African Australians Project: Migration between Africa and Australia: a demographic perspective (2010)
Migration between Africa and Australia: a demographic perspective
Background paper for African
Australians: A review of human rights and social inclusion issues
Professor Graeme Hugo
December 2009
This background paper was commissioned by the Australian Human
Rights Commission, however this paper is an independent piece of research and
reflects the views of the individual author only.
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Table of Contents
- 1 List of tables
- 2 List of figures
- 3 Introduction
- 4 Some data considerations
- 5 Migration from Africa
- 6 Stocks of African migrants in Australia
- 7 Flows of African migrants to Australia
- 8 Non-permanent migration
- 9 Movement from Australia to Africa
- 10 Australia’s South African community
- 11 Patterns of Settlement in Australia
- 12 Conclusion
- 13 Appendix A: Australia: Africa-born population, 1996, 2001 and 2006
- 14 Appendix B: Australia: Migration to and from Sub-Saharan Africa by country of birth, 1994-95 to 2007-08*
- 15 References
About the
author
Graeme Hugo is a University Professorial Research Fellow, Professor of
Geography and Director of the National Centre for Social Applications of
Geographical Information Systems at the University of Adelaide. He is the author
of over two hundred books, articles in scholarly journals and chapters in books,
as well as a large number of conference papers and reports. In 2002 he secured a
$1.125 million ARC Federation Fellowship over five years for his research
project, "The new paradigm of international migration to and from Australia:
dimensions, causes and implications".
1 List
of tables
Table 1: Immigration and ethnicity-related topics included in Australian Population Censuses, 1911-2006
Table 2: Stocks of Africa-born persons in OECD nations around 2000
Table 3: African countries: Size of diaspora in OECD nations, 2000
Table 4: Africa-born persons in Australia, 1861-2006
Table 5: Change in the composition of the Australian population by place of birth, 1947-2006
Table 6: Australia: Growth of the Sub-Saharan population of Australia, 1981-2006
Table 7: Australia: Number of persons born in Southern and Eastern African nations, 1986 to 2008
Table 8: Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa-born: Ancestry groups, 2001-06
Table 9: Multiple ancestry response by English/other language spoken at home, 2006
Table 10: Australia: Estimated resident population, 1996-2008
Table 11: Australian Africa-born population: Ten fastest growing and ten slowest growing birthplace groups, 2001-06
Table 12: Program Management Structure (2005-06) Migration (non-Humanitarian) Program
Table 13: Settler arrivals born in Sub-Saharan Africa compared with total intake according to eligibility category, 2007-08
Table 14: Australia: Arrivals and departures of skilled health workers, 1993-2007
Table 15: Australia: Offshore settler arrivals from Africa under the Refugee-Humanitarian Program, 1992-93 to 2007-08
Table 16: Australia: Africa-born settler arrivals, 1997-98 to 2007-08
Table 17: Australia: Students present by region of birth, 30 June 2005
Table 18: Australia: Origins of the Australian foreign-born total and temporary resident populations, 2008
Table 19: Australia: Long-term movement to and from Africa and Australia, 1994-2008
Table 20: Australia: Short-term movement to and from Africa and Australia, 1994-2008
Table 21: Australia: Settlers and long-term migration, 1987-2007
Table 22 Australia: Birthplace of permanent arrivals and departures, 2008-09
Table 23: Australia: Permanent movement by financial years, 1991-2009
Table 24: Permanent and long-term out-movement of Australia-born departures to Africa, 1994-95 to 2007-08
Table 25: Australia: Africa-born birthplace groups, sex ratio, 2006
Table 26: Australia: Settler arrivals, birthplace Africa, sex ratios, 1993-94 to 2007-08
Table 27: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan Africa-born: Selected occupational and educational characteristics, 2006
Table 28: Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia: Employment experience
Table 29: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan Africa-born: Selected socio-economic indicators, 2006
Table 30: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan Africa-Born: Spatial distribution, 2006
Table 31: Settlement locations of migrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Congo, 2000‑05
2 List
of
figures
Figure 1: Distribution of South Africa-born, Nigeria-born, Congo Democratic Republic-born and Angola-born expatriates in OECD Nations, 2000
Figure 2: Australia: Africa-born population, 1861 to 2006
Figure 3: Australia: Migration Program outcomes by stream, 1976-77 to 2008-09
Figure 4: Australia: Immigrants from Africa, 1945-2009
Figure 5: Immigrants from Africa as a percentage of total immigrants, 1945-2009
Figure 6: Distribution of birthplace of settlers to Australia, 1970
Figure 7: Distribution of birthplace of settlers to Australia, 2007-08
Figure 8: Africa: Birthplace of settler arrivals, 1993-2008
Figure 9: Australia: Onshore residence visa grants, 1989-90 to 2007-08
Figure 10: Temporary Migration to Australia by Category, 1986 to 2009
Figure 11: Australia: Temporary resident arrivals, 2005
Figure 12: Africa: Country of birth of long-term arrivals to Australia, 1994-2008
Figure 13: Africa: Birthplace of short-term moves to Australia, 1994-2008
Figure 14: Australia: Permanent departures of Australia-born and overseas-born persons from Australia, 1959-60 to 2008-09
Figure 15: Africa: Birthplace of permanent departures from Australia to Africa, 1994-2008
Figure 16: Australia: Age-sex structure of the Sub-Saharan Africa-born and Australia-born populations, 2006
Figure 17: Australia: Age structure of South Africa-born population, 2006
Figure 18: Age-sex distribution of the Africa-born permanent and long-term arrivals 1994-95 to 2006-07 and the total Australian population in 2006
Figure 19: Age of entrants to Australia from Liberia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, 2000-05
Figure 20: Australia: Sex ratios of settler arrivals, 1959-2009
Figure 21: Selected African group arrivals in Australia, 2000-05, by self-reported English proficiency
Figure 22: Australia: Distribution of the Sub-Saharan Africa-born population, 2006
3 Introduction
One of the fastest growing and most important types of African population
mobility is that directed out of the continent toward so-called
‘north’ countries. However, it is neglected by many examinations of
African migration and little is known of its nature and impact. Yet unlike the
situation with respect to much migration within Africa, there is high
quality data available to examine the migration collected at the destination.
This paper demonstrates that the high quality of both flow and stock
international migration data, as well as a national longitudinal survey in
Australia, provide an excellent opportunity to examine in depth the nature of
‘south-north’ migration from Africa and also the
‘north-south’ movement from Australia to Africa. Moreover, the
highly developed Australian international migration data system provides some
useful lessons for the enhancement of such systems in African nations.
International migration between Africa and Australia has a long history.
However, it has accelerated in recent years and now incorporates a number of
components. These are analysed here in some detail since, to some extent, they
exemplify the diverse types of south-north migration which are assuming
increasing significance in Africa. In addition the paper demonstrates the
potential of high-quality stock and flow data on international migration,
together with a national longitudinal survey, to shed light on patterns of
migration and inform the development of effective and timely migration and
settlement policy. A number of different types of African migrants moving to
Australia are identified, their movements analysed and the implications for
origin and destination countries discussed.
The largest and most long-standing flow is from South Africa, although this
has undergone some change following the abolition of apartheid. In recent years
an increasing numbers of refugee and humanitarian settlers have come to
Australia from Africa, especially Ethiopia and Sudan. Their experiences are
examined and some of the implications discussed. Another recent and significant
flow has involved medical professionals; this is examined and some implications
explored. Flows of other high-skill groups from Africa to Australia are
examined in the context of increased global movement of professional and
managerial people and discussion of a ‘brain drain’. On the other
side, some doctors in Australia have expressed concern about the numbers of
doctors from African countries coming to Australia.
Data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Australia are analysed to
examine the causes of African migration to Australia. Moreover, this source
allows some exploration of the patterns of settlement and adjustment to the
labour market among groups of migrants from Africa. It also allows for
consideration of the linkages that migrants have maintained with their countries
of origin to be made, as well as some examination of the applicability of
diaspora ideas in this context. In particular, the argument that the diaspora
can have positive developmental effects in origin countries is discussed.
Australia’s international migration has undergone a transformation in
the last decade, which has seen non-permanent migration increase in significance
(Hugo 1999). Australian migration flow data allows a detailed analysis to be
made of the complex two-way flows of long-term and short-term movers between
Australia and African countries. The implications of this mobility, both for
the African countries of origin and Australia, are discussed. One of the key
features of the Australian international migration data system is that it
provides accurate information on movement out of and into Australia.
Accordingly, a short section of this paper will analyse movement from Australia
to Africa and its implications.
4 Some
data considerations
Australian data on both stocks and flows of movement between Australia and
Africa are used here. These are comprehensive and of high quality by
international standards. In relation to flows, the source employed is
the Movements Data Base (MDB) maintained by the Department of Immigration and
Citizenship (DIAC). Each person entering or leaving Australia is required to
complete arrival or departure cards containing questions on citizenship,
birthplace, birth date, gender, occupation, marital status, type of movement,
origin/destination, reason for move (for short-term movers only) and location in
Australia. This information forms the basis of the MDB, which is one of the few
in the world to contain comprehensive information on both immigrants and
emigrants. People leaving or coming to Australia are classified into three
types of categories according to their intended length of their stay in
Australia or overseas:
- Permanent movements
- Immigrants are persons arriving with the intention of
settling permanently in Australia. - Emigrants are Australian residents (including former settlers)
departing with the stated intention of staying abroad
permanently.
- Immigrants are persons arriving with the intention of
- Long-term movements
- Overseas arrivals of visitors with an intended or actual length
of stay in Australia of 12 months or more. - Departures of Australian residents with an intended or actual
length of stay abroad of 12 months or more.
- Overseas arrivals of visitors with an intended or actual length
- Short-term movements
- Travellers with an intended or actual stay in Australia or
abroad of less than 12 months.
- Travellers with an intended or actual stay in Australia or
Clearly there are
problems associated with the use of ‘intentions’ as a key element in
the definitions of the different types of movement. It is apparent that there
are no guarantees that intentions will become reality and a significant amount
of category-jumping does occur (Hugo 1994, Chapter Three). Zlotnik (1987,
933-934) has also been critical of the concept of ‘residence’ used
in these definitions, describing it as a ‘fertile breeding ground for
confusion’. Nevertheless the MDB provides a valuable source of
information on flows of people into and out of Australia, which has few equals
globally in terms of accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Turning to information about the stocks of migrants, this paper draws
on the quinquennial national censuses of population and housing. Table 1 shows the
immigration-related questions asked at Australian censuses. It indicates that a
comprehensive range of questions has been asked, especially in post-war
censuses. Of particular interest was the introduction in 1971 of a
‘birthplace of parents’ question (which has been in each subsequent
census) and the experiment with an ancestry question in 1986, 2001 and 2006.
The latter has been excluded from several censuses because, although it produced
a great deal of new insight into the diversity of Australia’s population,
it generally failed in its objective to identify third-generation and older
generations of immigrants (Khoo 1989). Censuses have been conducted in
Australia every five years since 1961 and have a low rate of under-enumeration
(less than two per cent).
Table 1: Immigration and ethnicity-related topics
included in Australian Population Censuses, 1911-2006
Source: Paice 1990; ABS, 2006a
Topics - Persons |
1911 | 1921 | 1933 | 1947 | 1954 | 1961 | 1966 | 1971 | 1976 | 1981 | 1986 | 1991 | 1996 | 2001 | 2006 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birthplace | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
Birthplace of parents | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | *(1) | * | ||||||
Year of arrival | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
(Period of residence in Australia) | |||||||||||||||
Citizenship | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | *(2) | *(2) | *(3) | * | * | * | * |
Aboriginal/TSI origin | * | * | * | * | * | * | *(4) | *(5) | *(5) | * | * | * | * | * | * |
(Race) | |||||||||||||||
Ethnic origin | *(6) | * | * | ||||||||||||
Number of overseas | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | |||||||
residents or visitors | |||||||||||||||
Language use | *(7) | *(8) | *(9) | *(10) | *(11) | * | * | * | * | ||||||
Religion | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
\Notes:
(1) In 2001 and each subsequent census the ‘country of birth of
parents’ questions were replaced by questions asking whether a
person’s parents were born in Australia or overseas.
(2) Prior to 1976 ‘nationality’, rather than
‘citizenship’, was asked.
(3) Since 1986 a person has been asked whether or not they are an Australian
citizen.
(4) In all censuses prior to 1971 a person was required to state their race
and, where race was mixed, to specify the proportion of each.
(5) In the 1971 and 1976 censuses a question with response categories of
‘European’, ‘Aboriginal’, ‘Torres Strait
Islander’ and ‘other’ was included.
(6) A question on a person’s ancestry was asked for the first time in
1986.
(7) Question asked whether a person could read and write.
(8) Question asked whether a person could read and write a foreign language
if unable to read and write English.
(9) The 1976 census asked for ‘all languages regularly used’.
(10) In 1981 ‘ability to speak English’ was asked.
(11) Since 1986 two separate questions have been asked: ‘language
used’ and ‘ability to speak English’.
