India now leads
The proportion of Australia's population born overseas rose to 32 per cent in 2025, which was the highest share since the gold rush (the foreign born share was last this high back in 1891).
Source: ABS
In a landmark change, for the first time since 1788 England was not the most common overseas country of birth.
At the time of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, India didn't even feature on the top 10 overseas countries of birth at just 90,000, but now at 971,000 is top of the chart.
Source: ABS
While the number of English born and Italian born declining over the past decade, there has also been a resurgence in Chinese-born Australians (up to 731,500).
I noted on a recent blog post that Australia's relationship with China has gradually been repaired since 2018, and this is being reflected in more tourism and short-term arrivals.
Over the past 10 years the number of Indian-born persons in Australia has comfortably more than doubled from 449,000 to 971,000.
Source: ABS
The largest impact by far of Indian migration has been seen in Melbourne.
In other states, there are variously dominant overseas-born populations.
Looking ahead, it's clearly going to be an Asian century for Australian demographics.
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