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In 2011 the Census reveals that 26 per cent of Australia's population was born overseas and a further 20 per cent had at least one overseas-born parent, while 53 per cent are third-generation Australians; those who have grandparents born overseas.
The top five countries of birth of overseas Australians:
UK – 21%
New Zealand – 9.1%
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China – 6%
India – 5.6%
Italy – 3.5%
More than three quarters (76.8%) of the population only speak English at home, while the most commonly spoken languages other than English are Mandarin (1.6%), Italian (1.4%), Arabic (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%) and Greek (1.2%)
Where population growth is concerned, there was an 8.3 per cent increase in dwellings nationwide, with a 14.3 per cent growth in Western Australia, the highest of the states and territories, followed by Queensland.
Population: State-by-state:
WA grew 14.3% - 2,239,171
QLD grew 11% - 4,332,737
NT grew 9.9% - 211,943
VIC grew 8.5% - 5,354,040
NSW grew 5.6% - 6,917,656
SA grew 5.4% - 1,596,570
TAS grew 4% - 495,351
Full coverage: Census analysis
Nine of the ten biggest local government areas were also in Western Australia, the ABS's Andrew Henderson said, predominantly in small, regional communities.
Meanwhile, rents were up 49.2 per cent in the inter-census period.
INDIGENOUS
On matters of religion and ethnicity, there was a 21.5 per cent increase in the numbers of people identifying as indigenous, Mr Henderson said. There were possibly 'a number of factors' at play, including 'an increase in confidence' and realisation of the importance of the census.
People identifying as Italian speakers were down, while Mandarin, Punjabi and Hindi were up.
Click here to check the census data yourself