The census allows us to identify, with a high degree of accuracy,
first-generation migrants and their Australia-born children and a number of
their characteristics. However, the census does not provide information on
former residents who have emigrated out of Australia. With respect to people
travelling out of Australia on a temporary basis, some information can be
obtained if they left households who could report their absence in a question
relating to usual residents who are absent on the night of the census. Visitors
to Australia who happen to be in the country on the night of the census are
counted in the de-facto enumeration but excluded from most census
tabulations.
The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants in Australia (LSIA) is a major source
of information which has been used extensively in the development of Australian
immigration policy. It involved interviewing a sample of 5,912 settler arrivals
arriving between September 1993 and August 1995 soon after arrival, a year later
and a further two years later. A second cohort of 3,000 people who arrived in
1999 and 2000 were interviewed soon after arrival and again 18 months later.
LSIA 3 involved a sample of 9,800 migrants arriving between December 2004 and
March 2005, with follow-up interviews after six and 18 months. The LSIA has
been used extensively in fine-tuning and developing Australian immigration and
settlement policy (Hugo 2004a).
5 Migration
from Africa
One approach to measure diasporas is to use the censuses of destination
nations to compile a picture of the numbers of expatriates residing in those
nations. This is facilitated by the synchronisation of national censuses,
recommended by the United Nations to occur around the beginning of each decade
and followed by most countries. However such approaches will often
underestimate the size of expatriate populations because:
- some countries do not conduct censuses or have appropriate registration
systems - censuses may seek to exclude persons who are not citizens and/or permanent
residents, which will exclude some expatriates - in some cases, expatriates do not have full working rights and avoid being
counted in an official census - some expatriates avoid being counted because they perceive that it is not
relevant to them - the census may only include a question on birthplace, which doesn’t
necessarily identify expatriates, or it may only have a question on citizenship
which has similar problems - it excludes second and later generations
- some censuses do not include birthplace or citizenship
questions.
For example, the 2001 census of the United Kingdom
counted the number of Australians as 107,817 but other estimates place the
number closer to 300,000 (MacGregor 2003).
Despite this, much can be gained from bringing together census data of
countries with immigration questions in their censuses to build up
origin/destination matrices of migration. One important initiative in this area
has been undertaken by the OECD, which launched a project in July 2003 to
collect data from all OECD National Statistics Officers (NSO) on the stocks of
foreign-born populations in order ‘to obtain by aggregating across
receiving OECD countries, data on expatriates by country of origin’
(Dumont and Lemaitre 2005, 9). This data set makes it possible to obtain the
numbers of Africa-born persons living in OECD nations.
The OECD study (Dumont and Lemaitre 2005, 31) found that the stock of Africa-
born people in OECD nations was 7.1 million around the turn of the century,
compared with 16.8 million from Asia, 15.6 million from Latin America and 5.3
million from the Caribbean. The estimates provided in Table 2 show that the largest
stocks are in France, which accounts for 40% of Africans in OECD countries.
Clearly this is a function of the long-standing colonial and cultural ties
between Francophone African countries and France. There are almost a million in
the United States and the United Kingdom, with large numbers in Spain, Canada,
Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. Colonial ties, as well as proximity in
the case of the Mediterranean nations, are important factors. The fact that the
OECD data does not include Italy is unfortunate since there is a substantial
African population in that country. Table 2 also shows that North
African countries account for almost half of the south-north migrants (45.1%),
with the bulk of the North African flow to France (72%), Spain (10.8%),
Netherlands (5.1%) and Belgium (4.4%), which together account for 92% of the
total. Australia is home to 191,501 Africa-born persons, although only 1.3% are
from the north.
Table 2: Stocks of Africa-born persons in OECD nations
around 2000
Source: Dumont and Lemaitre 2005, 31
Country | Africa-Born | ||
---|---|---|---|
Number | Number from North African Countries | Percentage | |
Australia | 191,501 | 2,573 | 1.3 |
Austria | 19,934 | 3,560 | 17.9 |
Belgium | 247,515 | 139,799 | 56.5 |
Canada | 323,580 | 52,485 | 16.2 |
Switzerland | 68,801 | 21,153 | 30.7 |
Czech Republic | 2,374 | 588 | 24.8 |
Germany | 175,665 | 51,230 | 29.2 |
Denmark | 31,875 | 6,520 | 20.5 |
Spain | 423,082 | 343,819 | 81.3 |
Finland | 9,713 | 1,783 | 18.4 |
France | 2,862,569 | 2,296,979 | 80.2 |
Great Britain | 838,459 | 26,088 | 3.1 |
Greece | 58,275 | 1,416 | 2.4 |
Hungary | 2,687 | 517 | 19.2 |
Ireland | 26,650 | 1,238 | 4.6 |
Japan | 5,742 | 421 | 7.3 |
Luxembourg | 5,692 | 1,134 | 19.9 |
Mexico | 1,214 | 262 | 21.6 |
Netherlands | 280,007 | 163,658 | 58.4 |
Norway | 31,278 | 5,665 | 18.1 |
New Zealand | 39,351 | 273 | 0.7 |
Poland | 2,962 | 741 | 25.0 |
Portugal | 349,859 | 1,596 | 0.5 |
Slovak Republic | 404 | 50 | 12.4 |
Sweden | 78,039 | 9,962 | 12.8 |
Turkey | 12,686 | 1,627 | 12.8 |
USA | 988,253 | 58,530 | 5.9 |
Total | 7,078,167 | 3,193,667 | 45.1 |
Table 3: African countries: Size of diaspora in OECD
nations, 2000
Source: OECD database on immigrants and expatriates
Country of Birth | |
---|---|
South Africa | 405,434 |
Nigeria | 278,446 |
Kenya | 213,164 |
Angola | 211,823 |
Africa | 195,388 |
Somalia | 174,483 |
Ghana | 171,991 |
Ethiopia | 132,682 |
Congo, Dem. Rep. Of | 113,509 |
Senegal | 111,789 |
Cape Verde | 103,137 |
Mauritius | 88,413 |
Mozambique | 86,775 |
Zimbabwe | 86,585 |
Madagascar | 80,028 |
Congo | 75,266 |
United Republic of Tanzania | 73,434 |
Cameroon | 63,332 |
Côte d'Ivoire | 62,427 |
Liberia | 48,843 |
Mali | 48,225 |
Sierra Leone | 46,347 |
Zambia | 38,003 |
Eritrea | 37,953 |
Guinea-Bissau | 32,750 |
Gambia | 22,691 |
Guinea | 22,584 |
Togo | 20,079 |
Comoros | 19,876 |
Rwanda | 19,387 |
Mauritania | 16,670 |
Malawi | 16,095 |
Benin | 14,910 |
Equatorial Guinea | 14,015 |
Sao Tome and Principe | 13,177 |
Gabon | 12,552 |
Burundi | 12,482 |
Central African Republic | 11,119 |
Seychelles | 8,043 |
Djibouti | 7,157 |
Burkina Faso | 6,984 |
Chad | 6,337 |
Niger | 5,453 |
Botswana | 5,386 |
Namibia | 4,057 |
Saint Helena | 2,570 |
Swaziland | 2,500 |
Lesotho | 1,263 |
Western Sahara | 132 |
Figure 1: Distribution of South Africa-born,
Nigeria-born, Congo Democratic Republic-born and Angola-born expatriates in OECD
Nations, 2000
Source: OECD database on immigrants and expatriates
South African-born
Nigeria-born
Congo Democratic Republic-born
Angola-born
Putting together census data from OECD nations, Table 3 shows the number of
persons born in African countries living in those nations around 2000. These
substantially understate the size of the diaspora in each country but do give
some important indications. South Africa has the largest community of
expatriates in OECD nations, while another 10 countries have more than 100,000
people living in ‘north’ nations. This represents substantial
potential for development of linkages, remittances and the like (Hugo
2003a).
The OECD nation censuses allow a substantial level of analysis to be made of
African diaspora. It is interesting in Figure 1, for example, to look at the
distribution of four African birthplace groups in OECD nations. The largest
diaspora is from South Africa; formerly a part of the British Empire, its
colonial connections are evident in the concentration of its diaspora in the
United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This is also apparent in
Nigeria’s expatriate community, although its largest single concentration
(140,235 persons) is in the United States and reflects the increasingly
significant West African flow to that country. The significance of colonial
connections is strongly apparent in the diaspora of Angola, with 82.2% of the
211,823 Angolans in OECD nations living in Portugal. In addition, almost half
of the Congo’s expatriates are in Belgium (43.9%). The two overwhelming
south-north flows are clearly along colonial lines on the one hand and to North
America, especially the United States, on the other. It is also possible to
examine the characteristics of the expatriate community and Dumont and Lemaitre
(2005) have shown how these movements are very selective of highly educated
groups.
6 Stocks
of African migrants in Australia
There is a long history of population movement between Africa and Australia
but the data needs to be carefully interpreted. This is because many
Africa-born people moving to Australia, especially in the period prior to 1991,
were not of African ethnicity; rather they were the children of European-origin
parents from South Africa and Zimbabwe who subsequently moved to Australia.
Clearly, the fact that Australia’s states and South Africa, Zimbabwe,
Kenya, etc ,were colonies of England and part of the British Empire (and later
the British Commonwealth) meant they shared more linkages than Australia had
with African countries that were not British colonies. Nevertheless, Table 4 indicates that in
1861 there were only 1,590 Africa-born persons in Australia. The mix between
people from Northern Africa, South Africa and other Sub-Saharan Africa countries
in the stocks of Africa-born in Australia has changed over the last century (see Figure 2). Prior to World
War Two, South Africa was the dominant origin of the Africa-born population in
Australia. In 1861 they made up 56.6% of all Africa-born people in Australia
and that proportion remained steady until Federation in 1901, when the total
Africa-born population had increased to only 2,840. Indeed it had declined from
2,923 in 1890 due to the effects of economic depression. One of the earliest
initiatives of the new Australian Government was the introduction of a
‘White Australia’ policy which effectively prevented the settlement
of Africans and others of non-European origin in Australia. Accordingly, in
1947 there were only 75,506 Africa-born people in Australia and 78.3% of these
were South African. Hence, in the period before World War Two, there were only
small numbers of Africa-born persons and they were overwhelmingly the children
of colonial functionaries and Anglo Saxons from Southern Africa.
Table 4: Africa-born persons in Australia,
1861-2006
Source: Australian censuses
Census | Percentage South Africa-born |
Africa-born population |
Intercensal percentage Per annum growth |
---|---|---|---|
1861 | 56.6 | 1,590 | |
1871 | 55.3 | 1,767 | 1.1 |
1881 | 47.5 | 1,986 | 1.2 |
1891 | 47.2 | 3,044 | 4.4 |
1901 | 53.0 | 2,869 | -0.6 |
1911 | 79.3 | 4,958 | 5.6 |
1921 | 80.5 | 6,775 | 3.2 |
1933 | 79.5 | 7,821 | 1.2 |
1947 | 78.3 | 7,537 | -0.3 |
1954 | 37.9 | 15,826 | 11.2 |
1961 | 27.7 | 28,559 | 8.8 |
1966 | 23.3 | 41,605 | 7.8 |
1971 | 20.4 | 61,935 | 8.3 |
1976 | 22.1 | 70,510 | 2.6 |
1981 | 29.9 | 90,237 | 5.1 |
1986 | 34.1 | 108,547 | 3.8 |
1991 | 37.2 | 132,548 | 4.1 |
1996 | 37.7 | 147,876 | 2.2 |
2001 | 43.1 | 184,180 | 4.5 |
2006 | 41.9 | 248,699 | 7.0 |
Figure 2: Australia: Africa-born population, 1861 to
2006
Source: Australian censuses
Figure 2 shows that
African migration to Australia has increased with each intercensal period
following World War Two. The first post-war intercensal period (1947-54) saw
the Africa-born population in Australia double but virtually the entire increase
was from North Africa, with the Egypt-born population in Australia increasing
from 803 in 1947 to 8,150. The number of Africans in Australia doubled again
between 1954 and 1961, and then again between 1961 and 1971 to reach 61,936.
Once again the growth in this period was mainly driven by a substantial
immigration of Egyptians (numbering 28,226 in 1971), who were predominantly
Coptic Christians (Ham 2001, 274). There was also an increase in migration
during this period by Anglo-Saxon-origin people from South African and other
former British colonies in Africa – a result of the decolonisation process
taking place in that continent and in Asia. There was also a significant
movement of East Africans of European origin during this period. Adler (2001,
273) writes:
The effects of the Mau Mau uprising (1953-60), the Africanisation of land,
particularly in the ‘White Highlands’ of Kenya, restrictions on the
employment of non citizens and uncertainties about the future for themselves and
their families caused them to emigrate. Similar facts affected all of the East
African countries.
With the final dissolution of the White Australia policy in the 1960s and
early 1970s, Australian immigration underwent a massive change as discrimination
on the basis of race was removed. However, the change in composition of
migration in the 1970s and 1980s was much more marked for the flows from Asia
than the flows from Africa (Hugo 2003b). The proportion of South Africans in
the flow, which had fallen from 78.3% in 1947 to 20.4% in 1971, began to
increase again. Figure 2 shows that after 1971 the numbers arriving from North Africa (mainly Egyptians)
stabilised, while numbers from Sub-Saharan Africa (both South Africans and other
groups) began to grow.
