18,000 Immigrants Became Australian Citizens On Australia Day

28 Jan 2014

The foreign-born population of Australia is rising as a large number of people took the pledge to become Australian Citizens. On 26^th January, almost 18,000 people became Australian citizens in Australia Day ceremonies across the country. Adding this number, more than 25% of the Australian population is now foreign-born.

According to the recent figures from the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics), the largest number of immigrants to Australia is from the UK, which constitutes of 5.3% of the overall population, followed by New Zealand (2.6%), China (1.8%) and India (1.6%).

Dr Bob Birrell, the population researcher of Monash University, says that sue to the substantial job opportunities and affluence, Australia is an attractive destination for migrants.

He said that the expansion of the Australian migration program by each government has given rise to a record high influx of both temporary and permanent migrants to Australia in recent years.

With the total population of Australia reaching 23.5 million, demographer Bernard Salt says the population is increasing at close to record numbers.

Mr. Salt said that at the present time, Australian population is majorly driven by overseas migration, which is bringing about 230,000 people every year.

Dr Birrell says the population growth of Australia is outpacing many other countries across the globe.

He said that Australia is growing at around 1.8% per year, which is much quicker than the other western countries and even most Asian countries.

Among the swiftly increasing groups of Australian immigrants are people from India, Pakistan and Nepal.