Brunswick, Victoria - Demographics

Demographics

Brunswick is a multicultural suburb in demographic flux, having a high proportion (23%) of newly arrived residents from overseas, compared to the City of Moreland and the Melbourne metropolitan area overall. Its population is highly culturally and linguistically diverse with many different population groups making their presence felt. However, while residents of Moreland speak over a hundred different languages, people speaking a Language other than English (LOTE) at home in Brunswick have declined since 1991 from over 50% to 40%, though this is considerably higher than for Melbourne as a whole. The top ten LOTEs spoken by residents (in order) are: Italian, Greek, Arabic, Chinese languages, Turkish, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Spanish, Hindi and Croatian. In terms of ancestry, the top ten sources in Brunswick are: England, Australia, Italy, Ireland, Greece, China, Lebanon, Germany, Scotland, and Turkey.

Contrary to other suburbs in Moreland, which has a higher proportion of religious affiliation than Melbourne overall, religious affiliation in Brunswick is declining, particularly Christianity. The top ten religions in Brunswick (in order) are: Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism, Islam, Buddhism, Uniting Church, Presbyterian and Reformationism, Hinduism, Christian 'other' and Baptism.

Some of these trends can be explained due to the growing proportion of younger people moving into Brunswick. There is a substantial group of tertiary students partly due to a combination of affordable rents and the relative proximity and ease of access to the University of Melbourne and to RMIT University, which also has a small campus in Brunswick. There is also a growing population of young professionals as well and increasing signs of gentrification. These diverse groups live together with little discord and Brunswick is well known as a successful example of multiculturalism.