Increasing African immigration has been part of the post-war transformation
of Australia from an overwhelmingly British-dominated population to a
multicultural society. Table
5 indicates this, showing that the proportion of the population born in
dominantly non-English speaking nations declined from 98.1% to 86% between 1947
and 2006. During the same period, the proportion of people born in South Africa
increased from 0.1% to 0.5% and from elsewhere in Africa it rose from less than
0.1% to 0.7%. It is clear that South Africa has dominated Sub-Saharan African
migration to Australia. Table
6 shows that the South Africa-born population doubled in the 1980s to 49,421
in 1991, more than doubling again in the next 15 years to reach 104,132 in 2006.
Its share of the intake from Sub-Saharan African rose from 45.2% to 56.1% in
2001 but fell back to 54.3% in 2006. Much of this migration has involved South
Africans of European decent. In the exodus of European-origin South Africans
over the last two decades to other predominantly English-speaking countries,
Australia has been the second most significant destination after the United
Kingdom (Khoo and Lucas 2004; Van Rooyen 2000; Kalule Sabiti et al.
2003). In the 1980s and the early
Table 5: Change in the composition of the Australian
population by place of birth, 1947-2006
Source: ABS, 1947 and 2006 Censuses
|
|
2006 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Number of Persons | |
Number of Persons | Percentage |
English speaking origin | 7,438,892 | 98.1 | 15,748,287 | 85.2 |
Australia | 6,835,171 | 90.2 | 14,072,937 | 76.2 |
United Kingdom and Ireland | 543,829 | 7.2 | 1,088,421 | 5.9 |
New Zealand | 43,619 | 0.6 | 389,467 | 2.1 |
United States and Canada | 10,304 | 0.1 | 93,330 | 0.5 |
South Africa | 5,969 | 0.1 | 104,132 | 0.6 |
Non-English speaking origin | 140,466 | 1.9 | 2,730,042 | 14.8 |
Other Europe | 109,586 | 1.4 | 989,498 | 5.4 |
Asia* | 23,293 | 0.3 | 1,402,395 | 7.6 |
Other Africa | 1,531 | 0.0 | 144,567 | 0.8 |
Other America | 1,323 | 0.0 | 86,663 | 0.5 |
Other Oceania | 4,733 | 0.1 | 106,919 | 0.6 |
Total | 7,579,358 | 100.0 | 18,478,329 | 100.0 |
* Includes Middle East
Note: Excludes country of birth not stated, ‘Inadequately
described’, ‘At sea’ and ‘Not elsewhere
classified’.
Table 6: Australia: Growth of the Sub-Saharan population
of Australia, 1981-2006
Source: ABS Population Censuses
Year | South Africa-born | Zimbabwe-born | Other Sub-Saharan Africa-born | Total Sub-Saharan Africa-born | South Africa-born as % of Total Sub-Saharan Africa-born |
Zimbabwe-born as % of Total Sub-Saharan Africa-born | Other Sub-Saharan Africa-born as % of Total Sub-Saharan Africa-born |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981 | 26,965 | 4,110 | 28,517 | 59,592 | 45.2 | 6.9 | 47.9 |
1986 | 37,061 | 6,479 | 34,374 | 77,914 | 47.6 | 8.3 | 44.1 |
1991 | 49,421 | 8,352 | 36,657 | 94,430 | 52.3 | 8.8 | 38.8 |
1996 | 55,755 | 8,957 | 42,705 | 107,417 | 51.9 | 8.3 | 39.8 |
2001 | 79,425 | 11,733 | 50,538 | 141,696 | 56.1 | 8.3 | 35.7 |
2006 | 104,132 | 20,155 | 67,540 | 191,827 | 54.3 | 10.5 | 35.2 |
1990s the outflow was overwhelmingly of South Africans of English-speaking
European descent, although Van Rooyen (2000, 36) argues that by 1999 the split
was around half English-origin and half Afrikaan. The dominance of the
English-origin South Africans is evident in the fact that, at the 2001
population census when an ancestry question was asked of the 79,421 South
Africa-born people in Australia, 36,029 (45%) gave South Africa as their
ancestry; 25,605 (32%) as English; 2,694 as Indian (three per cent); and 1,838
as Dutch (two per cent) (Khoo and Lucas 2004, 42). While there is no data
collected on the ethnic background of immigrants arriving in Australia, it would
seem that there are more African-origin immigrants among the South African
arrivals.
There has, however, been an increase in the diversity of the Sub-Saharan
African migration to Australia in the last decade; Table 7 shows the growth of
the largest Africa-born populations in Australia
o[1]er the 1986-2006 period.1 The
large number of South Africans is evident, as are substantial groups from
Zimbabwe and Mauritius, who are in many ways similar to the South Africans in
the pre-dominance of European-origin groups. Those born in the groups from
Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda also include significant numbers of
European-origin migrants, although most recent immigrants have been of African
origin. It is noticeable, however, that there have been significant increases
in the numbers from some countries where the immigrants are of African origin
– most notably Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. Many of these
immigrants have arrived in Australia under the refugee-humanitarian migration
category. The most spectacular increase has been in the Sudan-born population,
which increased from 4,900 in 2001 to 24,796 in 2008 and reflects the fact that
they were an important group in refugee arrivals throughout the 2000s. However,
there have also been substantial increases in a large number of smaller African
birthplace groups, many of which include a large proportion of
refugee-humanitarian arrivals, such as Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Table 7: Australia: Number of persons born in Southern
and Eastern African nations, 1986 to 2008
Source: ABS Population Censuses 1986 to 2006 and ABS 2008 Estimated Resident
Population data
Birthplace | 1986 | 1991 | 1996 | 2001 | 2006 | 2008 | % Overseas-born 2006 | Rank 2006 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Angola | - | 328 | 344 | 353 | 396 | na | 0.01 | 144 |
Benin | - | 7 | 12 | 24 | 20 | na | 0.00 | 210 |
Botswana | - | 159 | 225 | 706 | 865 | na | 0.02 | 120 |
Burkina Faso | - | 0 | 10 | 23 | 27 | na | 0.00 | 201 |
Burundi | - | 16 | 23 | 25 | 753 | na | 0.02 | 124 |
Cameroon | - | 14 | 35 | 66 | 125 | na | 0.00 | 176 |
Cape Verde | - | 22 | 22 | na | 0.00 | 209 | ||
Central African Republic | - | 6 | 14 | 3 | 8 | na | 0.00 | 229 |
Chad | - | 15 | 21 | 36 | 30 | na | 0.00 | 200 |
Comoros | - | 3 | 6 | 18 | 13 | na | 0.00 | 218 |
Congo | - | 9 | 22 | 135 | 521 | na | 0.01 | 136 |
Congo, Democratic Republic of | - | 267 | 620 | na | 0.01 | 134 | ||
Cote d'Ivoire | - | 36 | 52 | 69 | 253 | na | 0.01 | 157 |
Djibouti | - | 31 | 75 | 68 | 97 | na | 0.00 | 180 |
Equatorial Guinea | - | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | na | 0.00 | 222 |
Eritrea | - | 1,161 | 1,599 | 2,017 | na | 0.05 | 99 | |
Ethiopia | - | 1,341 | 2,353 | 3,544 | 5,635 | na | 0.13 | 78 |
Gabon | - | 11 | 19 | 19 | 26 | na | 0.00 | 203 |
Gambia | - | 23 | 26 | 53 | 130 | na | 0.00 | 174 |
Ghana | - | 998 | 1,495 | 2,040 | 2,769 | na | 0.06 | 92 |
Guinea | - | 18 | 19 | 28 | 333 | na | 0.01 | 153 |
Guinea-Bissau | - | 6 | 10 | 15 | 9 | na | 0.00 | 225 |
Kenya | 4,170 | 4,724 | 5,333 | 6,869 | 9,935 | na | 0.22 | 62 |
Lesotho | - | 43 | 58 | 54 | 80 | na | 0.00 | 183 |
Liberia | - | 64 | 84 | 125 | 1,525 | na | 0.03 | 108 |
Madagascar | - | 148 | 137 | 156 | 189 | na | 0.00 | 169 |
Malawi | - | 364 | 423 | 485 | 685 | na | 0.02 | 129 |
Mali | - | 13 | 15 | 29 | 47 | na | 0.00 | 192 |
Mauritania | - | 16 | 14 | na | 0.00 | 215 | ||
Mauritius | 13,086 | 16,882 | 17,083 | 16,962 | 18,174 | 23,379 | 0.41 | 47 |
Mozambique | - | 391 | 428 | 551 | 634 | na | 0.01 | 133 |
Namibia | - | 264 | 303 | 437 | 703 | na | 0.02 | 125 |
Niger | - | 12 | 10 | 14 | 15 | na | 0.00 | 213 |
Nigeria | - | 966 | 1,260 | 1,738 | 2,498 | na | 0.06 | 96 |
Reunion | - | 62 | 64 | 71 | 127 | na | 0.00 | 175 |
Rwanda | - | 12 | 22 | 46 | 201 | na | 0.00 | 164 |
Sao Tome and Principe | - | 6 | 12 | 11 | 9 | na | 0.00 | 225 |
Senegal | - | 149 | 170 | 185 | 196 | na | 0.00 | 167 |
Seychelles | - | 2,610 | 2,561 | 2,448 | 2,508 | na | 0.06 | 95 |
Sierra Leone | - | 118 | 164 | 363 | 1,811 | na | 0.04 | 104 |
Somalia | - | 357 | 2,058 | 3,713 | 4,315 | na | 0.10 | 83 |
South Africa | 37,058 | 49,383 | 55,756 | 79,425 | 104,128 | 136,201 | 2.36 | 12 |
St Helena | - | 34 | 25 | 25 | 38 | na | 0.00 | 196 |
Sudan | - | 1,259 | 2,417 | 4,900 | 19,050 | 24,796 | 0.43 | 45 |
Swaziland | - | 120 | 145 | 202 | 232 | na | 0.01 | 159 |
Tanzania | - | 1,432 | 1,561 | 1,714 | 2,298 | na | 0.05 | 98 |
Togo | - | 6 | 9 | 16 | 35 | na | 0.00 | 198 |
Uganda | - | 930 | 1,178 | 1,217 | 1,710 | na | 0.04 | 106 |
Zambia | - | 2,333 | 2,565 | 3,072 | 4,079 | na | 0.09 | 84 |
Zimbabwe | 6,479 | 8,352 | 8,957 | 11,733 | 20,155 | 27,369 | 0.46 | 43 |
The post-war outflow of Southern Africans to Australia gathered momentum with
events such as the Sharpeville shootings in 1960, the 1976 Soweto riots and the
general increase in tension and violence in the 1980s (Kennedy 2001a). Lucas
(2001, 689) points out that “[p]rior to the 1990s some South Africans left
because they could not tolerate apartheid. Others were worried about the
political uncertainty in South Africa epitomised by the indefinite state of
emergency declared in July 1985.”
The second largest group of countries of origin of Africans in Australia
include Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia in the Horn of Africa, with
arrivals coming predominantly as refugees since the 1980s. Some earlier
arrivals born in Eritrea and Ethiopia are of Italian origin, while more recent
settlers are of African background (Pateman 2001). Most Ethiopians arrived
after 1990 and were predominantly refugees (Gow 2001). There were only 359
Somali-born persons in Australia in 1991 but this increased to 2,057 in 1996 and
3,713 in 2001, following the settlement of a substantial community of refugees
(Kennedy 2001b, 688) especially between 1994 and 1998. The Sudanese community
has also increased substantially due to the influx of refugees since 1992 and
especially since 2006; it is now the third largest African birthplace group in
Australia.
There number of West Africans living in Australia is relatively small by
comparison. Their immigration began in the mid-1960s with the arrival of
students under the Special Commonwealth African Assistance Plan, mostly from
Ghana and Nigeria (Okai 2001). The removal of the last vestiges of the White
Australia policy saw small numbers of skilled African-origin immigrants but
there also has been an inflow of refugees. In 1996 there were only 3,077 West
Africans – increasing to 5,641 in 2001 – with Nigeria and Ghana the
main countries of origin. However, by 2006 their numbers had expanded to
11,255, with most coming under the skilled or family streams of the migration
program.
There are larger communities of people from East Africa in Australia but, as
indicated earlier, much of this movement involved European-origin descendents of
former colonial functionaries. The largest community is from Kenya, which
numbered 6,869 in 2001, and recent migration has been dominated by people of
African origin (Njuki 2003). Moreover, the period between 2001and 2006 saw a
substantial inflow from East Africa, with numbers increasing by 35.6% to
74,228.
Table 8: Australia, Sub-Saharan Africa-born: Ancestry
groups, 2001-06
Source: Khoo and Lucas 2004; ABS Table Builder 2006
Ancestry Group | 2001 | 2006 | Percentage Change 2001-06 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Percentage | No. | Percentage | ||
Sub-Saharan African | 68,204 | 41.8 | 95,717 | 41.2 | 40.3 |
English | 40,210 | 24.7 | 50,207 | 21.6 | 24.9 |
Other UK | 10,547 | 6.5 | 18,927 | 8.2 | 79.5 |
Other European | 27,336 | 16.8 | 28,282 | 12.2 | 3.5 |
Indian | 6,888 | 4.2 | 10,672 | 4.6 | 54.9 |
The Australian censuses of 1986, 2001 and 2006 included questions on
ancestry, which shed some light on the ethnic origin of African migrants to
Australia. The ‘ancestry’ responses of Sub-Saharan Africa-born
people (summarised in Table
8) indicate the importance of non-African heritage among Africa-born
migrants to Australia, even after the substantial increase in numbers of
Sub-Saharan African migrants between 2001 and 2006. The main Sub-Saharan
African ancestries mentioned by the Africa-born in 2006, according to whether
they spoke English or another language at home, are included in Table 9. Among
the large groups in Australia, only 5.1% of Sudanese spoke English compared with
85.8% of South Africans.
