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The three largest ancestries in Pilbara in 2021 were Australian, English and Australian Aboriginal.

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 Pilbara 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 Pilbara'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
Pilbara - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Regional District %Number%Regional District %2016 to 2021
Not stated8,61815.47.77,23213.57.9+1,386
Total responses55,801----53,655----+2,146
Total people47,426----46,287----+1,139
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
Pilbara - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Regional District %Number%Regional District %2016 to 2021
Australian13,75829.036.317,49637.839.4-3,738
English13,54628.641.313,43929.040.7+107
Australian Aboriginal6,36813.47.02,2604.92.6+4,108
Irish3,3747.18.83,4257.48.9-51
Scottish3,2586.99.23,3627.39.0-104
German1,3772.93.31,3753.03.3+2
Filipino1,3722.91.51,2122.61.3+160
Maori1,2412.61.31,1342.41.3+107
Italian1,1412.43.71,0372.23.5+104
New Zealander7121.51.27931.71.3-81
Show all (105 entries)

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

Dominant groups

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

  • Australian (13,758 people or 29.0%)
  • English (13,546 people or 28.6%)
  • Australian Aboriginal (6,368 people or 13.4%)
  • Irish (3,374 people or 7.1%)
  • Scottish (3,258 people or 6.9%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 40,304 responses in total, or 84.98% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Pilbara and the Regional District were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Australian Aboriginal ancestry (13.4% compared to 7.0%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (28.6% compared to 41.3%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Australian ancestry (29.0% compared to 36.3%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with Scottish ancestry (6.9% compared to 9.2%)

Emerging groups

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

  • Australian Aboriginal (+4,108 persons)
  • Australian (-3,738 persons)
  • Torres Strait Islander (+444 persons)
  • Filipino (+160 persons)

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