India has overtaken England as Australia’s biggest source of overseas-born migrants with the number of people from that part of South Asia doubling in a decade thanks to a surge in international students, new figures show.
For the first time since Australia became a nation in 1901, the English are no longer the most common foreigners, with 32 per cent of Australia’s population born overseas — the highest since 1891.
Asian nations made up seven of the top ten nations for country of birth, other than Australia, with India, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia also on the list.
The number from one small country, Nepal, quadrupled in a decade, owing to a big influx of international students, with The Australian Population Research Institute’s president Bob Birrell saying university enrolments explained Asian nations dominating the ranks of overseas-born residents in Australia.
“The main driver of population growth in Australia is stemming from the overseas student industry,” he told The Nightly.
“These estimates are for residents and not for citizens or voters — there are now millions of temporary migrants in Australia, mainly from Asia, most of whom are not going to be able to obtain citizenship or permanent residence so the impact on our society through voting and a larger participation in our institutions is being slowed down significantly.”
New Zealand and South Africa were the only non-Asian nations, other than England, to make the top ten with continental Europe failing to make the cut since Italy dropped out in 2024.
Australia’s Kiwi neighbour and England were also the only nations with an Anglo-Celtic majority to still be a major source of migration.
India was No.1 last year when it came to the country of birth of its foreign residents, with 971,020 recorded in 2025 — more than double the 449,040 level of a decade earlier.
Those born in India made up 3.5 per cent of Australia’s 27.6 million people, soaring from a 1.9 per cent share in 2015.
“In the case of the sub-continent of India, these are people who integrate fairly well, they often have some elementary English language training before they get here and so they’re quite capable of performing service roles such as in supermarkets,” Dr Birrell said.
During that time, the number of Australian residents born in England declined to 970,950, down from 1.007 million, putting it in second place.
The English-born made up 3.5 per cent of the Australian population in 2025, down from 4.2 per cent just a decade ago.
England had consistently topped the charts since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began publishing annual data on the overseas-born population in 2011.
But this part of the UK had been the biggest annual source of overseas migrants since Australia conducted its first Census in 1911, a decade after Federation.
China was the third most common source of immigration with 731,540 residents born there in 2025, up 43.8 per cent from 508,870 a decade earlier.
New Zealand was in fourth place with 637,680 from there, up from 575,430.
The Philippines was fifth with 412,530 born there, up 71.1 per cent from 241,130.
Vietnam was sixth with 326,630 from there, up from 235,590.
South Africa was seventh with 229,950 born there, up from 177,390.
Nepal was eighth with 213,580 – with the number quadrupling from 50,150 a decade earlier as a major source of international students.
The number from Sri Lanka rose to 184,800, up from 119,700, as the number born in Malaysia, the only Muslim-majority nation in the top 10, rose to 184,320, up from 143,420.
POPULATION BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH
Overseas-born migrants numbered 8.8 million in 2025 – making up almost a third of Australia’s 27.6 million residents.
At Harris Park, next to Parramatta’s central business district in Sydney’s west, 45 per cent of residents told the 2021 Census they were born in India.
The Parramatta city polling booth last year gave Labor 70 per cent of the vote after preferences in the Federal seat of Parramatta, but the overlapping State electorate of the same name voted Liberal at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 elections, suggesting areas with a high proportion of Indian voters can swing both ways.
In the Northern Territory, Indian-born MP Jinson Charls serves at the Country Liberal Party Minister for Multicultural Affairs, having migrated to Australia in 2011.
The ABS figures were released days after the Department of Education revealed China to be the biggest source of international students in January 2026 (23 per cent), followed by India (17 per cent), Nepal (9 per cent), Vietnam (4 per cent) and Bangladesh (4 per cent).
https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/india-overtakes-england-as-australias-biggest-source-of-overseas-born-migrants-abs-figures-show–c-22208784