It is clear that the stock of African immigrants has increased substantially
in Australia since the 2006 census. This is evident in the estimates of
birthplace groups produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS 2006b).
Unfortunately African birthplaces are not available as a group. However Table 10 shows that there
has been very rapid growth of the African population, especially since the turn
of the century. The growth of the Sudanese population is especially marked,
with the population increasing by almost six times between 2000 and 2005.
Table 9: Multiple
ancestry response by English/other language spoken at home, 2006
Source: ABS Table Builder 2006
Ancestry Multi Response | Language | |
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|
English | Other | Number | % Speaking English | |
Sub-Saharan African, nfd | 41 | 31 | 72 | 56.9 |
Central and West African, nfd | 100 | 71 | 171 | 58.5 |
Akan | 48 | 101 | 149 | 32.2 |
Ghanaian | 1030 | 1402 | 2432 | 42.4 |
Nigerian | 1144 | 719 | 1863 | 61.4 |
Yoruba | 43 | 121 | 164 | 26.2 |
Ivorean | 32 | 69 | 101 | 31.7 |
Liberian | 471 | 373 | 844 | 55.8 |
Sierra Leonean | 167 | 508 | 675 | 24.7 |
Central and West African, nec (includes Fang, Fulani, Kongo) | 832 | 1652 | 2484 | 33.5 |
Central and West African | 3867 | 5016 | 8883 | 43.5 |
Southern and East African, nfd | 303 | 84 | 387 | 78.3 |
Afrikaner | 1584 | 1403 | 2987 | 53.0 |
Angolan | 54 | 83 | 137 | 39.4 |
Eritrean | 274 | 2240 | 2514 | 10.9 |
Ethiopian | 1136 | 4169 | 5305 | 21.4 |
Kenyan | 993 | 1130 | 2123 | 46.8 |
Malawian | 69 | 106 | 175 | 39.4 |
Mauritian | 12767 | 7134 | 19901 | 64.2 |
Mozambican | 30 | 96 | 126 | 23.8 |
Oromo | 45 | 457 | 502 | 9.0 |
Seychellois | 1961 | 202 | 2163 | 90.7 |
Somali | 616 | 5512 | 6128 | 10.1 |
South African | 67647 | 11180 | 78827 | 85.8 |
Tanzanian | 171 | 193 | 364 | 47.0 |
Ugandan | 342 | 194 | 536 | 63.8 |
Zambian | 603 | 309 | 912 | 66.1 |
Zimbabwean | 5433 | 2117 | 7550 | 72.0 |
Amhara | 14 | 120 | 134 | 10.4 |
Batswana | 77 | 362 | 439 | 17.5 |
Dinka | 42 | 1205 | 1247 | 3.4 |
Hutu | 3 | 11 | 14 | 21.4 |
Masai | 26 | 10 | 36 | 72.2 |
Nuer | 14 | 270 | 284 | 4.9 |
Tigrayan | 10 | 82 | 92 | 10.9 |
Tigre | 5 | 20 | 25 | 20.0 |
Zulu | 136 | 126 | 262 | 51.9 |
Southern and East African, nec (includes Afar, Namibian, Tutsi) | 591 | 2123 | 2714 | 21.8 |
Southern and East African | 94946 | 40938 | 135884 | 69.9 |
Algerian | 301 | 565 | 866 | 34.8 |
Egyptian | 10685 | 20699 | 31384 | 34.0 |
Coptic | 271 | 1594 | 1865 | 14.5 |
Sudanese | 861 | 16003 | 16864 | 5.1 |
Table 10: Australia: Estimated resident population,
1996-2008
Source: ABS 2006b, 39-40; ABS 2009, 31-32
Region/Country | 1996 | 2000 | 2005 | 2008 | Percentage Change | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007-08 | 1996-2008 (average annual) | |||||
North Africa/Middle East | 211,824 | 231,741 | 284,998 | 315,524 | 3.0 | 3.4 |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 118,405 | 145,867 | 204,955 | 245,139 | 4.6 | 6.3 |
South Africa | 61,749 | 80,718 | 113,783 | 136,201 | 7.9 | 6.8 |
Egypt | 37,875 | 36,948 | 38,102 | 39,940 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
Sudan | 2,637 | 4,199 | 23,787 | 24,796 | 7.3 | 20.5 |
Zimbabwe | 9,960 | 11,702 | 19,655 | 27,369 | 11.0 | 8.8 |
Mauritius | 18,949 | 18,503 | 19,149 | 23,379 | 7.4 | 1.8 |
Kenya | 5,924 | 7,037 | 10,574 | 12,361 | 7.3 | 6.9 |
Ethiopia | 2,662 | 3,703 | 6,925 | 6,981 | 7.9 | 9.2 |
Somalia | 2,305 | 4,069 | 5,431 | 5,286 | 5.5 | 7.8 |
Zambia | 2,855 | 3,315 | 3,886 | 4,970 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
Note: 2008 data is not available for Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Zambia;
2007 data is shown.
Percentage change/growth is shown to 2006-07/1996-2007.
Table 11: Australian Africa-born population: Ten fastest
growing and ten slowest growing birthplace groups, 2001-06
Source: ABS 2001 and 2006 Population of Census and Housing
Ten fastest growing | |
|
Ten slowest growing | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Growth Rate | |
Country | Growth Rate |
Burundi | 97.6 | Guinea-Bissau | -11.8 | |
Liberia | 64.9 | Comoros | -7.8 | |
Guinea | 64.2 | Chad | -5.6 | |
Sierra Leone | 37.9 | Niger | -4.7 | |
Rwanda | 34.4 | Benin | -4.6 | |
Sudan | 31.2 | Sao Tome and Principe | -3.9 | |
Congo | 31.0 | Cape Verde | 0.0 | |
Cote d'Ivoire | 29.9 | Mauritania | 0.0 | |
C. African Republic | 27.2 | Mayotte | 0.0 | |
Gambia | 19.7 | Egypt | 0.0 |
Recent changes in African birthplace groups are evident in Table 11, which shows the
ten fastest growing and ten slowest growing groups over the 2001-06 intercensal
period. It will be noticed that, of the largest groups in Australia, only Sudan
appears in the ‘fastest growing’ category. Refugee-humanitarian
groups are especially represented among the fastest growing groups, while many
of the slowest growing groups are relatively small in number, except for the
Egyptian community.
7 Flows
of African migrants to Australia
Thus far we have examined African immigration to Australia using census stock
data. It is also possible to analyse flow data, which is collected as migrants
pass through Australia’s borders. Immigration to Australia is a highly
planned and controlled process. In the first three post-war decades, the
imperatives of Australian immigration policy were both economic and demographic.
On the one hand, there were massive labour shortages in the post-war boom period
and labour – skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled – was needed for
the massive growth in manufacturing. There was also the ‘populate or
perish’ argument, which followed the near invasion of the country by
Japanese forces during World War Two. With the end of the ‘long
boom’ in the 1970s, the reduction in manufacturing employment and
increases in unemployment, immigration policy was redefined to involve a planned
numerical intake made up of a number of policy components:
- refugee and humanitarian movement, to support the resettlement of
refugees - family migration, to enable family members to join earlier generations of
immigrants - economic migration, to recruit people with skills in short supply in the
economy - special categories, mainly involving New Zealanders, people with special
talents, etc.
Over the years there has been a fluctuation in the
significance of the various components of immigration. In the most recent
period there has been a deliberate policy to increase the proportion of skilled
workers in the immigration intake.
Table 12: Program Management Structure (2005-06)
Migration (non-Humanitarian) Program
Source: DIMIA 2006, 19
Skill | Family | Special Eligibility |
---|---|---|
Business Skills, ENS and Distinguished Talent | Spouses and Dependent Children | Can be capped |
Demand Driven | Demand Driven | |
State-Specific and Regional Migration | Exempt from capping | |
Demand Driven | ||
Skilled Independent and Skilled | Fiancés and Interdependents | |
Australian Sponsored | Can be capped subject to demand for | |
Generally points tested | spouse and dependent child places | |
Planning level adjusted subject to demand in Business Skills, ENS and State-Specific and Regional Migration Categories |
Parents and Preferential/Other Family | |
Can be capped subject to demand in | ||
all other Family categories |
Australia’s current migration program operates within set planning
levels and is made up of humanitarian and non-humanitarian components. The
Skilled Migration Program forms part of the latter and its various elements are
summarised in Table 12.
Within the program some components (ie Business Skills, Employer Nominated
Scheme, Distinguished Talents, Spouses and Dependent Children) are demand-driven
and not subject to capping. There are three main eligibility migration
categories in the Migration Program – Family, Skill and Special
Eligibility. Family migration consists of a number of categories under which
the potential migrant can be sponsored by a relative who is an Australian
citizen or permanent resident of Australia. In recent years there has been a
significant shift away from the family category toward the skilled category, as
shown in Figure 3.
The Skilled Migration Program consists of a number of categories of
prospective migrants, where there is a demand for particular occupational
skills, outstanding talents or business skills. These categories are:
- Independent migrants: not sponsored by an employer or relative in Australia,
they must pass a points test which includes skills, age and English language
ability (44,594 arrivals in 2008-09). - Skilled-Australian Linked: commencing on 1 July 1997 (replacing the
Concessional Family Category), applicants must pass a points test on skills, age
and English language ability and receive additional points for sponsorship by
relatives in Australia (10,504 arrivals in 2008-09) (also includes Regional
Linked for applicants sponsored by relatives in regional areas; not points
tested).
Figure 3: Australia: Migration Program outcomes by
stream, 1976-77 to 2008-09
Source: DIAC Population Flows: Immigration Aspects, various issues and
DIAC 2009
- Employer-sponsored: employers may nominate (or ‘sponsor’)
personnel from overseas through the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS), Regional
Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) and Labour Agreements. These visas enable
Australian employers to fill skilled permanent vacancies with overseas personnel
if they cannot find suitably qualified workers in Australia (38,030 arrivals in
2008-09) - Business skills migration: encourages successful business people to settle
permanently in Australia and develop new business opportunities (7,397 arrivals
in 2008-09) - Distinguished talent: for distinguished individuals with special or unique
talents of benefit to Australia (200 arrivals in 2008-09).
In recent
times there has been greater government intervention to shape the content of the
intake of immigrants to better contribute to Australia’s development
goals. This has seen greater emphasis placed on skills in migrant selection, as
well as the development of business migration programs to attract entrepreneurs
with substantial capital to invest in the country. Australia, like Canada, has
micro-managed the qualifications of its migrant intake since the 1970s with the
introduction of points assessment schemes.
The Skill Stream of the Australia’s migration program aims to attract
people with qualifications and relevant work experience to address specific
skill shortages in Australia and enhance the size, skill level and productivity
of the Australian labour force. In 2007-08 a total of 108,540 people were
granted visas under this category, increasing to 114,777 in 2008-09. In 2001-02
22.6% were ‘onshore’ applicants, compared with 42.7% in 2007-08.
India accounted for 22% of all 2008-09 Skill Stream visa grants. Other major
source countries included the United Kingdom (18%), China (ten per cent), South
Africa (seven per cent) and Sri Lanka (seven per cent).
The annual flows of arrivals of Africa-born immigrants since World War Two
are set out in Figure 4.
There has been a steady growth, with peaks around 1970, 1982 and 1987; however
the highest levels have been recorded in recent years. There was an increase
from 9,988 in 2000-01 to 11,814 in 2003-04, followed by a record 15,781 in
2004-05, which then fell back to 11,841 in 2005-06. The African migration
intake has increased numerically and also as a proportion of all immigrants.
People born in Africa made up only two per cent of immigrants in 1950s but, as
Figure 5 shows, reached an unprecedented 12.8% in 2004-05.
