Australia has become more diverse and secular in the past five years, with official data showing that migration rates are rising and far fewer people identify as Christians.
The latest Census data, released Tuesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, sheds new light on how modern Australia is changing, from our rapidly growing and aging population to seismic generational shifts.
For the first time in history, the Census also asked Australians about chronic health conditions, showing that many suffer from multiple long-term conditions.
Statistician David Gruen, head of the ABS, says more than 25.5 million Australians shared their stories with the nation’s latest five-year snapshot, captured during lockdowns in 2021.
“Every stat tells a story,” said Dr. Green Tuesday.
“This accurate and valuable data shows who we are as a nation and how we have changed.”
Here are five charts that capture the key changes.
Australia is getting more diverse.
The 2021 census shows that nearly half of Australians have a parent born abroad (48.2 percent), while more than a quarter (27.6 percent) were born abroad.
It is the latest chapter in a multicultural journey that has changed dramatically over the past two decades, with migrants from Asia now much larger than those from Europe.
Above all, the data shows that cultural diversity is widespread across Australia – more than 250 ancestors and 350 languages were represented in the Census.
… and secular
Australians’ attitudes to religion are changing just as quickly as the diversity of the population.
Two decades ago, more than 70 percent of Australians told the Census that they were Christian – today, that figure has fallen to just 43.9 percent.
The biggest cause has been a huge increase in the number of Australians telling the ABS they do not identify with any religion, in addition to the continued growth of non-Christian faith across the country.
Our population continues to grow.
Australia’s population growth has stalled during the pandemic, but we are still far more people than we were five years ago.
With more than 25.4 million people participating, the number of Australian censuses in 2021 will be more than double that of 50 years ago, the ABS said.
During that period, New South Wales has remained the largest state, with Victoria a short distance away and Queensland in third position.
More than 80 percent of the country lives in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, and the ACT.
But there is a generational change going on.
In addition to solid population growth, Australia is experiencing a remarkable generational shift – a changing of the guard with the number of Millennials (aged 25 to 39) matching the number of Baby Boomers (aged 55 to 75) for the first time.
The two generations are the largest in Australia. Each accounts for 21.5 percent of the population, but their members lead very different lives.
The ABS said that millennials mostly study or work today, while boomers are retiring and spending more time caring for grandchildren.
At the edge of Australia’s generation gap, the youngest Alpha generation (aged 0-9) now outnumbers the oldest, the Interwar generation (aged 75 and older).
Revealed: Australia ravaged by chronic health problems
For the first time in history, the Census has tracked the number of Australians living with long-term health problems.
The data is startling, with 8 million census participants revealing they have chronic problems.
Mental health (2.2 million), arthritis (2.1 million), and asthma (2 million) were the most prominent.
But the numbers also show that many Australians have multiple long-term health problems.
You can read more about the 2021 census here and see the wealth of data for yourself.
