Sri Lankans in Australia: 2016 Census Data …… The Demographic Profile

Item sent to Thuppahi by Victor Melder ….  at https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2016/7107_0 …. presented here with some selective highlights from the Thuppahi pen

People 109,853
Male 57,280
Female 52,573
Australian citizen 60.3%
Not an Australian citizen 38.3%

Families 43,816
Couples with children 26,914
Couples without children 13,326
One parent families 2,972
Other families 592

All private dwellings 52,548
Median monthly mortgage repayment $2,100
Median weekly rent paid $351

 

 

Families

family composition | employment status of couple families

Family composition

For information on how migrant families are classified, see the User guide for QuickStats

Family composition Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
Couple family without children 13,326 30.4 1,012,440 39.3 1,240,422 36.6 2,291,987 37.8
Couple family with children 26,914 61.4 1,248,241 48.4 1,434,939 42.3 2,716,224 44.7
One parent family 2,972 6.8 282,463 11.0 648,590 19.1 959,543 15.8
Other family 592 1.4 34,059 1.3 65,896 1.9 102,559 1.7
Families with a child under 5 9,287 21.2 446,733 17.3 591,182 17.4 1,037,904 17.1
Families with a child aged 0-15 years 20,233 46.2 977,697 37.9 1,379,763 40.7 2,357,465 38.8

These statistics are for families in Australia. They are for families where the reference person and/or their spouse or partner was born in Sri Lanka. Of these families, 61.4% were couple families with children, 30.4% were couple families without children and 6.8% were one parent families.

Note: Totals for families with a child under 5 and for families with a child aged 0-15 years does not include those families where the reference person and/or their spouse/partner did not state their country of birth.

View the data quality statement for Family composition (FMCF)

Employment status of couple families

Employment status of parents in couple families
Labour force, people aged 15 years and over
Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
Both employed, worked full-time 10,232 25.4 475,278 21.0 600,260 22.4 1,084,006 21.6
Both employed, worked part-time 1,654 4.1 97,948 4.3 103,266 3.9 203,596 4.1
One employed full-time, one part-time 8,438 21.0 424,478 18.8 652,771 24.4 1,086,460 21.7
One employed full-time, other not working 8,621 21.4 390,307 17.3 352,203 13.2 749,886 15.0
One employed part-time, other not working 2,568 6.4 156,274 6.9 141,852 5.3 302,037 6.0
Both not working 4,881 12.1 492,423 21.8 488,403 18.3 1,006,697 20.1
Other (includes away from work) 2,075 5.2 107,664 4.8 152,346 5.7 264,145 5.3
Labour force status not stated (by one or both parents in a couple family) 1,767 4.4 116,299 5.1 184,264 6.9 311,381 6.2

These statistics are for families in Australia. They are for families where the reference person and/or their spouse or partner was born in Sri Lanka. Of these families, 25.4% of families had both parents working full-time, 21.0% of families had one parent working full-time and one parent working part-time, and 12.1% of families stated that both parents were not working.

View the data quality statement for Labour force status of parents / partners in families (LFSF)

Dwellings

dwelling structure | mortgage & rent | household composition

Dwelling structure

For information on how migrant households are classified, see the User guide for QuickStats

Dwelling tables exclude visitor only and other non-classifiable households

Dwelling structure
Occupied private dwellings
Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
Separate house 36,033 68.6 2,212,954 67.1 5,074,866 76.9 6,041,788 72.9
Semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse etc 8,177 15.6 466,800 14.1 779,497 11.8 1,055,016 12.7
Flat or apartment 7,974 15.2 585,471 17.7 668,862 10.1 1,087,434 13.1
Other dwelling 165 0.3 20,721 0.6 48,617 0.7 64,425 0.8

These statistics are for occupied private dwellings in Australia. For the dwellings that were occupied on census night by a person or persons who were born in Sri Lanka, 68.6% were a separate house, 15.2% were a flat or apartment, and 15.6% were a semi-detached, row or terrace house, townhouse etc.

View the data quality statement for Dwelling structure (STRD)

Number of bedrooms
Occupied private dwellings
Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
None (includes bedsitters) 228 0.4 17,187 0.5 23,956 0.4 39,769 0.5
1 bedroom 2,311 4.4 176,922 5.4 254,884 3.9 411,252 5.0
2 bedrooms 9,104 17.3 658,470 20.0 1,119,772 17.0 1,562,759 18.9
3 bedrooms 18,436 35.1 1,264,755 38.3 2,787,246 42.2 3,403,190 41.1
4 or more bedrooms 21,292 40.5 1,110,865 33.7 2,287,725 34.7 2,670,758 32.2
Number of bedrooms not stated 1,171 2.2 71,635 2.2 126,102 1.9 198,351 2.4

These statistics are for occupied private dwellings in Australia. For the dwellings that were occupied on census night by a person or persons who were born in Sri Lanka, 17.3% had two bedrooms, 35.1% had three bedrooms and 40.5% had four or more bedrooms.