Figure 4: Australia: Immigrants from Africa,
1945-2009
Source: CBCS Demography; DIMIA Australian Immigration Consolidated Statistics
and DIAC Immigration Update, various issues; DIAC unpublished data
Figure 5: Immigrants from Africa as a percentage of total
immigrants, 1945-2009
Source: CBCS Demography; DIMIA Australian Immigration Consolidated
Statistics and DIAC Immigration Update, various issues; DIAC
unpublished data
Table 13: Settler arrivals born in Sub-Saharan Africa
compared with total intake according to eligibility category, 2007-08
Source: DIAC 2008, 21
Eligibility category | Sub-Saharan Africa Number |
Total Number |
Percentage of total from Sub-Saharan Africa |
---|---|---|---|
Family | 1,984 | 38,404 | 5.2 |
Skill | |||
Sponsored | 968 | 11,330 | 8.5 |
ENS | 588 | 4,263 | 13.8 |
Business | 296 | 5,370 | 5.5 |
Independent | 3,319 | 44,441 | 7.5 |
Special Eligibility | - | 131 | 0.0 |
Humanitarian Program | 2,444 | 9,507 | 25.7 |
Non-Program Migration | |||
NZ Citizen | 966 | 34,491 | 2.8 |
Other | 38 | 1,428 | 2.7 |
Total | 10,603 | 149,365 | 7.1 |
Table 13 shows that in
2007-08 Sub-Saharan Africa, in which South Africans are the dominant group, was
over-represented in the following areas of immigration eligibility to Australia:
the ‘Independent’ and ‘Employer-sponsored’ categories
and the ‘Humanitarian’ group. Whereas some 29.8% of all settlers
that year were independent migrants who entered Australia via the points test,
this applied to 31.3% from Sub-Saharan Africa. The growth of refugee migration
in recent years has seen a considerable dilution in the proportion of African
migrants in the skill categories. In 2007-08, 48.8% of all migrants from
Sub-Saharan Africa were accepted through the skill categories. This reflects
the substantial migration from South Africa, along with the small, highly
skilled outflow from other nations such as Kenya and Nigeria, which raises the
spectre of ‘brain drain’. For example, Table 14 shows the
substantial net flow of doctors and nurses from Africa, especially South Africa,
to Australia. Many of them go to rural and remote areas of Australia, where
there is an overall shortage of medical personnel (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare 2004). This has led to a debate in Australia about the
ethics of such mobility and raises issues such as:
- developing a code of conduct for ethical recruitment
- possible reimbursement of the sending country for costs incurred in training
personnel - the need for more training of health workers in Australia
- selectively limiting proactive recruitment of skilled health
professionals - better supporting health care training systems in less developed
countries - encouraging the return of these doctors to their countries of origin after
they complete a period in Australia.
(Reid 2002; Scott et al. 2004)
Table 14: Australia: Arrivals and departures of skilled
health workers, 1993-2007
Source: DIAC unpublished data
|
Other Africa | South Africa | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Doctors | Nurses | Doctors | Nurses |
Permanent Arrivals | 58 | 314 | 316 | 696 |
Permanent Departures | 15 | 37 | 22 | 63 |
Net | +43 | +277 | +294 | +633 |
Long Term Arrivals | 633 | 1686 | 1461 | 1624 |
Long Term Departures | 305 | 781 | 587 | 495 |
Net | +268 | +905 | +874 | +1129 |
At the 2006 population census 3.6% of the Australian medical workforce was
born in Africa or the Middle East (12,241 persons) and 10.4% in Asia (35,551
persons) (AIHW 2003; ABS 2006 Census). It has been argued by some doctors in
Australia that a more ethical approach to recruitment of health workers should
be adopted (Scott et al. 2004). However Australia, like other OECD
nations, has through its contemporary immigration policies, encouraged the flow
of skilled personnel from less developed nations, including many of those in
Africa. Under the Colombo Plan and other later programs to train students from
Asia and Africa in Australia, students were compelled to return to their
homeland for at least two years following completion of their studies. This is
no longer the case; indeed, in recent years, Australia has facilitated
completing students in some skill areas to gain permanent residence in Australia
without returning home. Moreover, the increased skill focus in
Australia’s migration program has encouraged the outflow of skilled
workers from less developed nations.
The other major area of concentration is in the refugee-humanitarian area. Table 13 shows that while
6.4% of all settlers were accepted under this category in 2007-08, a total of
23.1% of this group were from Sub-Saharan Africa. There has been a shift in the
origin of refugee-humanitarian settlers toward the Horn of Africa. Table 15 shows that in 1997
only eight per cent of Australia’s offshore refugees came from Africa, the
number had increased to 70.6% in 2003-04 and 34.5% in 2007-08. In 2004 the
Minister of Immigration announced that Australia would substantially increase
its refugee intake from Africa, especially Sudan (Vanstone 2004). This resulted
in a considerable increase in the number of refugee-humanitarian settlers from
Africa. Table 14 shows
that there was almost a doubling between 2003 and 2004 and the share of Africans
of the total refugee intake also doubled to 70.6 percent. However, the last
Immigration Minister of the Howard Government reduced the African intake of
refugees because of concerns regarding their ability to adjust to Australian
society (see Table 15) and
their numbers reduced somewhat after 2004-05. The growth of these groups
presents challenges for their successful settlement since they are culturally
very different to the host community; they often lack English language, may have
a history of broken or limited education and have large families which can
sometimes lead to difficulties in finding suitable housing. This group of
migrants also experience considerable problems in entering the Australian labour
market.
The trends in permanent settler arrivals from Africa over the last decade are
shown in Table 16. It
indicates that of more than a million permanent arrivals between 1998 and 2009,
some 11% (132,000 people) came from Africa. The trend is of particular interest
as it increased from six per cent of the total intake in 1993-94 to 14.4% in
2003-04, before declining to 11.2% in 2005-06 and to 11% in 2007-08. The
dominance of arrivals from South Africa is evident, accounting for 41.4% of the
total. The flow has been consistent over the period but increased substantially
in 1997-98. The dominance of South Africa in immigration stocks from Africa has
reduced significantly since the turn of the century. In the period between 1993
and 2000 South Africans made up 55.8% of all African settler arrivals. However,
from 2001-06 it dropped to 33% and fell again in 2005-07 to 26.8%, before
recovering in 2007-08 to 41.8%. In 2004-05 there were more settler arrivals
from Sudan (5,654) than from South Africa (4,594). In subsequent years,
however, South Africans were again the largest group of African settler
arrivals. The outflow from Zimbabwe increased sharply in 2001-02, following the
increased pressure on European-origin Zimbabweans from the Mugabe regime. The
number of Kenya-born arrivals has also increased in recent years, however this
probably includes some children born to Sudanese or Ethiopian parents in UNHCR
refugee camps in that country.
Table 15: Australia: Offshore settler arrivals from
Africa under the Refugee-Humanitarian Program, 1992-93 to 2007-08
Source: DIAC, Population Flows: Immigration Aspects, various issues
and Immigration Update, various issues
Year | Europe | Asia(3) | |
America | Africa | Middle East(1)(2) | Total | % Africa |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992-93 | 4,875 | 3,207 | 393 | 742 | 1,690 | 10,907 | 6.8 | |
1994-95 | 6,258 | 3,204 | 164 | 845 | 3,163 | 13,364 | 6.2 | |
1995-96 | 6,843 | 2,392 | 234 | 940 | 3,415 | 13,824 | 6.8 | |
1996-97 | 4,131 | 2,084 | 88 | 772 | 2,577 | 9,652 | 8.0 | |
1997-98 | 5,307 | 649 | 83 | 1,476 | 2,952 | 10,467 | 14.1 | |
1998-99 | 4,724 | 1,038 | 30 | 1,457 | 2,267 | 9,526 | 15.3 | |
1999-2000 | 3,421 | 113 | 30 | 1,733 | 2,205 | 7,502 | 23.1 | |
2000-01 | 3,437 | 399 | 1,998 | 2,158 | 7,992 | 25.0 | ||
2001-02 | 2,707 | 422 | 2,622 | 2,707 | 8,458 | 31.0 | ||
2002-03 | 1,166 | 699 | 5,478 | 4,313 | 11,656 | 47.0 | ||
2003-04 | 354 | 236 | 8,332 | 2,880 | 11,802 | 70.6 | ||
2004-05 | 21 | 416 | 8,435 | 3,174 | 12,096 | 30.2 | ||
2005-06 | 51 | 1,263 | 7,106 | 4,338 | 12,758 | 55.7 | ||
2006-07 | 58 | 3,586 | 6,473 | 2,123 | 12,240 | 52.9 | ||
2007-08 | 54 | 4,011 | 3,279 | 2,147 | 9,491 | 34.5 |
(1) Includes North Africa in 1992-93 until 1998-99
(2) Includes South Asia
in 1999-2000 to 2004-05
(3) Excludes South Asia in 1999-2000 to 2004-05
The most striking pattern in Table 16 has been the
increasing flow of refugee-humanitarian settlers, especially those from Sudan,
which was the second largest birthplace group in the flow from Africa over the
last decade. However, more than three quarters (78.4%) of the 21,433 arrivals
from Sudan between 1996 and 2006 arrived in the last four years. The reduction
in the refugee intake from Africa is shown in the decline after that time, from
5,654 in 2004-05 to 1,018 in 2007-08. The flow from Ethiopia and Somalia, while
smaller, has also increased in recent years. However, declines in each of the
source countries of refugees have been evident since 2004-05.
Table 16: Australia: Africa-born settler arrivals,
1997-98 to 2007-08
Source: DIAC unpublished data
Country of Birth | Year ending June 30 | |
||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | Total | |
ALGERIA | 35 | 32 | 25 | 59 | 34 | 36 | 29 | 28 | 27 | 16 | 24 | 345 |
ANGOLA | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 4 | 47 |
BENIN | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 23 | 38 | ||||||
BOTSWANA | 70 | 12 | 10 | 19 | 16 | 26 | 27 | 29 | 24 | 36 | 21 | 290 |
BURKINA FASO | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||||||
BURUNDI | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 51 | 259 | 442 | 440 | 228 | 1,440 | |
CAMEROON | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 29 | 70 | |
CAPE VERDE | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC | 1 | 1 | 13 | 15 | ||||||||
CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA, NFD | 0 | |||||||||||
CHAD | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 11 | |||||||
COMOROS | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||||||
CONGO | 3 | 3 | 20 | 8 | 23 | 137 | 276 | 91 | 103 | 32 | 696 | |
CONGO, DEM. REP OF | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 26 | 21 | 155 | 569 | 474 | 1,279 |
COTE D IVOIRE | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 111 | 55 | 83 | 77 | 341 | |
DJIBOUTI | 1 | 9 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 55 |
EQUATORIAL GUINEA | 0 | |||||||||||
EGYPT | 310 | 358 | 360 | 423 | 354 | 551 | 736 | 857 | 812 | 756 | 627 | 6,144 |
ERITREA | 67 | 187 | 142 | 137 | 133 | 109 | 148 | 125 | 168 | 138 | 128 | 1,482 |
ETHIOPIA | 280 | 371 | 357 | 397 | 396 | 570 | 718 | 586 | 429 | 575 | 466 | 5,145 |
GABON | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||
GAMBIA | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |||
GHANA | 87 | 137 | 94 | 84 | 76 | 95 | 137 | 143 | 217 | 245 | 180 | 1,495 |
GUINEA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 16 | 152 | 101 | 147 | 87 | 543 |
GUINEA-BISSAU | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
KENYA | 165 | 297 | 231 | 256 | 413 | 574 | 617 | 806 | 648 | 701 | 459 | 5,167 |
LESOTHO | 2 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 27 | ||||
LIBERIA | 4 | 2 | 18 | 113 | 145 | 114 | 851 | 564 | 539 | 255 | 2,605 | |
LIBYA | 15 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 9 | 19 | 24 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 24 | 186 |
MADAGASCAR | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 47 | |
MALAWI | 3 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 32 | 19 | 32 | 40 | 17 | 35 | 39 | 255 |
MALI | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||
MAURITANIA | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 42 | 50 | ||||||
MAURITIUS | 84 | 64 | 118 | 138 | 153 | 170 | 238 | 227 | 260 | 308 | 388 | 2,148 |
MAYOTTE | 0 | |||||||||||
MOROCCO | 24 | 25 | 31 | 18 | 24 | 41 | 39 | 41 | 45 | 49 | 53 | 390 |
MOZAMBIQUE | 17 | 10 | 7 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 18 | 161 |
NAMIBIA | 17 | 27 | 27 | 37 | 39 | 48 | 23 | 53 | 39 | 36 | 28 | 374 |
NIGER | 15 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 58 |
NIGERIA | 43 | 82 | 56 | 86 | 126 | 89 | 102 | 111 | 160 | 187 | 185 | 1,227 |
R'EUNION | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 20 | |||
RWANDA | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 44 | 47 | 68 | 93 | 54 | 327 | |
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE | 0 | |||||||||||
SENEGAL | 8 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 54 | 118 |
SEYCHELLES | 6 | 17 | 19 | 1 | 32 | 20 | 36 | 25 | 27 | 36 | 18 | 237 |
SIERRA LEONE | 5 | 6 | 61 | 127 | 328 | 174 | 132 | 642 | 532 | 519 | 276 | 2,802 |
SOMALIA | 688 | 507 | 284 | 319 | 359 | 203 | 221 | 246 | 264 | 296 | 156 | 3,543 |
SOUHERN AND EAST AFRICA, NFD | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||||
SOUTH AFRICA | 4,281 | 5,024 | 5,691 | 5,754 | 5,714 | 4,603 | 5,849 | 4,594 | 3,953 | 3,996 | 5,166 | 54,625 |
SUDAN | 430 | 566 | 594 | 1,145 | 1,078 | 2,775 | 4,591 | 5,654 | 3,783 | 2,513 | 1,018 | 24,147 |
ST HELENA | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
SWAZILAND | 7 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 81 |
TANZANIA | 27 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 26 | 24 | 55 | 176 | 405 | 344 | 291 | 1,397 |
TOGO | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 49 | 99 | 166 | |||
TUNISIA | 11 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 102 |
UGANDA | 14 | 15 | 17 | 22 | 48 | 71 | 98 | 185 | 161 | 277 | 155 | 1,063 |
ZAMBIA | 79 | 72 | 90 | 84 | 123 | 77 | 129 | 98 | 93 | 127 | 109 | 1,081 |
ZIMBABWE | 273 | 322 | 573 | 720 | 1,068 | 1,197 | 1,620 | 1,258 | 1,104 | 935 | 1,019 | 10,089 |
Total Africa | 7,081 | 8,247 | 8,884 | 9,988 | 10,816 | 11,814 | 16,050 | 17,735 | 14,748 | 14,278 | 12,359 | 132,000 |
Total Settler Arrivals | 77,327 | 84,143 | 92,272 | 107,366 | 88,900 | 93,914 | 111,590 | 123,424 | 131,593 | 140,148 | 149,365 | 1,200,042 |
% of Total | 9.2 | 9.8 | 9.6 | 9.3 | 12.2 | 12.6 | 14.4 | 14.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 8.3 | 11.0 |
REGION OF BIRTH | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total |
North Africa | 825 | 1,000 | 1,027 | 1,672 | 1,505 | 3,444 | 5,424 | 6,602 | 4,696 | 3,363 | 1,756 | 31,314 |
Central & West Africa | 174 | 249 | 235 | 358 | 697 | 587 | 679 | 2,338 | 1,918 | 2,491 | 1,842 | 11,568 |
Southern & East Africa | 6,082 | 6,998 | 7,622 | 7,958 | 8,614 | 7,783 | 9,947 | 8,795 | 8,134 | 8,424 | 8,761 | 89,118 |
Total Africa | 7,081 | 8,247 | 8,884 | 9,988 | 10,816 | 11,814 | 16,050 | 17,735 | 14,748 | 14,278 | 12,359 | 132,000 |
Figure 6: Distribution of birthplace of settlers to Australia,
1970
Source: Department of Immigration 1972
Figure 7: Distribution of birthplace of settlers to
Australia, 2007-08
Source: DIAC unpublished data
The shift in the origin of settlers coming to Australia in the last three
decades is demonstrated in Figure 6 and Figure 7. The former shows
that in 1970 the dominant countries of origin were European, although early
flows from Asia were evident and small numbers came from Egypt and South Africa.
