idc-logo
svg rectangle color
City of AdelaideCommunity profile

The three largest ancestries in the City of Adelaide in 2021 were English, Chinese and Australian.

Ancestry defines the cultural association and ethnic background of an individual going back three generations. Ancestry is a good measure of the total size of cultural groups in the City of Adelaide regardless of where they were born or what language they speak.

Ancestry data, should be combined with data on Birthplace, Language Spoken at Home and Religion for a more complete picture of the City of Adelaide's ethnic characteristics.

Please note that the "Australian Aboriginal" and "Torres Strait Islander" categories in this topic are not directly comparable from 2021 to previous years, due to a change in the wording of the question. In 2021, these options were marked boxes on the question rather than write-in options. The "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Origin" question is still considered a more reliable count for this group, and can be found on the Population summary page.

Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of ancestry groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS. For more information see notes on data confidentiality.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's ancestry?'

Multi-response

Ancestry - Totals
City of Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Greater Adelaide %Number%Greater Adelaide %2001 to 2021
Not stated2,1697.03.21,56010.64.4+609
Total responses30,878----14,752----+16,126
Total people25,031----13,000----+12,031
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Ancestry - Ranked by size
City of Adelaide - Total persons (Usual residence)20212001Change
AncestryNumber%Greater Adelaide %Number%Greater Adelaide %2001 to 2021
English6,82327.336.84,65935.838.6+2,164
Chinese5,00420.04.17385.71.6+4,266
Australian4,31317.230.23,30325.434.2+1,010
Irish2,0788.37.61,55812.08.4+520
Scottish1,8817.58.25003.83.1+1,381
German1,3155.36.78706.76.6+445
Italian1,0534.26.84673.66.9+586
Indian9453.83.01421.10.4+803
Greek5102.02.73863.03.1+124
Vietnamese4952.01.6390.31.0+456
Show all (103 entries)

Excludes ancestries with fewer than 10 responses (multi-response).

Dominant groups

Analysis of the ancestry responses of the population in City of Adelaide in 2021 shows that the top five ancestries nominated were:

  • English (6,823 people or 27.3%)
  • Chinese (5,004 people or 20.0%)
  • Australian (4,313 people or 17.2%)
  • Irish (2,078 people or 8.3%)
  • Scottish (1,881 people or 7.5%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 20,099 responses in total, or 80.30% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in the City of Adelaide and Greater Adelaide were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Chinese ancestry (20.0% compared to 4.1%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (17.2% compared to 30.2%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (27.3% compared to 36.8%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Italian ancestry (4.2% compared to 6.8%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2001 and 2021 were:

  • Chinese (+4,266 persons)
  • English (+2,164 persons)
  • Scottish (+1,381 persons)
  • Australian (+1,010 persons)

DISCLAIMER: While all due care has been taken to ensure that the content of this website is accurate and current, there may be errors or omissions in it and no legal responsibility is accepted for the information and opinions in this website.

Please view our Privacy Policy, Terms of use and Legal notices. Stats NZ Data and the copyright in the Stats NZ Data remains the property of the Statistics New Zealand.

The copyright in the way .id has modified, transformed or reconfigured the Stats NZ Data as published on this website remains the property of .id. Stats NZ Data can be accessed on the Statistics New Zealand website at www.stats.govt.nz. Unless otherwise specified, content that Stats NZ produce is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. For further information see https://www.stats.govt.nz/about-us/copyright/.