explanatory Notes.

Please note: RIME are not directly comparable with estimated resident populations (ERPs) because of the different methods and source data used to prepare each series. The combination of natural increase and net migration (internal and overseas) therefore may not correspond with change in ERP. AURIN has spatially enabled the original data.

Abstract

These data consist of a long-term follow-up of applicants to a migration visa lottery. Tongan households were surveyed as migrants in New Zealand, or non-migrants in Tonga. It was used to examine the long-term impacts of international migration by comparing immigrants who had successful ballot entries in a migration lottery program, and first moved almost a decade ago, with people who had unsuccessful entries into those same ballots. It was additionally used to study how migrating from a poor country to a rich country affects economic beliefs, preference parameters, and household decision-making efficiency. In a ten-year follow-up survey of applicants to a migration lottery program we elicit risk and time preferences and pro-market beliefs for the migrants and the unsuccessful applicants. The successful and the unsuccessful applicants are each linked to closest relative households, who would stay in the home country if the applicant moved, to play lab-in-the-field games that measure intra-family trust and the efficiency of intra-family decision-making.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers Tongans who applied to the 2002-05 Pacific Access Category migration visa program, along with linked households of their family members. This involved surveying in both New Zealand and Tonga (along with a small number of surveys of movers to third countries).

Analysis unit

Data are collected at both the individual and household level

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Our population of interest consists of entrants to the 2002 to 2005 PAC migration lotteries. There were a total of 4,696 principal applicants of whom 367 were randomly selected as ballot winners (figure 2). Official records provided by the New Zealand immigration authorities in late 2012 show that 307 of these winners (84%) had residency applications approved and had ever migrated to New Zealand. The remaining 60 ballot winners did not migrate and are thus non-compliers to the treatment of migration.

Our main survey involved an extensive face-to-face interview, which also collected anthropometrics, blood pressure, peak lung flow, and included lab-in-the-field games. Of the 307 principal applicants ever migrating to New Zealand, 133 completed the full survey between late 2013 and the end of 2014. In order to bolster our sample size, in early 2015 we fielded a shortened survey that did not include health measurements or the lab-in-field games. This was mainly done as a telephone interview and was designed to reach those who had on-migrated beyond New Zealand or were located in parts of New Zealand that were impractical for face-to-face interviewing, although we also learned, through snowball effects, of more migrants in our face-to-face survey area and gave them the short survey as well. Overall, 61 additional ballot winners who had ever migrated to New Zealand were given the short survey, including 11 who had now on-migrated to Australia (ten) and the UK (one). In total, we were able to survey 194 households with principal applicants who ever migrated to New Zealand after winning the ballot.

We had even less information available for the ballot losers and non-compliers since these individuals had not filled out residency applications. We therefore used the same surveying approach for these groups as we had in our previous survey, which was to sample from the same villages in Tonga from which our migrants originated. Out of 4329 ballot losers, 143 were administered the long form survey and 39 the short survey (of which nine had subsequently moved to New Zealand through alternative pathways, including by winning a later round of the PAC lottery). Finances limited us to this relatively small sample, but, based on our previous research, we judged that it would give us enough power to measure economically significant impacts. An advantage of surveying from the same origin villages is that we can implicitly control for any unobserved characteristics that vary spatially in Tonga. Finally, we have a small sample of nine non-compliers; six who received the long survey and three the short survey. This is out of a population of 60 non-compliers, which hence made it difficult to find many individuals in this group.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Four separate questionnaires were administered: - a survey for migrant households in New Zealand - a survey for non-migrant households in Tonga - a survey of linked partner households - a short survey

This dataset is about countries per year and is filtered where the country includes Australia, featuring 5 columns: agricultural land, alternative and nuclear energy, armed forces personnel, birth rate, and net migration. The preview is ordered by date (descending).

This project measures the restrictiveness of immigration policy for low-skill immigration in the 19 listed countries from the 19th century through to today. The measure is comparable across countries and across time. In addition, the sub-measures used to create the immigration policy variables are included as well.