On the other hand, Figure
7, which shows the 2007-08 pattern, presents a quite different pattern; Asia
provides the majority of settlers and the beginnings of larger scale movement
from Africa is also apparent. Figure 8 shows that, over the
last decade, most settlers to Australia from Africa came from South Africa, with
Horn of Africa and East Africa countries also providing significant numbers and
West Africa gaining in importance.
Figure 8: Africa: Birthplace of settler arrivals,
1993-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
As explained in the following section, Australia made a major change in its
immigration policy in the mid-1990s with the introduction of a range of
temporary migration policies. This has facilitated the large-scale,
non-permanent entry of skilled workers to the country (Khoo et al. 2003).
One corollary of this has been the increasing proportion of Australia’s
permanent immigration intake comprising ‘onshore settlers’ –
persons who had entered Australia with a temporary residence or visitor visa who
subsequently applied for, and received, permanent residence. Hence, Figure 9 shows a significant
increase in the numbers of these onshore migrants in recent years, rising from
31,948 (19.1% of the total intake) in 2002-03 to 43,895 (26.2%) in 2004-05 and
56,575 (27.5%) in 2007-08. The proportion of African permanent additions made
up by onshore settlers also increased from 18.1% (2,621 persons) to 27.5% (4,690
persons) over this period; however, it is mainly migrants from South Africa,
Zimbabwe and Kenya who make the transition from temporary to permanent
residence. In fact, in 2007-08 some 35.6% of all migrants from these countries
were onshore arrivals, accounting for 78.3 percent of all onshore migrants from
Africa but only 53.8 percent of ‘offshore’ migrants.
Figure 9: Australia: Onshore residence visa grants,
1989-90 to 2007-08
Source: DIAC Population Flows: Immigration Aspects, various issues
8 Non-permanent
migration
An increasing proportion of Australia’s skilled migrant workers come
from ‘onshore’ approval, with people entering Australia under some
other visa category and then applying to settle in the country. This process
has been made easier in recent times for some groups. For example, overseas
students who graduate from Australian universities can readily gain entry to the
country with their qualifications not having to be assessed. The assessment of
migrants’ professional qualifications is an issue of concern and debate in
Australia. The degree to which there is a necessity to have qualifications
formally assessed varies with the profession and qualifications of the
immigrant. In some skill areas (eg information technology) there is little
professional regulation, while in others (eg doctors) there is a high level of
professional assessment and regulation.
In post-war Australia there has been bipartisan agreement that permanent
settlement of a significant number of migrants is desirable. Accordingly, each
post-war government has had an active immigration program while, in some other
OECD nations, non-permanent labour migration has been strongly opposed. There
has been no serious challenge to the broad support for permanent settlement that
has dominated Australian policy on international migration. However, there has,
in recent times, been a change in focus (Hugo 1999). In response to significant
structural changes in the Australian economy, internationalisation of labour
markets and globalisation forces more generally, there has been a broad shift in
policy which has allowed large numbers of people to enter and work in Australia
on a non-permanent basis. Figure 10 depicts recent
trends in the major non-settlement categories. It is argued elsewhere that this
represents a major change in Australian immigration policy (Hugo 1999). It
should be noted that this visa class has not been extended to unskilled and low
skilled areas; it is only available to people with skills in demand and
entrepreneurs.
The Temporary Business Visa category was introduced in 1996 and as DIMA
(2000, 48) explained at the time:
Figure 10: Temporary Migration to Australia by Category, 1986 to
2009
Source: DIAC Population Flows: Immigration Aspects, various issues
The employer sponsored temporary business visas allow employers to fill skill
shortages from overseas and assess new ideas, skills and technology. The visa
holders tend to be highly skilled and have relatively high income levels and
therefore able to contribute to economic growth through improved productivity
and increased demand for goods and services. The entry of managers and skilled
specialists under these categories can also enhance Australia’s ability to
compete in international markets.
One of the distinguishing features of the exponential increase in
non-permanent migration to Australia is that the origin countries of this group
are quite different to those of permanent settlers. Students are an important
new temporary entry group to the country. Australia has a greater ratio of
overseas-to-local students in its tertiary education institutions than any other
OECD nation (Abella 2005). However, Table 17 shows that
Sub-Saharan Africa only accounts for three per cent of overseas students and
North Africa and the Middle East only 2.4%. Nevertheless the numbers of the
former group increased from 4,889 in 2003-04 to 5,743 in 2004-05 and the latter
grew from 3,433 to 4,524. The OECD (2004) has found that Africans make up 10.9%
of all foreign students in the world, which means they are substantially
under-represented in Australia.
Table 17: Australia: Students present by region of
birth, 30 June 2005
Source: DIMIA 2005, 36
Region of Birth | Students Present | |
---|---|---|
No. | % | |
Oceania | 2,463 | 1.28 |
Europe | 13,613 | 7.06 |
North Africa and the Middle East | 4,524 | 2.35 |
Southeast Asia | 39,989 | 20.74 |
Northeast Asia | 77,664 | 40.29 |
Southern and Central Asia | 26,762 | 13.88 |
Northern America | 5,735 | 2.97 |
South and Central America and the Caribbean | 5,096 | 2.64 |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 5,743 | 2.98 |
Not Stated | 11,186 | 5.80 |
Total | 192,775 | 100.00 |
Figure 11: Australia: Temporary resident arrivals, 2005
Source: Drawn from data in DIMIA 2005
The origin of temporary resident arrivals – which includes long-stay
business travellers, working holiday makers and occupational trainees, but
excludes students and visitors – is depicted in Figure 11. It is clear that the African contribution
of such arrivals comes almost totally from South Africa, which is an important
source of business travellers and skilled temporary resident workers (Visa
Categories 456 and 457). Table 18 shows that, in fact,
there is a higher proportion of temporary residents to Australia who originate
from Sub-Saharan Africa than permanent settlers, which largely reflects the
movement from South Africa.
It is apparent that Africa, especially South Africa, has participated in the
substantial expansion of temporary migration to Australia. Moreover, Table 19 shows that there has
been a major increase in the number of Africa-born persons visiting Australia on
a long-term basis. The numbers doubled between 1994-95 and 1998-99, doubled
again by 2005 and subsequently doubled again. This reflects the strong
involvement of Africans, especially South Africans, in the influx of skilled
temporary workers to Australia, especially in the health and information
technology sectors. The table also shows that the numbers of temporary entrants
arriving in Australia is greater than the out-movement, which means the net gain
of ‘temporary’ migrants has increased. This has been a feature of
Australia’s population change in recent years. Net migration has
accounted for around half of the national population increase, however half of
that net gain has been in temporary movement. It remains to be seen how much of
the temporary migration will lead to applications for permanent settlement.
There are some strong indications of this increasingly occurring, with over a
quarter of Australian permanent ‘settlers’ now being
‘onshore’ – in other words, people who are already in
Australia usually on a temporary residence visa (Hugo 2005). The dominance of
South Africa in African temporary migration to Australia is readily apparent in Figure 12, which shows the country of origin of
long-term arrivals from Africa over the last decade.
Table 18: Australia: Origins of the Australian
foreign-born total and temporary resident populations, 2008
Source: ABS 2009 and DIAC 2008
|
Total Overseas-Born, 2008 |
Temporary Resident Overseas-Born, 2008 |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total | Percent | Total | Percent |
Oceania | 625,026 | 11.4 | 3,997 | 1.7 |
Europe | 2,391,656 | 43.7 | 98,439 | 41.3 |
Middle East and North Africa | 315,524 | 5.8 | 4,163 | 1.7 |
Southeast Asia | 700,033 | 12.8 | 22,363 | 9.4 |
Northeast Asia | 562,074 | 10.3 | 53,643 | 22.5 |
Southern and Central Asia | 404,772 | 7.4 | 18,381 | 7.7 |
Northern America | 122,179 | 2.2 | 15,737 | 6.6 |
Southern America | 109,719 | 2.0 | 5,148 | 2.2 |
Sub-Saharan Africa | 245,142 | 4.5 | 16,657 | 7.0 |
Total | 5,476,125 | 100.0 | 238,528 | 100.0 |
* Excludes 6,196 Temporary Residents who did not state their birthplace
Table 19: Australia: Long-term movement to and from
Africa and Australia, 1994-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
|
Long Term Resident | Long Term Visitor | Total Long Term | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
In | Out | In | Out | Net Migration |
1994-95 | 1,520 | 1,528 | 1,256 | 832 | +416 |
1996-96 | 1,556 | 1,440 | 1,497 | 922 | +691 |
1996-97 | 1,798 | 1,460 | 2,045 | 951 | +1,432 |
1997-98 | 1,710 | 1,517 | 2,867 | 1,414 | +1,646 |
1998-99 | 1,650 | 1,427 | 4,159 | 1,221 | +3,161 |
1999-2000 | 1,829 | 1,468 | 4,546 | 1,748 | +3,159 |
2000-01 | 2,075 | 1,488 | 5,616 | 1,800 | +4,403 |
2001-02 | 2,036 | 1,429 | 5,939 | 1,866 | +4,680 |
2002-03 | 2,016 | 1,336 | 6,502 | 2,556 | +4,626 |
2003-04 | 2,045 | 1,427 | 6,683 | 2,939 | +4,362 |
2004-05 | 1,981 | 1,428 | 7,443 | 2,833 | +5,163 |
2005-06 | 2,132 | 1,529 | 9,981 | 2,926 | +7,658 |
2006-07 | 2,211 | 1,516 | 11,602 | 3,408 | +8,888 |
2007-08 | 2,440 | 1,626 | 15,415 | 4,050 | +12,179 |
Figure 12: Africa: Country of birth of long-term arrivals to
Australia, 1994-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
It is also interesting to note the shifts in short-term movement in recent
years. Table 20 shows that there has been an
increase in both Australian movement to Africa and also in the opposite
direction. In particular, African short-term movement (involving primarily
tourists and short-term business visitors) to Australia has increased
substantially, almost doubling between 1994-95 and 1998-99. There was a
downturn following the ‘September 11’ incidents and the heightened
security concerns of travellers, but this recovered to reach record levels in
2007-08. For most years the number of short-term visitors going to Africa has
been larger than the movement in the other direction. This may indicate that
short-term movers from Australia go to Africa and then subsequently travel on to
other foreign destinations like Europe. Figure 13 shows that South Africa is the main origin of short-term arrivals to Australia,
although a significant number of arrivals also come from East Africa.
