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South Gippsland ShireCommunity profile

South Gippsland Shire

Ancestry

The three largest ancestries in South Gippsland Shire in 2021 were English, Australian and Scottish.

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 South Gippsland Shire 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 South Gippsland Shire'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
South Gippsland Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Foster and surrounds %Number%Foster and surrounds %2016 to 2021
Not stated2,0855.17.42,3386.45.4-253
Total responses40,670----36,588----+4,082
Total people30,579----28,692----+1,887
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
South Gippsland Shire - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Foster and surrounds %Number%Foster and surrounds %2016 to 2021
English13,29643.542.112,03842.043.0+1,258
Australian12,71741.638.012,20242.539.6+515
Scottish3,76412.312.53,29211.511.8+472
Irish3,73812.213.23,24711.313.4+491
German1,2654.13.91,1183.93.6+147
Italian1,2174.03.01,1163.92.5+101
Dutch1,1483.82.41,0803.83.1+68
Australian Aboriginal3111.00.9350.10.2+276
Welsh1890.60.71620.60.5+27
New Zealander1830.60.41650.60.4+18
Show all (65 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • English (13,296 people or 43.5%)
  • Australian (12,717 people or 41.6%)
  • Scottish (3,764 people or 12.3%)
  • Irish (3,738 people or 12.2%)
  • German (1,265 people or 4.1%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 34,780 responses in total, or 113.74% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in South Gippsland Shire and Foster and surrounds were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Australian ancestry (41.6% compared to 38.0%)
  • A larger percentage of people with English ancestry (43.5% compared to 42.1%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Dutch ancestry (3.8% compared to 2.4%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Italian ancestry (4.0% compared to 3.0%)

Emerging groups

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

  • English (+1,258 persons)
  • Australian (+515 persons)
  • Irish (+491 persons)
  • Scottish (+472 persons)

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