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The three largest ancestries in Sunshine Coast 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 Sunshine Coast 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 Sunshine Coast'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
Sunshine Coast - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%South East Queensland %Number%South East Queensland %2016 to 2021
Not stated19,9464.24.318,8764.85.1+1,070
Total responses473,907----394,379----+79,528
Total people342,541----294,366----+48,175
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
Sunshine Coast - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%South East Queensland %Number%South East Queensland %2016 to 2021
English156,16645.638.1132,20944.938.5+23,957
Australian121,51935.531.8109,17237.132.6+12,347
Irish42,80012.511.238,29913.012.2+4,501
Scottish42,22512.310.335,81512.210.5+6,410
German22,5396.65.719,6866.75.9+2,853
Italian8,9712.62.86,6522.32.6+2,319
Australian Aboriginal7,9312.32.67470.30.3+7,184
Dutch6,9422.01.75,6201.91.6+1,322
New Zealander4,9131.41.54,9351.71.7-22
Chinese3,3981.04.02,5060.93.7+892
Show all (124 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • English (156,166 people or 45.6%)
  • Australian (121,519 people or 35.5%)
  • Irish (42,800 people or 12.5%)
  • Scottish (42,225 people or 12.3%)
  • German (22,539 people or 6.6%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 385,249 responses in total, or 112.47% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Sunshine Coast and South East Queensland were:

  • A larger percentage of people with English ancestry (45.6% compared to 38.1%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Australian ancestry (35.5% compared to 31.8%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Scottish ancestry (12.3% compared to 10.3%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Chinese ancestry (1.0% compared to 4.0%)

Emerging groups

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

  • English (+23,957 persons)
  • Australian (+12,347 persons)
  • Australian Aboriginal (+7,184 persons)
  • Scottish (+6,410 persons)

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