Table 20: Australia: Short-term movement to and from Africa and
Australia, 1994-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
|
Short-term resident | Short-term visitor | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
In | Out | In | Out |
1994-95 | 35,749 | 35,495 | 41,986 | 43,562 |
1996-96 | 42,623 | 46,858 | 39,689 | 45,714 |
1996-97 | 45,666 | 54,553 | 55,985 | 55,151 |
1997-98 | 46,404 | 51,008 | 58,325 | 57,374 |
1998-99 | 51,498 | 50,428 | 77,828 | 78,458 |
1999-2000 | 50,677 | 57,595 | 71,868 | 75,405 |
2000-01 | 47,893 | 52,770 | 73,144 | 85,542 |
2001-02* | ||||
2002-03 | 60,051 | 63,148 | 62,709 | 65,421 |
2003-04 | 68,212 | 71,261 | 72,443 | 76,987 |
2004-05 | 77,705 | 79,033 | 66,887 | 70,628 |
2005-06 | 84,817 | 86,385 | 74,013 | 75,017 |
2006-07 | 94,510 | 97,799 | 80,673 | 82,113 |
2007-08 | 10,550 | 106,487 | 88,091 | 90,853 |
* Short-term movement not available |
Figure 13: Africa: Birthplace of short-term moves to Australia,
1994-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
9 Movement
from Australia to Africa
There is a tendency for Australia to be categorised as a purely immigration
country but, in fact, it also is a country of significant emigration. Table 21 shows that, in
recent years, departures on a long-term or permanent basis have been very
substantial compared to the immigration intake. Former settlers have formed a
major part of the outflow, as Figure 14 indicates. In
2008-09 permanent and long-term departures (326,175) reached unprecedented
levels. The proportion of Australian-born people among the permanent departures
reached its highest-ever level of 41,249 in 2008-09 (50.9%).
Table 21: Australia: Settlers and long-term migration,
1987-2007
Source: DIAC, Immigration Update, various issues and unpublished
data
Year | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1987-88 | 1991-92 | 1995-96 | 1999-2000 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
Permanent Migration | ||||||||
Arrivals | 143,480 | 107,391 | 99,139 | 92,272 | 111,590 | 123,420 | 131,593 | 140,148 |
Departures | 20,470 | 29,122 | 28,670 | 41,078 | 59,078 | 62,606 | 67,850 | 72,103 |
Net | 123,010 | 78,269 | 70,469 | 51,194 | 52,512 | 60,818 | 63,743 | 68,045 |
Long-term Migration | ||||||||
Arrivals | 98,780 | 126,781 | 163,578 | 212,849 | 289,727 | 303,496 | 325,820 | 373,337 |
Departures | 78,570 | 115,162 | 124,386 | 156,768 | 177,618 | 186,342 | 190,290 | 203,101 |
Net | 20,210 | 11,619 | 39,192 | 56,081 | 112,109 | 117,154 | 135,530 | 170,236 |
Total Permanent and Long-term Net Gain | 143,220 | 89,888 | 109,661 | 107,275 | 164,621 | 177,972 | 199,273 | 238,281 |
% Net Migration from Long-term Movement | 14.1 | 12.9 | 35.7 | 52.3 | 68.1 | 65.8 | 68.0 | 71.4 |
Figure 14: Australia: Permanent departures of
Australia-born and overseas-born persons from Australia, 1959-60 to
2008-09
Source: DIMIA, Australian Immigration Consolidated Statistics; DIAC, Immigration Update, various issues
Settler loss has been an important feature of the post-war Australian
migration scene, with around a fifth of all settlers subsequently emigrating
from Australia and most returning to their home nation. There has been concern
about settler loss among policy makers (Hugo 1994), however it has a number of
components including migrants who never intended to settle permanently in
Australia, people who are influenced by family changes and those who are not
able to adjust to life in Australia. The pattern of settler loss, while it
varies between birthplace groups (eg it is high among New Zealanders but low
among Vietnamese), has tended to remain a relatively consistent feature of the
post-war migration scene in Australia and fluctuations in numbers are very much
related to earlier levels of immigration. With the recent increase in the skill
profile of migrants it can be expected that there will also be an increase in
settler loss, since skilled migrants have a greater chance of re-migrating than
family migrants.
Table 22 Australia: Birthplace of permanent arrivals
and departures, 2008-09
Source: DIAC, unpublished data
Country of Birth | Settler Arrival | Resident Permanent Departure | Ratio | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | In:Out | |
Australia | 833 | 0.5 | 41,249 | 50.9 | 0.02 |
Other Oceania and Antarctica | 29,177 | 18.5 | 9,163 | 11.3 | 3.18 |
Europe | 29,294 | 18.5 | 10,147 | 12.5 | 2.89 |
North Africa and the Middle East | 11,143 | 7.1 | 2,010 | 2.5 | 5.54 |
South East Asia | 21,008 | 13.3 | 4,644 | 5.7 | 4.52 |
North East Asia | 20,977 | 13.3 | 9,302 | 11.5 | 2.26 |
Southern Asia | 25,900 | 16.4 | 1,093 | 1.3 | 23.70 |
Central Asia | 1,731 | 1.1 | 104 | 0.1 | 16.64 |
Northern America | 2,254 | 1.4 | 1,665 | 2.1 | 1.35 |
S America, C America and the Caribbean | 1,979 | 1.3 | 519 | 0.6 | 3.81 |
Sub - Saharan Africa | 13,025 | 8.2 | 1,083 | 1.3 | 12.03 |
Supplementary Country Codes | 671 | 0.4 | 33 | 0.0 | 20.33 |
Not Stated/NEI | 29 | 0.0 | 6 | 0.0 | 4.83 |
Grand Total | 158,021 | 100.0 | 81,018 | 100.0 | 1.95 |
A rough indication of contemporary patterns of settler loss can be derived by
comparing the birthplace of permanent arrivals and departures to and from
Australia. These data are presented in Table 22. It indicates that
there are relatively high rates of return among settlers from more developed
countries of origin, including New Zealand, Europe and North America. There are
also high rates of return to parts of North East Asia, especially Japan (ABS
2001). Moreover, there is every indication of a low rate of settler return
among African permanent settlers. This is a particular characteristic of
refugee-humanitarian settlers (Hugo 1994).
Table 23: Australia: Permanent movement by financial
years, 1991-2009
Sources: DIMIA Australian Immigration Consolidated Statistics; DIAC,
Immigration Update, various issues; DIAC, unpublished data
Year | Former Settlers | Australia-Born | Total |
---|---|---|---|
1991-92 | 19,944 | 9,178 | 29,122 |
1992-93 | 18,102 | 9,803 | 27,905 |
1993-94 | 17,353 | 9,927 | 27,280 |
1994-95 | 16,856 | 10,092 | 26,948 |
1995-96 | 17,665 | 11,005 | 28,670 |
1996-97 | 18,159 | 11,698 | 29,857 |
1997-98 | 19,214 | 12,771 | 31,985 |
1998-99 | 17,931 | 17,250 | 35,181 |
1999-2000 | 20,844 | 20,234 | 41,078 |
2000-01 | 23,440 | 23,081 | 46,521 |
2001-02 | 24,095 | 24,146 | 48,241 |
2002-03 | 24,885 | 25,578 | 50,463 |
2003-04 | 29,977 | 29,101 | 59,078 |
2004-05 | 31,579 | 31,027 | 62,606 |
2005-06 | 33,569 | 34,284 | 67,853 |
2006-07 | 35,221 | 36,882 | 72,103 |
2007-08 | 37,779 | 39,144 | 76,923 |
2008-09 | 39,769 | 41,249 | 81,018 |
Table 23 reveals that
more than half of permanent departures from Australia in 2001-02 were of
Australia-born persons. While a small number were the Australia-born children
of former settlers, the data indicates that the numbers of Australia-born
persons leaving the country on a permanent basis is increasing especially
quickly, doubling between 1997-98 and 2004-05 and increasing by half again by
2006-07. Focusing on the Australia-born movement to Africa, Table 24 shows that there has
been a stable flow of around 1,000 per annum over the last decade, although
there has been an increase in recent years. However, Africa is clearly not a
significant destination for Australian expatriates. In Australia there is
increasing concern about a ‘brain drain’ of skilled workers to other
countries, despite the fact that there has been a substantial net gain of
skilled migrants (Wood (ed.) 2004). The destinations of permanent departures to
Africa is shown in Figure 15 and it is interesting
that, although the numbers are small, there is not the concentration in South
Africa as there is for other types of movements.
Table 24: Permanent and long-term out-movement of
Australia-born departures to Africa, 1994-95 to 2007-08
Sources: DIAC Movements Data Base
Year | Total | Percent |
---|---|---|
1994-95 | 860 | 1.7 |
1995-96 | 877 | 1.6 |
1996-97 | 912 | 1.6 |
1997-98 | 910 | 1.4 |
1998-99 | 973 | 1.3 |
1999-2000 | 968 | 1.2 |
2000-01 | 1,000 | 1.1 |
2001-02 | 1,516 | 1.2 |
2002-03 | 917 | 1.0 |
2003-04 | 1,024 | 1.1 |
2004-05 | 988 | 1.0 |
2005-06 | 1,092 | 1.1 |
2006-07 | 1,136 | 1.0 |
2007-08 | 1,238 | 1.1 |
Figure 15: Africa: Birthplace of permanent departures from Australia
to Africa, 1994-2008
Source: DIAC unpublished data
10 Australia’s
South African community
The impact of any migration stream on a destination society goes far beyond
the demographic addition of new residents. Migrants always have a different
socio-economic and demographic profile from the broader society in their origin
and destination countries and they inevitably change those populations through
their presence or absence. Moreover, migrants often provide new channels for
the flow of information, goods and capital, which bring about other changes in
those countries of origin and destination. It is important, therefore, to
examine the characteristics of Africans living in Australia. Here we are
heavily reliant on data from the 2006 Australian Census of Population and
Housing. As indicated earlier, however, there has been a substantial expansion
of the African-origin population in Australia since then and this impact will be
revealed when the results of the next census, to be held in August 2011, are
released. In the meantime some data from other sources can be used to provide
additional details about new immigrants to Australia from Africa.
One of the universal features of migration streams is that they tend to be
selective of particular age groups, especially young adults. This is also the
case for African migration to Australia – evident in Figure 16, which overlays the
age-sex distributions of the Africa-born and total populations at the 2006
Australian Census. These reveal quite different age distributions for different
birthplace groups. The long history of South African migration is evident in
the relatively mature age of the population in Australia (see Figure 17). On the other hand, the recent flow of
refugees means that groups born in Horn of Africa countries are substantially
younger. As a result, the overall Africa-born population is over-represented in
the 15-44 age group, which accounts for 51.4% of the Africa-born population but
only 42.2% of the total Australian population. On the other hand, some 7.8% are
aged over 65 compared with 11.1%of the Australian population.
The Australian immigration selection mechanism is highly selective by age.
This is partly due to a strong focus on strengthening the national labour market
and also growing concern about Australia’s ageing population (Costello
2002). Figure 18 overlays
the age composition of the permanent and long-term arrivals from Africa over the
last decade; the dominance of young adults and young families is readily
apparent. Age is also an important component of the Points Assessment Test
applied to potential migrants attempting to enter Australia under the various
skilled migration categories. It is not, however, applied in the
refugee-humanitarian program, under which the bulk of African migrants from
outside South Africa have come to Australia in recent years. Figure 19 shows the age
distribution of entrants from these nations and, while there is some variation,
they are clearly very young populations.
Figure 16: Australia: Age-sex structure of the
Sub-Saharan Africa-born and Australia-born populations, 2006
Source: ABS 2006 Census
Figure 17: Australia: Age structure of South Africa-born population,
2006
Source: ABS 2006 Census
Figure 18: Age-sex distribution of the Africa-born
permanent and long-term arrivals 1994-95 to 2006-07 and the total Australian
population in 2006
Source: ABS 2006 Census; DIAC, unpublished data
One of the most significant demographic events that occurred in Australia
during the 1980s was that, for the first time in the nation’s
post-European history, females outnumbered males. Despite the fact that women
outlive men in Australia to a greater extent than most countries (Hugo, 1986),
the dominance of males has, until recently, more than counter-balanced the
effect of longevity. However, as shown in Figure 20, the last two
decades has seen a feminisation of settlement in Australia. For example, in
2002-02 there were 93.7 males for every 100 females arriving in Australia.
Females outnumber males in the stream from Africa but the sex ratio of this
group (98.75) is higher than for all migrants (98.6). Nevertheless, males
outnumber females among the majority of African birthplace groups (see Table 25), although females dominate in some of the
largest birthplace groups, particularly South Africa. This partly reflects the
mature age structure of that community, as well as the fact that the streams of
migrants are more varied than is the case for smaller country flows. Males tend
to be dominant in the major flows of skilled migrants.
