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AustraliaCommunity profile

The three largest ancestries in Western Australia in 2021 were English, Australian and Irish.

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 Western Australia 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 Western Australia'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
Western Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Regional SA %Number%Regional SA %2016 to 2021
Not stated176,3625.05.6188,3026.06.1-11,940
Total responses3,513,597----3,149,664----+363,933
Total people2,660,026----2,474,409----+185,617
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
Western Australia - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Regional SA %Number%Regional SA %2016 to 2021
English1,000,79637.642.0931,15037.641.1+69,646
Australian789,28229.740.5760,03230.742.1+29,250
Irish233,3238.87.7224,3729.17.8+8,951
Scottish232,5418.79.2214,1548.79.0+18,387
Italian137,2555.22.2122,9435.02.1+14,312
Chinese116,9064.40.5103,7444.20.5+13,162
Australian Aboriginal81,1173.04.320,7180.81.2+60,399
German78,3372.910.773,0623.010.9+5,275
Indian77,3572.90.468,7962.80.4+8,561
Dutch52,8282.01.747,0391.91.6+5,789
Show all (130 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • English (1,000,796 people or 37.6%)
  • Australian (789,282 people or 29.7%)
  • Irish (233,323 people or 8.8%)
  • Scottish (232,541 people or 8.7%)
  • Italian (137,255 people or 5.2%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 2,393,197 responses in total, or 89.97% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Western Australia and Regional SA were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Chinese ancestry (4.4% compared to 0.5%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (29.7% compared to 40.5%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with German ancestry (2.9% compared to 10.7%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (37.6% compared to 42.0%)

Emerging groups

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

  • English (+69,646 persons)
  • Australian Aboriginal (+60,399 persons)
  • Australian (+29,250 persons)
  • Scottish (+18,387 persons)

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