Sri Lankan Australian - Demographics

Demographics

Sri Lankan Australians are the 16th largest ethnic group in Australia, numbering 62,256. The city of Melbourne contains just under half of the Sri Lankan Australians. Fewer than 20% are estimated to live outside New South Wales and Victoria.

The number of Sri Lankan Australians counted in 1996, including the second-generation, was 64,068. However, the actual figure is likely to be far higher (perhaps twice as much), since Burgher Australians generally return themselves as of Dutch ancestry and, as such, cannot be separated out from statistical totals for Dutch Australians. The same applies to Sri Lankan people of other European, Eurasian and Malay origin. A calculation of the make-up of the Sri Lankan Australian population in 1991 estimated that Burghers were 47.9%, Sinhalese 26.2%, Tamils 18.7% and Moors 7.2%.

The census recorded 53,610 Sri Lanka-born in Australia, of which 36,410 gave their ethnicity as Sinhalese, 4,150 as Tamil, and 1,690 as Dutch (i.e., Burgher).

The rate of assimilation among Sri Lankan Australians is fairly high: among second-generation immigrants, the 'in-marriage' rate was extremely low – 5.6% for brides and 3.0% for grooms.

Sinhalese number approximately 29,055 or 0.1% of the population of Australia in the 2006 Census, that is a 8,395 or 40.6% change since 2001. This is the number of people that speak SInhalese at home. There are 73,849 or 0.4% of the population of Australia have Sinhalese ansestry in 2006, while this was 26% less in 2001 at 58,602.

According to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2004, Sinhalese Australians are, by religion, 29.7% Catholic, 8.0% Anglican, 9.9 Other Christian, 46.9% Other Religions (mainly Buddhist), and 5.5% No Religion. The Sinhalese Language is also the 29th fastest growing language in Australia, in front of Somali and behind Hindi and Belorussian.

Sinhalese Australians have an exceptionally low rate of return migration to Sri Lanka. In December 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs estimated that there were 800 Australian citizens resident in Sri Lanka. It is unclear whether these were returning Sri Lankan emigrants with Australian citizenship, their Sri Lankan Australian children, or other Australians present on business or for some other reason.

Baddaginnie, Victoria is named for the Sinhala word for 'hungry'. The town of Dimboola, Victoria is also named after a Sinhala word.

Tamil (see Tamil Australian) number 32,701 in the 2006 Census. (This number also includes Tamils born in India and elsewhere). According to 1994 data, Tamil Australians are, by religion, 10.9% Catholic, 4.1% Anglican, 9.6 Other Christian, 73.1% Other Religions (mainly Hindu), and 2.3% No Religion.

Majority of Tamils born in Sri Lanka came to Australia after 1983 when Sri Lanka faced ethnic turmoil and unrest (Black July. The Western suburbs of Sydney and the South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne have a relatively high number of Tamil speaking people. Homebush in Sydney's west has the highest percentage with 11.5% of the population speaking Tamil at home. Numerous Tamil schools and Hindu Temples have been established in all main cities to cater for the growing Sri Lankan Tamil population.