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Shire of AshburtonCommunity profile

Shire of Ashburton

Ancestry

The three largest ancestries in the Shire of Ashburton in 2021 were Australian, English and Australian Aboriginal.

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 Shire of Ashburton 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 Shire of Ashburton'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
Shire of Ashburton - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Regional WA %Number%Regional WA %2016 to 2021
Not stated1,40116.28.32,18614.68.3-785
Total responses8,658----14,923-----6,265
Total people7,393----13,023-----5,630
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Ancestry - Ranked by size
Shire of Ashburton - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Regional WA %Number%Regional WA %2016 to 2021
Australian2,41332.636.34,29233.039.9-1,879
English2,26830.740.04,06431.239.4-1,796
Australian Aboriginal7159.77.82742.13.1+441
Irish6258.58.61,2369.58.7-611
Scottish5307.29.01,1628.98.8-632
Maori2393.21.33983.11.2-159
German2263.13.44163.23.3-190
Italian1692.33.83242.53.6-155
Filipino1361.81.52972.31.3-161
Dutch1141.51.91981.51.8-84
Show all (41 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • Australian (2,413 people or 32.6%)
  • English (2,268 people or 30.7%)
  • Australian Aboriginal (715 people or 9.7%)
  • Irish (625 people or 8.5%)
  • Scottish (530 people or 7.2%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 6,551 responses in total, or 88.61% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in the Shire of Ashburton and Regional WA were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Maori ancestry (3.2% compared to 1.3%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Australian Aboriginal ancestry (9.7% compared to 7.8%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (30.7% compared to 40.0%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (32.6% compared to 36.3%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Australian (-1,879 persons)
  • English (-1,796 persons)
  • Scottish (-632 persons)
  • Irish (-611 persons)

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