This overview of cultural and linguistic diversity provides 2006 Census data on a range of ethnicity related demographics including country of birth, ancestry, language spoken at home, proficiency in spoken English and religious affiliation for Western Australia. This profile has been produced for researchers, multicultural communities, government agencies, students and those in the broader community concerned with designing and delivering services that are accessible and equitable.

The 2006 Census of Population and Housing results released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirm that Australia is a nation of rich cultural and linguistic diversity with one in five people (21.9%) born overseas and three in twenty (15.7%) speaking a language other than English at home.

The usual resident population of Australia at the 2006 Census was 19,855,288, an increase of 5.8% since 2001. In comparison, Western Australia had a usual resident population of 1,959,087, representing an increase of 7.2% since the previous Census.

Of all the States and Territories, Western Australia continued to have the largest proportion born overseas, with more than half a million people (531, 7437 persons) or just over one quarter of the total population (27.1%) born overseas. Almost half of the total population (49.2%, 962,892 persons) had one or both parents born overseas.

Perth had the second highest proportion of people born overseas of all Australian capital cities after Sydney (31.3% and 31.7% respectively).

Usual residents who spoke a language other than English at home (223,166 persons) accounted for 11.4 percent of the Western Australian population.

Further evidence of the cultural diversity within the Western Australian population is provided by ancestry data. At the 2006 Census, almost two-thirds (65.5%) of the State’s usual residents indicated that they had an ancestry other than Australian while 56 percent of residents who had both parents born in Australia indicated they had an ancestry other than Australian.

People from more than 200 different countries live, work and study in Western Australia, speaking as many as 270 languages and identifying with more than 100 religious faiths.

The 2006 Census of Population and Housing and settlement data provides the following snapshot of cultural and linguistic diversity in Western Australia:

• Of the State’s usual resident population, 27.1 percent (531,747 persons) were born overseas. Almost half the population (49.2%) had one or both parents born overseas.
• Perth had the second highest proportion of people born overseas of all Australian capital cities after Sydney (31.3% and 31.7% respectively).
• There were 58,711 people (3% of the total State population) who identified as being of Indigenous origin.
• The three most common ancestries reported were English (30.9%), Australian (29.8%) and Irish (6.6%).
• There were 223,166 usual residents of Western Australia (11.4% of the total State population) who reported speaking a language other than English at home. This figure had increased from 9.9 percent of the total resident population in 2001.
• Of the total Western Australian population who spoke a language other than English at home, there was a relatively high proficiency in English with 84.1 percent reporting that they spoke English well or very well.
• Almost one third of the overseas born (160,651 persons, or 30.2%) reported speaking a language other than English at home.
• Of the overseas born population who spoke a language other than English at home, 82.6 percent reported speaking English well or very well.
• The Western Australian population is diverse with respect to religious affiliation. Almost six in ten usual residents (59.3%) identified with Christianity; 22.9 percent stated they had no religious affiliation while a further 12.8 percent did not respond to this (optional) question in the Census.
• In Western Australia, the unemployment rate for the Australian born population decreased from 7.4 percent (44,569 persons) in 2001 to 3.7 percent (23,708 persons) in 2006. In comparison, the unemployment rate for persons born overseas decreased from 7.7 percent (21,350 persons) in 2001 to 3.9 percent (12,064 persons) in 2006.
• The labour force participation rate for the Australian born population in Western Australia increased from 67.5 percent in 2001 to 69.7 percent in 2006. This represents an increase of 41,529 persons. The labour force participation rate for those born overseas increased from 60.1 percent to 62.7 percent over the same period, an increase of 29,545 persons.
• Western Australia continues to receive high levels of skilled migrants. In the 2006/7 financial year, Western Australia ranked third behind New South Wales and Victoria in terms of intake in the Skilled Migration stream, receiving 8,352 (14%) of Australia’s skilled migrants. In the last three financial years from 2004/5, Western Australia received a total of 25,384 (15%) of Australia’s 168,937 Skilled Migrants. *
• In regard to humanitarian entrants, in the 2006/7 financial year, Western Australia ranked fourth, behind New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland, receiving 1,557 (13%) of the 12,122 migrants who entered Australia under the Humanitarian (Refugee; Special Assistance; Special Humanitarian Program) Stream. In the last three financial years from 2004/5, Western Australia received a total of 4,732 (13%) of Australia’s 37,329 humanitarian entrants. *

* These figures do not include migrants and refugees entering through Onshore migration programs.
   Data obtained from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, settlement report web site.