Norway Immigration: Oceania: Australia data was reported at 342.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 334.000 Person for 2016. Norway Immigration: Oceania: Australia data is updated yearly, averaging 250.000 Person from Dec 1967 (Median) to 2017, with 51 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 469.000 Person in 2012 and a record low of 113.000 Person in 1979. Norway Immigration: Oceania: Australia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Norway. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Norway – Table NO.G006: Immigration: by Country.

In financial year 2023, it was estimated that 64.32 thousand more Chinese migrated to Australia than emigrated. This marked a significant increase in Chinese net migration compared to 14.72 thousand people in the previous financial year.

The Chinese community in Australia

Chinese migration to Australia dates back to the Australian gold rush of the 1850s and 60s, however, exclusionary migration policies up until the 1970’s restricted migration from China for some time. Since then, immigration from China has increased steadily and Chinese migrants now represent Australia’s third largest migrant group after the UK and India. The 2016 Australian census showed that Mandarin was the second most common language spoken at home in Australia, and Cantonese came in fourth. The Australian Chinese community also includes a significant proportion of the international students from China choosing to study in Australia.

Chinese investment in Australia

Although foreign investment in Australia still comes primarily from its traditional trade partners, the United States and the United Kingdom, Chinese investment has been increasing in recent years. The bulk of Chinese investment in Australia goes toward commercial real estate and agribusiness. In New South Wales alone, real estate investment from China totaled almost 1.25 billion Australian dollars, which accounted for around a half of all Chinese real estate investment in the country. By comparison, in 2019 the import value of Australian food products to China displayed yet another year on year increase, totaling more than two billion U.S. dollars.

Sweden Number of Immigrants: Female: Australia data was reported at 447.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 422.000 Person for 2016. Sweden Number of Immigrants: Female: Australia data is updated yearly, averaging 324.500 Person from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2017, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 447.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 263.000 Person in 2005. Sweden Number of Immigrants: Female: Australia data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistics Sweden. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Sweden – Table SE.G009: Number of Immigrants: by Sex and Country.

For the Longitudinal Survey of Immigration to Australia, two pilot studies, collectively known as the Prototype Survey, were undertaken with the purpose to research the experiences, concerns and needs of recently migrated peoples to Australia. Respondents, and in some cases their spouses, were asked questions on the migration process (i.e. had they migrated before, why they chose Australia, had they been sponsored to come out to Australia); occupation status, assets, income, and type of dwelling before and after migration; expectations and opinions of living in Australia; social activities; their ability to speak english and details about classes taken to learn English; the type and source of information requested before migration (ie, job prospects, recognition of qualifications); return visits to their home country; citizenship; the household budget; financial help received and given; changes in residence; unemployment and health. Background variables included age, sex, marital status, citizenship status; country of birth; date of arrival in Australia; occupation status, and highest qualification.

Historical Migration Statistics brings together migration statistics from 1945 through to the present day. \r \r In interpreting these statistics it should be noted that the classification of regions and country names has changed over time and that the way migration statistics are reported has also changed. From October 1945 to June 1959, migration statistics included permanent and long-term arrivals. Today, we have various components - the Migration Program, Humanitarian Program and Non-Program migration (mainly New Zealand citizens) reported as permanent additions to Australia's resident population.\r

Abstract

Previous surveys on labor migration from Pacific Island countries are often cross-sectional, not readily available, and focusing on one migration scheme, country, or issue and hence incompatible. Such limitation of existing data restricts analysis of a range of policy-relevant issues that present themselves over the migrants' life cycle such as those on migration pathways, long-term changes in household livelihood, and trajectory of migrants’ labor market outcomes, despite the significant impacts of labor migration on the economy of the Pacific Island countries. To address these shortfalls in the Pacific migration data landscape, the PLMS is designed to be longitudinal, spanning multiple labor sending and receiving countries and collecting omnibus information on both migrants, their households and non-migrant households. The survey allows for disaggregation and reliable comparative analysis both within and across countries and labor mobility schemes. This open-access and high-quality data will facilitate more research about the Pacific migration, help inform and improve Pacific migration policy deliberations, and engender broader positive change in the Pacific data ecosystem.

