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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idThe three largest ancestries in Wollongong 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 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'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 - Total persons (Usual residence) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Ancestry totals | Number | % | Warrawong % | Number | % | Warrawong % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Not stated | 1,269 | 4.7 | 6.8 | 1,768 | 8.1 | 6.1 | -500 |
| Total responses | 26,972 | -- | -- | 21,721 | -- | -- | +5,250 |
| Total people | 20,451 | -- | -- | 18,334 | -- | -- | +2,117 |
Show all (104 entries)
Dominant groups
Analysis of the ancestry responses of the population in Wollongong in 2021 shows that the top five ancestries nominated were:
- English (6,228 people or 30.5%)
- Australian (5,192 people or 25.4%)
- Irish (2,116 people or 10.3%)
- Scottish (1,795 people or 8.8%)
- Italian (1,171 people or 5.7%)
In combination these five ancestries account for 16,502 responses in total, or 80.69% of all responses.
The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Wollongong and Warrawong were:
- A larger percentage of people with English ancestry (30.5% compared to 22.5%)
- A larger percentage of people with Irish ancestry (10.3% compared to 5.2%)
- A smaller percentage of people with Macedonian ancestry (3.5% compared to 10.1%)
- A smaller percentage of people with Portuguese ancestry (0.6% compared to 5.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Australian (+1,066 persons)
- English (+1,027 persons)
- Chinese (-430 persons)
- Australian Aboriginal (+354 persons)
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