Where do the overseas born come from?

In Western Australia the percentage of people born overseas (27%) has not changed since the 2001 Census although the overall number has increased by 35,955. For usual residents born outside Australia, nearly one third were born in the United Kingdom, with New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Malaysia and India comprising the other major countries of birth.

Figure 1 shows the top ten countries of birth for the overseas born residents of Western Australia in 2001 and 2006.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Who speaks a language other than English at home?

Among the overseas-born, there was a high proficiency in the English language with 93.7 percent indicating they spoke only English at home or spoke English well or very well.

Figure 2 shows the number of Australian born and overseas born persons in each age group who spoke only English or a language other than English at home.

Figure 2: Birthplace, Language Spoken at Home and Proficiency in Spoken English(a), Western Australia, 2006

1. Excludes visitors from overseas. Relates to persons usually resident in Western Australia.
2. Total includes Language at Home Not stated, Inadequately described and Non-verbal so described.
3. Total includes Proficiency in spoken English Not stated

The proportion of the population born overseas varied across the age groups. While 27.1% of all Western Australians in 2006 were born overseas, the comparable proportion for seniors (persons aged 60 years and over) was 41 percent.

• Of the 1,959,087 usual residents of Western Australia, 223,166 (11.4%) reported speaking a language other than English at home. This represents an increase of 20,121 persons since 2001 when the comparable proportion was 9.9 percent.
• More than half a million (531,747) residents were born overseas, of whom 160,651 (30.2%) spoke a language other than English at home.
• Of the 1,279,217 residents of this State who were born in Australia, nearly one in twenty (56,638 persons or 4.4%) spoke a language other than English.
• In total, 32,553 Western Australians (1.7%) reported speaking English either not well or not at all. This proportion was higher for the overseas born population (5%) while, for the overseas born aged 65 years and over, the comparable proportion was 9.4 percent.

Of the overseas-born in the Western Australian population aged 60 years and over2, almost one in two (49.0%) was from the United Kingdom while one in ten (9.9%) was from Italy.

A slightly higher proportion of this age group also reported speaking a language other than English at home (12.6% compared with 11.4% for the total population).

For young people (aged 12- 25 years)3, 17.1 percent were born overseas and 11.5 percent spoke a language other than English at home.

The proportion of overseas born who reported speaking English not well or not at all was lower for Western Australia (5%) than for Australia as a whole (10%).

Figure 3: Age Profile of Overseas Born (a) Western Australia and Australia, 2006

Figure 3 provides an age profile of the overseas born for Western Australia and Australia at the 2006 Census.

• While the age profiles of the overseas born at the state and national level were similar, there was a slightly greater proportion of Western Australian migrants in the middle age ranges (35-64 years).
• Australian migrants as a whole were more likely to be in the younger (15-34) or older (65 and over) age groups.

Of the 223,166 persons who reported speaking a language other than English at home, 48 percent were male and 52 percent were female. A very high proportion of these males (85.9%) reported that they spoke English well or very well. The comparable proportion for females was slightly lower (82.5%).

In every age group except 0-14 years, a greater proportion of men than women reported a high level of proficiency in spoken English. The disparity was greatest in the older age groups, with 73.7 percent of males aged 65 years and over speaking English well or very well compared with only 62.6 percent of females.

For both males and females, the 15-24 age group had the highest proportion who spoke English well or very well (93.3% and 92.7% respectively). This proportion declined with age, dropping to 59.6 percent for males and 48.4 percent for females in the age group 85 years and over.

Figure 4 provides an age-sex profile of Western Australian residents who spoke a language other than English at home but spoke English well or very well.

Figure 4: Persons Speaking a Language Other than English at Home Who Spoke English Well or Very Well (a), Western Australia, 2006

In 2006, 1,603,041 Western Australians (81.8%) reported that they spoke only English at home.

After English, the Chinese languages (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien and Hakka) were most commonly spoken at home (35,690 persons, or 1.8% of the total resident population). Italian was the next most commonly spoken language (32,895 persons, 1.7%), followed by Vietnamese (13,246 persons, 0.7%), Arabic (7,696 persons, 0.4%) and German (7,212 persons, 0.4%). Indonesian, Polish, Croatian, Spanish and Macedonian were all spoken at home by more than 5,000 persons, with each of these languages accounting for approximately 0.3% of all languages spoken in Western Australia.

