Australia’s foreign-born population has hit 32% while Indians are now the country’s largest immigrant group, new statistics show.
The Australia Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday that those born overseas made up 8.8 million out of the total population of 27.6 million as of June 30 2025, approaching the highest proportion on record, which was 32.4% in 1891.
Those born in India (971,020 – 3.5% of the population) overtook those born in England (970,950) for the first time, with the Chinese-born the third-largest foreign group on 731,540, those born in New Zealand fourth on 637,680, and those from the Philippines on 412,530.
The Indian-born population increased by 522,000 people since 2015, and by about 886,000 since 2001 from just 95,000. According to 2024 estimates there are another 200,971 people born in Australia with Indian ancestry, and 113,947 who were born in other countries but have Indian ancestry.
“People born in Italy and England had the largest decreases in their populations since 2015. Both groups had a median age of 60 or over – reflecting the high levels of migration to Australia from these countries after World War II,” the ABS said on Wednesday.
“The median age for Australia’s overseas-born population was 43, down from 46 in 2005. Comparatively, it was 35 for the Australian-born population, up from 33 in 2005.”
The rise in the foreign-born proportion of the population and the rapid growth of Indian immigration since 2001 has occurred under both Coalition and Labor governments but accelerated since Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister in May 2022.
Since then an estimated 2.47 million immigrants have arrived in Australia for a total net overseas migration intake of about 1.5 million, which has pushed up housing and rental prices, put pressure on infrastructure, and exacerbated the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
The Albanese government signed two major deals with India that contributed to record levels of Indian immigration, 85% of the Indian diaspora voted Labor during the May federal election, and a 2022 survey found 60% of Indian migrants favoured Labor.
The first pact, The Mechanism for Mutual Recognition of Qualifications, was signed in early 2023 and forced Australia to recognise all Indian educational qualifications from secondary school through to the doctorate degree level, for both education and general employment purposes.
The second, also signed in 2023, was the Australia-India Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement, that included Labor’s Mobility Arrangement for Talented Early-professionals Scheme (MATES).
MATES allows thousands of Indian graduates or young professionals to live and work in Australia for two years, and then apply for permanent skilled visas.
On top of MATES, the deal allowed for five-year student visas for Indians, eight-year temporary work visas for Indian graduates, unlimited work rights for spouses, and three-month visitor visas for family or business purposes, with no caps on numbers.
A third pact, the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA), was signed by the previous Coalition government late in its final term.
Header image: Left, Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PMO). Right, crowds at a Diwali event in Harris Park, Sydney (Facebook).
