03 August 2007

Aussies identify with Britain

Eight million people living in Australia regard their ancestry as British, according to the results of the 2006 Australian Census released this week.

This figure has increased by one million people since the last census, five years ago.

The number of people in Australia who regard their ancestry as English has fallen slightly, while the number who regard their ancestry as Welsh has risen by 29,000 and the number who regard their ancestry as Scottish has nearly trebled to more than 1.5 million.

So the one-million overall increase is mostly due to more Australians identifying with their Scottish heritage.

The census also showed that the number of British-born people living in Australia has risen slightly in the past five years to just over one million people.

Around 24,000 British-born people came to live in Australia in 2005, up by 3,000 on the previous year.

Interestingly, numbers of British immigrants are increasing outside the traditionally popular areas of New South Wales and Victoria. Numbers were up in Western Australia and Tasmania.

Australia needs skilled workers: anyone interested in migrating to Australia should complete an online assessment to see if they qualify for skilled migration to Australia.