Nearly 320,000 of China immigrants in Australia, Chinese being second lingua franca
Date：2014/07/07
[CDNews] Daily Chinese Herald reports, according to Australian Federal Department of Immigration report , based on 2011 census data, Australia has attracted immigrants from around the world. Has significant growth for Asian country, especially India, China and Philippines
After comparing census data for 2006 and 2011, the report provides an overview of Australia’s current immigrant population.
The report statistics regarding education, employment, immigrant birthplace, religion, language and income. The major finding is:
The current population of Australia was born from 252 overseas territories, England is the top, there are more than 9 million people born there. The second is New Zealand, 483,000 people born there. Asian immigrants is much more significant, compare with 2011 and 2006, Australian born in India increased by 148,000, born in China increased by 112,000, born in Philippines increased by 51,000; Other than English, the most use lingua franca are Mandarin, Arabic, Italian, Cantonese, Greek and Vietnamese.
Immigration Minister Mr. Scott Morrison said, in multicultural environment, this report will help government and agencies to respond when service provide encountered with difficulties, including the identification of the need to provide non-English service areas.
Demographer Mr. Bernard Salt said, until 1985, Australian most is from Angles and Mediterranean. But in the past 30 years, Australia has accepted more influence from Asia. Mr. Salt said that in sometime in the 2020s, maybe the second largest ethnic for Australia will be China or India.
Although England and New Zealand still the Australia largest number of foreign-born population, but 5 of Asian countries occupy in Top 10 rank. China birth of nearly 319,000 Australia resident, rank on No.3.
English still is the first lingua franca for Australians to communicate at home, and Chinese is the second, the number of use has increased of 52.5% compare to 2006.