Geographic coverage

Tonga: Tongatapu, ‘Eua, Vava’u, Ha’apai, Ongo Niua. Vanuatu: Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea, Torba. Kiribati: Abaiang, Abemama, Aranuka, Arorae, Banaba, Beru, Butaritari, Kiritimati, Maiana, Makin, Marakei, Nikunau, Nonouti, North Tabiteuea, North Tarawa, Onotoa, South Tabiteuea, South Tarawa, Tabuaeran, Tamana, Teraina.

Analysis unit

• Households in Kiribati, Tonga, and Vanuatu.
• Temporary migrant workers from Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu who participated in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme in Australia and the Recognised Seasonal Employers scheme in New Zealand

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sampling frame: The PLMS sample was designed based on a Total Survey Error framework, seeking to minimize errors and bias at every stage of the process throughout preparation and implementation.

The worker sample frame is an extensive list of approximately 11,600 migrant workers from Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu who had participated in the RSE and PALM schemes. Due to the different modes of interviews, sampling strategies for the face-to-face segment of the household survey in Tonga was different from the rest of the surveys implemented via phone interviews. The face-to-face segment of the household survey selected households using Probability Proportional to Size sampling based on the latest population census listing and our worker sample frame, with technical inputs from the Tonga Statistics Department. The phone-based segment of the household survey used a combination of Probability Proportional to Size sampling based on the existing sample frame and random digit dialing. The design of the sample benefited from technical inputs from the Tonga Statistics Departments and the Vanuatu National Statistics Office, as well as World Bank staff from Kiribati.

As participation in the survey is voluntary, a worker might agree to participate while their household did not, and vice versa. Because of this, the survey did not achieve a complete one-to-one match between interviewed workers and sending households. Of all interviewed respondents, 418 workers in the worker survey are linked to their households in the household survey. However, after removing incomplete interviews, 341 worker-household pairs remain. They are matched by either pre-assigned serial ID numbers or contact details collected in the household and worker surveys during the post-fieldwork data cleaning process.

Sampling deviation

The survey was originally planned to be conducted face-to-face and was so for most of the collection of household data in Tonga. However, due to COVID-19, it was switched to phone-based mode and the survey instruments were adjusted accordingly to better suit the phone-based data collection while ensuring data quality. In particular, the household questionnaire was shortened, and sampling strategy changed to a combination of Probability Proportional to Size sampling based on the existing household listing and random digit dialing.

Compared to in-person data collection, the usual caveats of potential biases in phone-based survey related to disproportional phone ownership and connectivity apply here. The random digit dialing approach provides data representative of the phone-owning population. Yet due to lack of information, it is difficult to judge whether sending households in Kiribati, Tonga, and Vanuatu are more or less likely to own a phone and/or respond positively to survey request than non-sending households.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Research instrument

• The questionnaires were jointly designed in English by the World Bank and researchers at the Development Policy Centre, Australian National University. They were translated into Bislama, Gilbertese and Tongan, scripted into CAPI/CATI programs, tested and piloted before being finalized. The design of the questionnaires and the samples benefited from technical inputs from the Tonga Statistics Departments, Pacific consultants, and academic experts specialized in Pacific labor mobility and remittances.
• Enumerators are native speakers from the labor-sending countries covered in the survey and were trained to elicit information asked in the questionnaire in local languages.
• The phone-based household questionnaire is moderately shorter than the in-person version.

