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The three largest ancestries in Wollongong City 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 Wollongong City 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 Wollongong City'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
Wollongong City - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Dapto - Brownsville %Number%Dapto - Brownsville %2016 to 2021
Not stated10,2953.52.710,8744.03.3-579
Total responses294,411----268,710----+25,701
Total people214,573----203,620----+10,953
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
Wollongong City - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Dapto - Brownsville %Number%Dapto - Brownsville %2016 to 2021
English76,82435.842.372,78635.743.4+4,038
Australian74,46934.741.170,59234.741.4+3,877
Irish22,03110.39.622,20210.910.6-171
Scottish21,1009.810.719,6909.710.8+1,410
Italian13,0036.14.112,1166.03.6+887
German8,0223.74.17,6123.74.3+410
Macedonian6,9893.31.46,5943.21.4+395
Australian Aboriginal6,6733.14.78020.40.4+5,871
Chinese4,2962.00.85,1322.50.9-836
Dutch3,9821.91.93,4561.71.7+526
Show all (127 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • English (76,824 people or 35.8%)
  • Australian (74,469 people or 34.7%)
  • Irish (22,031 people or 10.3%)
  • Scottish (21,100 people or 9.8%)
  • Italian (13,003 people or 6.1%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 207,427 responses in total, or 96.67% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Wollongong City and Dapto - Brownsville were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Italian ancestry (6.1% compared to 4.1%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Macedonian ancestry (3.3% compared to 1.4%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (35.8% compared to 42.3%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (34.7% compared to 41.1%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Australian Aboriginal (+5,871 persons)
  • English (+4,038 persons)
  • Australian (+3,877 persons)
  • Scottish (+1,410 persons)

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