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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idThe three largest ancestries in Greater Capital Cities 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 Greater Capital Cities 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 Greater Capital Cities'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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Ancestry totals | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Not stated | 919,055 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 962,518 | 5.0 | 5.5 | -43,463 |
| Total responses | 21,601,184 | -- | -- | 19,215,514 | -- | -- | +2,385,670 |
| Total people | 16,566,048 | -- | -- | 15,178,777 | -- | -- | +1,387,271 |
| Ancestry - Ranked by size | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Capital Cities - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Ancestry | Number | % | Australia % | Number | % | Australia % | 2016 to 2021 |
| English | 4,862,924 | 29.4 | 33.0 | 4,599,118 | 30.3 | 33.6 | +263,806 |
| Australian | 4,262,016 | 25.7 | 29.9 | 4,030,674 | 26.6 | 31.2 | +231,342 |
| Irish | 1,421,547 | 8.6 | 9.5 | 1,428,708 | 9.4 | 10.2 | -7,161 |
| Chinese | 1,264,104 | 7.6 | 5.5 | 1,104,036 | 7.3 | 5.2 | +160,068 |
| Scottish | 1,251,145 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 1,176,575 | 7.8 | 8.6 | +74,570 |
| Italian | 836,017 | 5.0 | 4.4 | 761,964 | 5.0 | 4.3 | +74,053 |
| Indian | 689,514 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 548,230 | 3.6 | 2.6 | +141,284 |
| German | 575,619 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 553,613 | 3.6 | 4.2 | +22,006 |
| Greek | 374,199 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 352,214 | 2.3 | 1.7 | +21,985 |
| Filipino | 319,012 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 239,952 | 1.6 | 1.3 | +79,060 |
Show all (130 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the ancestry responses of the population in Greater Capital Cities in 2021 shows that the top five ancestries nominated were:
- English (4,862,924 people or 29.4%)
- Australian (4,262,016 people or 25.7%)
- Irish (1,421,547 people or 8.6%)
- Chinese (1,264,104 people or 7.6%)
- Scottish (1,251,145 people or 7.6%)
In combination these five ancestries account for 13,061,736 responses in total, or 78.85% of all responses.
The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Greater Capital Cities and Australia were:
- A larger percentage of people with Chinese ancestry (7.6% compared to 5.5%)
- A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (25.7% compared to 29.9%)
- A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (29.4% compared to 33.0%)
- A smaller percentage of people with Australian Aboriginal ancestry (1.6% compared to 2.9%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were:
- English (+263,806 persons)
- Australian Aboriginal (+239,692 persons)
- Australian (+231,342 persons)
- Chinese (+160,068 persons)
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