Cleaning operations

The published data have been cleaned and anonymized. All incomplete interview records have been removed from the final datasets. The anonymization process followed the theory of Statistical Disclosure Control for microdata, aiming to minimize re-identification risk, i.e. the risk that the identity of an individual (or a household) described by a specific record could be determined with a high level of confidence. The anonymization process employs the k-anonymity method to calculate the re-identification risk. Risk measurement, anonymization and utility measurement for the PLMS were done using sdcMicro, an add-on package for the statistical software R for Statistical Disclosure Control (SDC) of microdata.

Since the household questionnaire was shortened when the survey switched from face-to-face to phone-based data collection, there face-to-face datasets and phone-based datasets are not identical, but they are consistent and can be harmonized. The mapping guide enclosed in this publication provides a guide to data users to wish to harmonize them.

Household expenditure variables in the household dataset and individual wage variable in the household member dataset are in USD. Local currencies were converted into USD based on the following exchange rates: 1 Tongan Pa'anga= 0.42201412 USD; 1 Vanuatu Vatu= 0.0083905322 USD; 1 Kiribati dollar= 0.66942499 USD.

Response rate

Face-to-face segment of the PLMS household survey: not applicable. Phone-based segment of the PLMS household survey: 26%. The PLMS Worker survey: 31%

This document describes the background and methodology of four surveys under the general study title Issues in Multicultural Australia. The four surveys are: a general sample of the population; non-English speaking born immigrants in general (the NESB sample); persons born in Australia whose father or mother was born in a non-English speaking country (the second generation sample); and persons who migrated to Australia since July 1981 from non-English speaking countries (the new arrivals sample). The general of this study are: to examine multiculturalism as a policy, through the experience of Australians; as a set of beliefs, through their attitudes; and as an aspect of cultural maintenance, through their perceptions. The study concentrates on three broad themes. First, it examines the attitudes of the Australian and overseas born towards multiculturalism, focussing in particular on views about the maintenance of customs, ways of life and patterns of behaviour among immigrants. Second, the barriers which exist to providing full access and equity to overseas born groups are analysed, principally in the fields of education, jobs and in the provision of general health and welfare programmes and services. Third, the study looks at levels of participation in the social and political spheres in community, culture and work related organisations, and in the use of the political process to remedy problems and grievances. Separate sections of the questionnaire deal with the respondent's background - country of birth and parents' country of birth, father's occupation and educational level; language - English language ability, languages spoken, use of own language, ethnicity - identification with ethnic groups, government aid to such groups, religious observance; education - school leaving age, qualifications obtained, recognition of overseas qualifications, transition to employment; current job - job status, occupation , industry, working conditions, trade union membership, gross income, problems looking for work; spouse - country of birth, education and qualifications, occupation and industry, income and income sources; immigration - attitudes to immigration policy, opportunities for immigrants, social distance from various ethnic groups, and attitudes to authority; family and social networks - numbers of children, siblings in Australia, numbers of close friends in Australia, neighbours; citizenship - citizenship status, participation in political matters and interest in politics, trust in government; and multiculturalism - views on what multiculturalism means, and its importance to Australian society.

According to a survey conducted in Australia in March 2024, 67 percent of the surveyed adults in the country said that they support relaxations on visa requirements for citizens of Pacific Island countries. In contrast, 31 percent of the respondents stated that they oppose relaxations on visa requirements for citizens of Pacific Island nations. Australia’s Pacific Island population Australia is home to a diverse group of people, from many different backgrounds and nationalities. There has been a large increase in the number of people with Pacific Island heritage in Australia in recent years, amounting to nearly 340 thousand people in 2021. Fijians and Samoans constitute the largest proportion of people with Pacific Island heritage living in Australia. The effect of climate on immigration The Pacific Island nations are some of the most vulnerable places on Earth when it comes to the effects of climate change. Many businesses were affected by extreme weather events in the Pacific Islands in 2024, not to mention the many citizens who call the islands their home. Many people in Australia recognize the issues that these Pacific Islanders face, and this is reflected in the public opinion on potential Australian federal climate change policies, such as facilitating migration for citizens of vulnerable Pacific Island countries.