• In 2006, the Kimberley Statistical Division had the largest proportion of usual residents speaking a language other than English at home (14.9%); however this proportion has declined from 20.0% in 1996.
• After the Kimberley, the Perth and Pilbara Statistical Divisions had the next highest proportions of residents speaking a language other than English (13.7% and 9.5% respectively).
• In the Kimberley Statistical Division, Australian Indigenous languages were spoken at home by 12.4 percent of the resident population. Australian Indigenous languages accounted for almost half (42.8%) of all languages other than English spoken in the Kimberley.

Figure 5: Percentage of Usual Residents who Spoke a Language Other Than English at Home, Statistical Divisions, Western Australia (a), 1996-2006

Figure 5 shows the percentage of all usual residents who spoke a language other than English at home, for the nine Statistical Divisions in Western Australia, at the 1996, 2001 and 2006 Censuses.

Where do the overseas born live?

• The Perth Statistical Division4 continues to have the highest proportion of overseas born persons. In 2006, almost one third of the usual resident population (452,891 persons) of Perth was born overseas.
• Between 2001 and 2006, the proportion of the overseas born population increased in the South Eastern, Midlands, Upper Great Southern, Lower Great Southern and South West Statistical Divisions. However, there was a decline in the overseas born populations of Perth, Kimberley, Pilbara and Central.
• In total, there were 77,087 overseas born persons (14.5%) residing in non-metropolitan Western Australia in 2006. This represents a 7.6 percent increase in overseas born persons living outside the Perth metropolitan area since the 2001 Census.

Figure 6: Percentage of Overseas Born, Statistical Divisions, Western Australia (a), 1996-2006

Figure 6 shows the proportion of overseas born persons resident in each of the nine Statistical Divisions in 1996, 2001 and 2006.

How diverse are religious beliefs?

Figure 7 provides a breakdown of religious diversity for Western Australia between 1996 and 2006.

Religious diversity is an important and inseparable part of Western Australia’s cultural diversity. As indicated in the table below, religious diversity in Western Australia has increased since 1996.

• In 2006, six out of ten Western Australians (59.3%) reported an affiliation with Christianity (down from 65.7% in 1996 and 63.2% in 2001).
• After Christianity, the next most commonly reported religions were Buddhism (1.8%), Islam (1.2%) and Hinduism (0.4%).
• The numbers of adherents to Buddhism (34,354 persons) and Islam (24,188 persons) had almost doubled since 1996 while, over the same period, those affiliated with Hinduism had increased by 224% from 3,640 to 8,160 persons.
• Other religious affiliations with more than 1,000 adherents in 2006 included Judaism and Sikhism.
• The proportion of the population with no religious affiliation increased from 19.8 percent in 2001 to 22.9 percent in 2006.

1. The broad definition of cultural diversity used in this Information Sheet and that of the ABS census data varies from that used in the Western Australian Equity and Diversity Plan for the Public Sector Workforce 2006-2009. The ABS uses all overseas born in its statistics relating to culturally diverse people whereas the Equity and Diversity Plan targets minority groups such as those from non-English speaking countries.
2. The age category and statistics mentioned for seniors are those provided and defined by the Office for Senior Interests and Carers. The age breakdown for seniors differs from the standard age breakdowns provided by ABS in the figure 2 table.
3. The age category and statistics mentioned for young people are those provided and defined by the Office for Youth. The age breakdown for young people differs from the standard age breakdowns provided by ABS in the figure 2 table.
4. Statistical Divisions are unit boundaries defined by the Australian Standard Geographic Classification and used for censuses and surveys within the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Statistical Divisions are the largest unit within each State or Territory. Within Western Australia there are nine statistical divisions – Perth, South Western, Lower Great Southern, Upper Great Southern, Midlands, South Eastern, Central, Pilbara and Kimberley.

Disclaimer
This publication has been prepared by the Office of Multicultural Interests to provide general statistical information on cultural diversity in Western Australia. The information contained herein is derived from sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of publishing. It is provided solely on the basis that readers will be responsible for making their own assessment and for verifying all relevant representations, statements and information.
© April 2008 Office of Multicultural Interests