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Indians in Australia
Australia is home to a rapidly growing Indian community, making Indians one of the largest migrant groups in the country. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), around 976,000 (nearly 1 million) Overseas Indians live in Australia. Today, the Indian diaspora is the second-largest and fastest-growing community in Australia.
As of September 2023, there were 122,391 Indian students in Australia, making Indians the second-largest group of international students in the country.
Indian Population in Australia
As per the MEA 2023 report, the Indian population in Australia includes:
Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs): 626,000 (6.26 lakh)
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs): 350,000 (3.5 lakh)
Indians make up around 3.4% of Australia’s total population. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2024), the Indian-born population in Australia stands at 916,330. By 2026, the total Indian population in Australia is estimated to reach 1 million (10 lakh)
A Brief History of Indians in Australia
The story of Indians in Australia goes back over 200 years. In the early 1800s, Indians arrived as convict laborers and later became settlers. During the 19th century, Sikhs and Muslims from Punjab migrated to northern New South Wales, while Indians from Punjab and the North-West Frontier region operated the famous camel trains, supporting inland trade and exploration.
Indians also took part in the Victorian gold rush and worked on banana plantations in southern Queensland, where many eventually became successful landowners.
By the early 1900s, Australia had around 6,500–7,000 Indians. After World War II, Anglo-Indians migrated in significant numbers. From 1966 onwards, Indian professionals began arriving, followed by a major wave of IT and software professionals in the 1980s.
read about the Population of Overseas Indians
State wise Indian Population
At the 2021 census, the states with the largest number of people nominating Indian ancestry were: New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia.
| States | Pop. 2021 |
| New South Wales | 350,770 |
| Victoria | 250,103 |
| Queensland | 93,648 |
| Western Australia | 77,357 |
| South Australia | 43,598 |
| Tasmania | 4000 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 16000 |
| Northern Territory | 5000 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021)
Indian population in Australian Cities
| City | Population |
| Melbourne | 242,635 |
| Sydney | 230,000 |
| Perth | 75,000 |
| Brisbane | 65,000 |
| Adelaide | 35,000 |
| Canberra | 8,000 |
| Darwin | 5,000 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021)
Religion of Indian population in Australia
According to the 2021 census, 684,002 people follow Hinduism in Australia, out of which 80-85% are people of Indian Origin. The majority of Indian Australians are Hindus with about 444,000 individuals who profess Hinduism.
The majority of Australian Hindus live along the Eastern Coast of Australia, mainly in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. About 39% of Hindus lived in Greater Sydney, 29% in Greater Melbourne, and 8% each in Greater Brisbane and Greater Perth. The states and territories with the highest proportion of Hindus are the Australian Capital Territory (2.57%) and New South Wales (2.43%), whereas those with the lowest are Queensland (0.98%) and Tasmania (0.50%)
Sikhs in Australia’s population numbered 210,400 individuals, of whom 39% live in Greater Melbourne, 21% in Greater Sydney, and 10% in Greater Brisbane. The states and territories with the highest proportion of Sikhs are Victoria (0.89%) and the Australian Capital Territory (0.54%), whereas those with the lowest are the Northern Territory (0.28%) and Tasmania (0.10%).
There are a minority of Indian Australians who also follow Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and others.
read about religion in Australia
Australian Population by Indian Languages
According to the Australian Census 2021, approx 1 million people in Australia speak Indian (Indo-Aryan) Languages at home. Punjabi is the most spoken Indian language followed by Hindi and Urdu.
| Indian Languages | Speakers |
| Punjabi | 239,033 |
| Hindi | 197,132 |
| Urdu | 111,873 |
| Tamil | 95,404 |
| Gujarati | 81,334 |
| Malayalam | 78,738 |
| Bengali | 70,116 |
| Others | 38,200 |
| Total | 911,830 |
*necessarily all speakers of Indian Languages are from India. Other South Asians countries also are speakers of Indian Languages. People from Pakistan speak Punjabi & Urdu and people; Bangladeshi speak Bengali and Urdu and Bengali; Srilankans and Tamils speak Tamil.