This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Australia’s rapidly-changing population is more godless, more Asian and far less likely to own a home outright, the results of the 2016 census show.

The first full results from the census, released on Tuesday, revealed an ageing Australian population with huge shifts in the things its citizens have in common. The proportion of those who own their home outright has fallen dramatically, and for the first time, the majority of residents who were born overseas now hail from Asia, not Europe.

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Since 1966, when the proportion of the population who marked “no religion” on their census was just 0.8%, the number that now mark “no religion” has swelled to 29.6%, nearly double the 16% recorded in 2001. That category now accounts for a higher proportion of the population than any single religious denomination for the first time. The “no religion” category includes atheist, secularists, and those who are agnostic. Census officials noted that while the question on religious affiliation had changed slightly, the findings were still significant.

Over that period since 1966, the proportion of the population who self-identify as Christian, combining all Christian denominations, has fallen from 88.2% to 52.1%.

Australia remains a predominantly English-speaking country, with 72.7% of people reporting they speak only English at home, down from 76.8% since the last census in 2011.



Mandarin is the second-most common language spoken at home, accounting for 2.5% of the population (up from 1.6% in 2011), followed by Arabic, at 1.4% (up from 1.3% in 2011) and Cantonese, at 1.2%.

Just over a quarter of Australia’s residents (6,150,191 people, or 26%) say they were born overseas, with England remaining the most common country of birth other than Australia.

But for the first time in the nation’s history, the majority of residents who were born overseas come from Asia - with China, India and the Philippines now ranking in the top five - dislodging Europe as the dominant reservoir of migrants.

Of residents born overseas, English-born residents remain the biggest share, with 907,750 people (3.9% of the population) followed by New Zealand with 518,466 people (2.2%). But China, with 509,555 people (2.2%), India, with 455,389 people (1.9%), and the Philippines, with 232,386 people (1%), have gained ground.

More than 1.3 million new migrants have moved to Australia since 2011, with China (191,000) and India (163,000) being the most common countries of birth of new arrivals in that time.

The release of the 2016 census follows an embarrassing failure for the Bureau of Statistics on census night last year, which sparked the #censusfail hashtag.

The online census system crashed when millions of Australians tried to log on to the website, leaving ABS officials red-faced.

The ABS had to assure users that they would not be fined for not completing the census on census night. Users were given another month to complete the form, provided it was filled out with information accurate for census night.

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The debacle came after the census had already faced intense scrutiny, and heavy criticism, after ABS officials admitted they planned to retain names and addresses in the census for four years – up from 18 months – and link datasets together. Several senators were among those who vowed they would not give the ABS their name, despite the threat of fines of $180 per day for not completing it.

David Kalisch, the head of the ABS, said its independent assurance panel, which was established after the #censusFail controversy to review the quality of the 2016 census data, found the data was high quality and could be used with confidence.

“The 2016 census had a response rate of 95.1% and a net undercount of 1%, meaning the quality is comparable to both previous Australians censuses and censuses in other countries, such as New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom,” Kalisch said.

“The ABS undertook a range of quality checks, including a thorough post enumeration survey, to ensure the data can be trusted.”

The census shows Australia’s resident count on census night was 23,401,892, up 8.8% in five years, from 21,507,719 in 2011.

It means the estimated resident population – including people who were travelling abroad on census night – has grown to more than 24.4 million. That figure also includes an estimate of the number of births and deaths, and net migration, that has occurred in the 10 months since the census was taken.

ABS officials say Australia is now at an interesting migration “tipping point”, where the number of first-generation residents (making up 28.4% of the population born in Australia) and second-generation residents (making up 20.9%) is almost equal to the number of third-generation residents (50.7%).



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The median age of Australians has also risen slightly between 2011 and 2016, from 37 to 38.

The proportion of men has decreased slightly since 2011, from 49.4% to 49.3%, while the proportion of women has risen from 50.6% to 50.7%.

It is 50 years since the 1967 referendum changed Australia’s constitution to include Indigenous Australians in the census population count.

The 2016 census records the proportion of people reporting as having Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin accounts for 2.8% of the population. With 649,171 people indicating they have Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin, the recorded population size has increased by 18.4% since 2011, and has nearly doubled since 1996.

The face of Australian home ownership has changed dramatically. In 1991, 41.1% of householders owned their homes outright but that figure has dropped to 31%. Over the same period the number of renters has risen from 26.9% to 30.9%, while those who have a mortgage has increased from 27.5% to 34.5%.

The data shows a significant number of households are in financial stress, defined as households spending more than 30% of their monthly income on mortgage repayments or rent.

Nationally, the proportion of households where rent payments are 30%, or greater, of household income, has risen from 10.4% to 11.5% since 2011.

Households where mortgage payments are 30%, or greater, is currently 7.2%, down from 9.9% since 2011.

The median household rent (weekly) has increased from $285 to $335 since 2011, while the median household mortgage repayment (monthly) has decreased slightly in that time, from $1,800 to $1,755.

Despite concerns in some quarters about the institution of marriage, the proportion of Australians who are married, separated, divorced, or never married, has barely moved since 2011.



The proportion of the population aged over 15 who are married is 48.1%, down slightly from 48.7% in 2011, while the proportion who are divorced is 8.5% (up ever-so-slightly from 8.4%).

The proportion of those who are separated, 3.2% (up from 3%), and who have never married, 5.2% (down from 5.5%) has not changed much in the last five years.

When it comes to family composition, couples with children (44.7% of families, up from 44.6% in 2011) still dominate. They are followed by couples without children (37.8%, remaining stable), single parent families (15.8%, down from 15.9%), and other family types (1.7%, remaining stable).



New South Wales remains our most populous state, with 7,480,228 people counted on census night, ahead of Victoria in second place (5,926,624 people) and Queensland in third (4,703,193 people).

But the home of the nation’s capital – the Australian Capital Territory – experienced the largest population growth of any state or territory over the past five years, adding more than 40,000 new residents, up 11%.

Greater Sydney remains the largest population centre, with 4,823,991 people counted. Around 1,656 new people have arrived in the city every week since the last census.

But Greater Melbourne is closing in fast with 4,485,211 people, increasing by around 1,859 people every week since 2011.

There is a record number of same-sex couples in Australia, nearly 47,000, with the number of people declaring themselves in such relationships jumping by 39% since 2011.