View the data quality statement for Number of bedrooms in a private dwelling (BEDD)

Mortgage & rent

Mortgage and rent
Occupied private dwellings
Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
Owned outright 9,155 17.4 970,425 29.4 2,013,505 30.5 2,565,695 31.0
Owned with a mortgage 24,174 46.0 1,122,252 34.0 2,474,999 37.5 2,855,222 34.5
Rented 17,725 33.7 1,099,840 33.3 1,907,007 28.9 2,561,302 30.9
Other tenure type 234 0.4 25,380 0.8 59,681 0.9 78,994 1.0
Tenure type not stated 1,265 2.4 81,928 2.5 144,494 2.2 224,869 2.7
Median monthly mortgage repayment 2,100 1,950 1,742 1,755
Median weekly rent paid 351 370 330 335

These statistics are for occupied private dwellings in Australia. For the dwellings that were occupied on census night by a person or persons who were born in Sri Lanka, 17.4% were owned outright, 46.0% were owned with a mortgage and 33.7% were rented. The median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,100 and the median weekly rent paid was $351.

Median monthly mortgage repayment relates only to occupied private dwellings that are owned with a mortgage (including those being purchased under a rent/buy scheme). It excludes ‘visitor only’ and ‘other non-classifiable’ households and dwellings that did not state a monthly repayment value.

Median weekly rent paid relates to occupied private dwellings being rented (including rent-free accommodation). It excludes ‘visitor only’ and ‘other non-classifiable’ households and dwellings that did not state a weekly payment value.

View the data quality statements for: Tenure type (TEND) Rent weekly payments (RNTD) Mortgage monthly repayments (MRED)

Household composition

Household composition Born in Sri Lanka %Born in Sri Lanka All overseas born %All overseas born Australian born %Australian born Total %Total
One family households 42,035 80.0 2,465,248 74.7 4,809,352 72.9 5,751,635 69.4
Multiple family households 1,533 2.9 101,470 3.1 137,593 2.1 155,992 1.9
Single (or lone) person households 5,826 11.1 559,665 17.0 1,403,935 21.3 2,023,542 24.4
Group households 3,146 6.0 173,452 5.3 248,803 3.8 354,917 4.3

All occupants of a private dwelling complete one census form and are counted as a household. ‘Born in Sri Lanka’ includes households in Australia where at least one person was born in Sri Lanka. Of those households, 80.0% were one family households and 11.1% were lone person households.

View the data quality statement for Household composition (HHCD)

Small random adjustments have been made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from the table totals. For further information, go to the User Guide for QuickStats.

Data reported for Australia and Other Territories now includes Norfolk Island, following an amendment to the Acts Interpretation Act, 1901. Because Norfolk Island has not previously been included in the Census, any 2011 benchmarks will not include Norfolk Island.

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VITAL EMBELLISHMENTS sent by Earlson Forbes of Sydney, 28 Septtember 2022:

“In my article “Ceylon/Sri Lanka to Australia: Arrivals and Survival” (which you re-titled for Thuppahi) this information and more figures from the 2016 ABS Census are quoted.

Also, preliminary figures from the ABS Census 2020, which I have also noted in the article, put the number of Ceylon-born in Australia, at 147,000.”

   ******************

ALSO NOTE Present Crisis Situatiion in Sri Lanka, …. 2022

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-24/sri-lanka-australians-send-trolley-loads-of-goods-to-family/101256830

1 Comment

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One response to “Sri Lankans in Australia: 2016 Census Data …… The Demographic Profile

  1. N. Goonewardena

    Thanks, Dr. Roberts, I needed that. I am sure people will decide for themselves what the intentions of a person who addresses another person always as GOON (note: always in upper-case letters) are. That is for sure.

    By the way, not that it matters at all to me because I don’t decorate anything with my accolades as they really don’t mean anything much to me, but just for your attention (only), I am
    Dr. Goonewardena, and not Mr. Goonewardena. Everybody in this blog as well as anywhere else, know that I never refer to myself as Dr. Goonewardena, but just N, Goonewardena or N W Goonewardena. So, the above is solely FYI, Dr. Roberts.

    Imagine an editor of a blog that is not a comedy, referring to someone’s words as BILE? But I should be thankful. He could have used a far more derogatory word(s) which I know he has capabilities of. And, wow, FULMINATIONS! What an abstract and unknown word to me. I thought you were trying to FUMIGATE ME. That is, until I looked up the meaning of “fulmination” in the dictionary, and was able to then relax when I realized you were not going to fumigate me.

    My memory fails me now in my old age, but was it Dawn that sang the song Candida in which one lyric went as “when you are playing with fire, someone must get burnt.” Or, as usual, have I got it wrong.

    I look forward to seeing you soon, somewhere.

    I sign off as your always-mentioned, GOON.

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