Tamil Australians

Tamil Australians refers to Australians with a Tamil background. It includes people who speak Tamil, those whose ancestors were Tamil or those who identify with Tamil culture. Most Tamil Australians are of Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean or Malaysian descent.[1]

Tamil Australians
Total population
~73161 (2016)
Regions with significant populations
State / Territory
 New South Wales21,527
 Victoria17,452
 Western Australia4,078
 Queensland3,475
 South Australia1,703
 Australian Capital Territory1,416
 Northern Territory280
 Tasmania216
Languages
Religion
Related ethnic groups

Demographics

Murugan Temple, Sydney
Saivaite Temple, Perth

The Census 2016 has found 73161 people speaking Tamil at home. Out of this 28,055 people are born in India and 27,352 people are born in Sri Lanka. Australian born Tamil speakers are counted as 9,979. The total number of ethnic Tamils are around 150,000 people. This is the first time Indian Tamils have taken over as the majority over the Sri Lankan Tamils in a foreign country other than the United States. There are no exact figures for the number of Tamil Australians but according to the 2011 census there were 50,151 Australians, 0.23% of the population, who spoke Tamil at home.[2] Tamil speaking Australians are of Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean and Malaysian ancestry.[1] The Census 2016 shows an increase of 50% in Tamil population who speak Tamil at home. There were 73161 Tamil speakers according to the 2016 Census, with the largest proportion of people across Australia in the suburb of Westmead (1,425 people, or 3.6% of people in that suburb), followed by Toongabbie (NSW) (1,404 people, or 3.5% of people in that suburb).[3]

Analysis of 2011 census by language and ancestry highlighting Tamil characteristics[1]
Ancestry Language (first ancestry) Language (second ancestry)
TamilEnglishSinhalaNot
stated
OtherTotalTamilEnglishSinhalaNot
stated
OtherTotal
Tamil11,4071,057855814912,756650257161348984
Indian Tamil406504315478211200−132
Sri Lankan Tamil4,15370210227415,0256283608159
Sub-total Tamil15,9661,8091918820518,2597333522213551,175
Indian20,92377,033643,204249,641350,86554031,992382177,24640,033
Sri Lankan8,53423,79227,8624421,55162,18130011,5416794738912,956
Australian7484,777,28368424,942118,2754,921,932822,135,198506,45834,7612,176,549
Sinhalese9422,35116,89811522520,531769011,37213542,416
English8627,062,12080933,676125,9907,223,457713,13681071,82115,079
Malay5026,9731713413,23020,856919,01532563,56812,762
Singaporean1781,93001231,3023,533252,0830134982,619
Not stated856391,451913979,843102,1671,475,23047,98410,434,94145,7101,060,7593,465,64515,055,039
Other6404,164,54975442,9243,202,0087,410,8753133,870,13228117,808300,5574,189,091
Total50,15116,509,29148,1921,085,4913,814,59421,507,71950,15116,509,29148,1921,085,4913,814,59421,507,719

As per the 2011 census, over 39.59% of Tamil speaking Australians were born in Sri Lanka, 34.89% in India and 13.05% in Australia.[1]

CountryPopulation%
Sri Lanka19,85539.59%
India17,50034.89%
Australia6,54713.05%
Malaysia2,7825.55%
Singapore1,6873.36%
Not stated4450.89%
Other1,3352.66%
Total50,151100.00%

They live concentrated in Wentworthville, Pendle Hill, Girraween, Toongabbie and Strathfield in Sydney and in Glen Waverley and Dandenong North in Melbourne.[2]

State
suburb
State Tamils % of
suburb
% of
Tamils
Wentworthville[4]NSW1,07310.13%2.14%
Glen Waverley[5]VIC9452.41%1.88%
Dandenong[6]VIC9353.75%1.86%
Westmead[7]NSW9086.41%1.81%
Toongabbie[8]NSW8536.56%1.70%
Pendle Hill[9]NSW84912.74%1.69%
Strathfield[10]NSW8153.45%1.63%
Girraween[11]NSW76016.19%1.52%
Auburn[12]NSW6591.99%1.31%
Lidcombe[13]NSW6583.95%1.31%
Seven Hills[14]NSW6503.45%1.30%
Homebush[15]NSW5889.49%1.17%
Dandenong North[16]VIC5312.42%1.06%

More than 80% have completed high school education; the rate is only 50% for the general Australian population.[2] More than 59% own their houses, compared with more than 67% of the general population.[2]

Tamil Australians

References

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