Figure 19: Age of entrants to Australia from Liberia,
Ethiopia and Eritrea, 2000-05
Source: DIMA 2006a, b, c
Liberia
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Figure 20: Australia: Sex ratios of settler arrivals,
1959-2009
Source: DIAC, unpublished data
Table 25: Australia: Africa-born birthplace groups, sex ratio,
2006
Source: ABS Table Builder 2006
Birthplace | Sex Ratio | Birthplace | Sex Ratio | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Algeria | 156.4 | Mali | 176.5 | |
Angola | 101.5 | Mauritania | 87.5 | |
Benin | 171.4 | Mauritius | 94.2 | |
Botswana | 143.0 | Mayotte | na | |
Burkina Faso | 125.0 | Morocco | 142.5 | |
Burundi | 110.3 | Mozambique | 105.5 | |
Cameroon | 148.0 | Namibia | 95.8 | |
Cape Verde | 450.0 | Niger | 140.0 | |
Central African Republic | 150.0 | Nigeria | 145.7 | |
Central and West Africa, nfd | 73.9 | North Africa, nec | 109.1 | |
Chad | 160.0 | North Africa, nfd | 88.9 | |
Comoros | 50.0 | Réunion | 82.9 | |
Congo | 120.8 | Rwanda | 74.8 | |
Congo, Democratic Republic of | 108.8 | Sao Tomé and Principe | 100.0 | |
Côte d'Ivoire | 117.1 | Senegal | 153.8 | |
Djibouti | 75.0 | Seychelles | 84.8 | |
Egypt | 104.2 | Sierra Leone | 100.9 | |
Equatorial Guinea | 266.7 | Somalia | 92.5 | |
Eritrea | 96.4 | South Africa | 96.1 | |
Ethiopia | 100.2 | Southern and East Africa, nec | 200.0 | |
Gabon | 225.0 | Southern and East Africa, nfd | 71.6 | |
Gambia | 124.1 | St Helena | 44.0 | |
Ghana | 114.6 | Sudan | 118.2 | |
Guinea | 109.4 | Swaziland | 96.6 | |
Guinea-Bissau | na | Tanzania | 126.3 | |
Kenya | 103.6 | Togo | 133.3 | |
Lesotho | 105.1 | Tunisia | 144.8 | |
Liberia | 87.2 | Uganda | 103.7 | |
Libya | 114.7 | Western Sahara | 114.3 | |
Madagascar | 75.0 | Zambia | 96.1 | |
Malawi | 93.8 | Zimbabwe | 97.8 |
Table 26: Australia: Settler arrivals, birthplace
Africa, sex ratios,
1993-94 to 2007-08
Source: DIAC unpublished data
COUNTRY OF BIRTH | Males | Females | Sex Ratio |
---|---|---|---|
Angola | 32 | 27 | 118.5 |
Benin | 24 | 17 | 141.2 |
Botswana | 332 | 329 | 100.9 |
Burkina Faso | 3 | 6 | 50.0 |
Burundi | 739 | 703 | 105.1 |
Cameroon | 44 | 29 | 151.7 |
Cape Verde | 3 | 1 | 300.0 |
Central African Republic | 8 | 8 | 100.0 |
Chad | 7 | 5 | 140.0 |
Comoros Excl Mayotte | 5 | 5 | 100.0 |
Congo | 372 | 326 | 114.1 |
Congo, Dem Rep | 586 | 612 | 95.8 |
Cote D’Ivoire | 159 | 186 | 85.5 |
Djibouti | 30 | 39 | 76.9 |
Eritrea | 885 | 913 | 96.9 |
Ethiopia | 2919 | 2979 | 98.0 |
Former Ethiopia | 574 | 537 | 106.9 |
Gabon | 4 | 3 | 133.3 |
Gambia | 21 | 11 | 190.9 |
Ghana | 906 | 1005 | 90.1 |
Guinea | 267 | 276 | 96.7 |
Guinea-Bissau | 3 | 3 | 100.0 |
Kenya | 2989 | 2865 | 104.3 |
Lesotho | 18 | 17 | 105.9 |
Liberia | 1178 | 1428 | 82.5 |
Madagascar | 21 | 31 | 67.7 |
Malawi | 138 | 143 | 96.5 |
Mali | 5 | 2 | 250.0 |
Mauritania | 27 | 21 | 128.6 |
Mauritius | 1223 | 1329 | 92.0 |
Mozambique | 98 | 92 | 106.5 |
Namibia | 225 | 188 | 119.7 |
Niger | 57 | 53 | 107.5 |
Nigeria | 804 | 605 | 132.9 |
Reunion Island | 10 | 15 | 66.7 |
Rwanda | 151 | 184 | 82.1 |
Senegal | 81 | 54 | 150.0 |
Seychelles | 134 | 167 | 80.2 |
Sierra Leone | 1431 | 1397 | 102.4 |
Somalia | 2543 | 2688 | 94.6 |
South Africa | 32985 | 32487 | 101.5 |
St Helena | 1 | 0 | |
Sth and East Africa NFD | 32 | 39 | 82.1 |
Swaziland | 42 | 52 | 80.8 |
Tanzania | 790 | 717 | 110.2 |
Togo | 79 | 89 | 88.8 |
Uganda | 601 | 567 | 106.0 |
Zaire | 40 | 32 | 125.0 |
Zambia | 694 | 639 | 108.6 |
Zimbabwe | 5581 | 5378 | 103.8 |
Total Sub-Saharan Africa | 59901 | 59299 | 101.0 |
Algeria | 200 | 236 | 84.7 |
Egypt | 4413 | 3774 | 116.9 |
Libya | 143 | 102 | 140.2 |
Morocco | 304 | 212 | 143.4 |
Sudan | 14025 | 11640 | 120.5 |
Tunisia | 78 | 56 | 139.3 |
Western Sahara | 5 | 4 | 125.0 |
Total North Africa | 19168 | 16024 | 119.6 |
Total Africa | 79069 | 75323 | 105.0 |
In examining flows of migrants from Africa to Australia between 2000 and
2005, Table 25 shows there is considerable variation in the balance of male and
females from the different countries. It is interesting that, overall, males
outnumbered females, with 108 males moving to Australia for every 100 females
during the period. It is particularly noticeable that males outnumber females
in each of the largest flows, including South Africa (101.5), Sudan (120.5),
Zimbabwe (103.8), Egypt (116.5) and Kenya (104.5). Ethiopia had a sex ratio of
108.2 among arrivals from 2000-05, however recent inflows of women have resulted
in a relatively balanced ratio over the last 15 years (98).
Migration is often selective of more adventurous, entrepreneurial, better
trained and risk-taking populations. Moreover, this is exacerbated by
highly-planned immigration programs, such as Australia’s, which has
increasingly focused on selecting settlers on the basis of skill (Richardson,
Robertson and Ilsley 2001). This is reflected in the characteristics of the
Africa-born population in Australia. Table 27 shows that the
African population in Australia has a higher proportion in the manager,
administrative and professional occupation categories than the total workforce
and almost three times as many with a degree. The distribution is dominated by
migrants from South Africa.
Table 27: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan
Africa-born: Selected occupational and educational characteristics, 2006
Source: ABS Table Builder 2006
|
Birthplace | |
|
|
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Australia | Sub-Saharan | Total Overseas | Total Population |
Occupation | ||||
Managers and Administrators | 9.4 | 10.9 | 8.6 | 9.2 |
Professionals | 18.7 | 30.6 | 22.0 | 19.6 |
Associate Professionals | 12.2 | 11.8 | 12.1 | 12.2 |
Tradespersons and Related Workers | 12.7 | 8.8 | 11.4 | 12.3 |
Advanced Clerical and Service Workers | 3.3 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 3.2 |
Intermediate Clerical, Sales and Service W | 17.5 | 16.5 | 16.3 | 17.2 |
Intermediate Production and Transport W | 8.1 | 5.1 | 8.7 | 8.2 |
Elementary Clerical, Sales and Service W | 10.1 | 7.0 | 8.3 | 9.6 |
Labourers and Related Workers | 8.1 | 5.7 | 9.6 | 8.5 |
Percentage Unemployed | 4.9 | 5.5 | 6.1 | 5.2 |
Highest Qualification | ||||
Degree or higher | 11.1 | 25.5 | 16.0 | 12.5 |
Diploma/Certificate | 19.5 | 24.2 | 18.0 | 19.1 |
It is apparent that the recent refugee arrivals from the Horn of Africa have
encountered difficulties entering the labour market, experiencing high levels of
unemployment and low levels of workforce participation. South Africans are one
of the most advantaged birthplace groups in the Australian population, while
some of the recently-arrived refugee groups are among the least advantaged. Table 28 shows results from
the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia and indicates that African
immigrants had very high rates of unemployment in the first six months of their
arrival but that these improved substantially with length of residence. The
high socio-economic status of the South Africa-born population, with high
incomes and high rates of home ownership, is reflected in the Africa-born
population as a whole (Table
29).
Table 28: Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to
Australia: Employment experience
|
No. Employed | No. Unemployed | Unemployment Rate |
---|---|---|---|
Cohort One | |||
First Wave | |||
Arrived 1993-98 | 158 | 88 | 35.8 |
Second Wave | |||
1 year later | 184 | 40 | 17.9 |
Third Wave | |||
3 years later | 171 | 32 | 15.8 |
Cohort Two | |||
First Wave | |||
Arrived 1999-2001 | 116 | 24 | 17.1 |
Second Wave | |||
2 years later | 123 | 11 | 8.2 |
Cohort Three | |||
First Wave (N=475) | |||
Arrived Dec 2005-March 2006 | 339 | 59 | 14.8 |
Second Wave (N=291) | |||
12 months later | 243 | 17 | 6.5 |
Table 29: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan
Africa-born: Selected socio-economic indicators, 2006
Source: ABS Table Builder 2006
|
Birthplace | Total Overseas | Total Population | |
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Australia | Sub-Saharan | ||
Nature of Occupancy | ||||
Owner/Purchaser | 73.1 | 60.0 | 69.1 | 71.9 |
Tenant | 25.1 | 38.6 | 29.4 | 26.3 |
Other | 1.8 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.8 |
Income | ||||
Less than $400 per week | 43.5 | 37.5 | 48.6 | 45.0 |
$1,600 per week or more | 6.5 | 13.0 | 6.6 | 6.5 |
Figure 21: Selected African group arrivals in Australia,
2000-05, by self-reported English proficiency
Source: DIMA 2006a, b, c, d
Liberia
Congo
Eritrea
Ethiopia
The problems experienced by refugee-humanitarian arrivals in entering the
Australian labour market can be gauged from Figure 21, which shows the
self-reported English language ability among four groups of arrivals in 2000-05.
It is evident that there is a very significant proportion with no English
language ability or with poor proficiency. This represents a major barrier to
success in the labour market. Nevertheless they have settled in Australia at a
time of record low levels of unemployment, which will have assisted their
possibility of finding work. A related issue is the large family size of some
of the refugee-humanitarian groups, which can greatly reduce the housing options
open to them.
11 Patterns
of Settlement in Australia
Most immigrant groups in Australia have a quite different spatial
distribution than the Australia-born population, reflecting the pattern of job
opportunities prevailing at their time of arrival in Australia and the existence
of communities of prior arrivals. Where immigrants settle can have a major
impact on their level of satisfaction with life in their new country. African
groups have had a quite distinctive pattern of settlement in Australia. This is
reflected at a macro level in Table 30; in 2006 81.5% of
Australian
Table 30: Australia: Australia-born and Sub-Saharan
Africa-Born: Spatial distribution, 2006
Source: ABS Table Builder 2006
|
% Australia-Born | % Sub-Saharan Africa-Born | % Total Overseas-Born | % Total Population |
---|---|---|---|---|
Urban/Rural Distribution | |
|
|
|
Capital City | 58.3 | 81.5 | 80.6 | 63.7 |
Rest of State | 41.7 | 18.5 | 19.4 | 36.3 |
Interstate Distribution | ||||
NSW | 32.1 | 28.2 | 35.2 | 33.0 |
Victoria | 24.4 | 23.4 | 26.6 | 24.8 |
QLD | 20.9 | 19.0 | 15.8 | 19.7 |
SA | 8.0 | 4.7 | 7.0 | 7.6 |
WA | 9.1 | 21.4 | 12.0 | 9.9 |
Tas | 2.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 2.4 |
NT | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
ACT | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.6 |
Africans lived in the eight capital cities compared with 58.3% of the
Australia-born population. It is interesting that this represented a decrease
from 84.7% in 2001, indicating that more Africans are now settling outside the
large cities. Nevertheless there is a strong concentration in metropolitan
areas, as is the case with other migrant groups (Hugo, forthcoming), although
there have been some attempts to encourage recently-arrived refugees to settle
in regional areas. The metropolitan concentration of Africa-born immigrants is
also apparent in Figure 22, which shows their
distribution across the nation at the 2006 census. It is apparent that they are
strongly concentrated in the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne,
Figure 22: Australia: Distribution of the Sub-Saharan Africa-born
population, 2006
Source: ABS, Table Builder 2006
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Sydney (39,535 persons) is home to 24% of the
nation’s Africa-born. Although this is significantly higher than the
proportion of the Australia-born living in Sydney (17.7%), it is lower than for
most recently-arrived groups (Hugo 2004b). Moreover the large numbers in Sydney
include many of the temporary migrants referred to earlier in the paper, as it
is the main focus of business travellers and temporary business migrants.
Figure 22 highlights that the numbers in Melbourne (41,310 persons) are similar
to those in Sydney, although Melbourne’s total population is somewhat
lower (3,592,590 persons compared with 4,119,191 persons). This is due in part
to the fact that Melbourne has become the main location of settlement for the
Ethiopia refugee groups from the Horn of Africa (Gow 2001, 693), especially in
the suburb of Footscray in Melbourne’s western suburbs. The rapidly
growing Sudanese refugee group is particularly concentrated in Sydney.
The third largest concentration is in Perth, which traditionally has been a
major focus of settlement of groups from Sub-Saharan Africa, especially those
from South Africa and Zimbabwe. Indeed its Africa-born community (24,843
persons) is almost as large as those in Sydney and Melbourne, which both have
total populations roughly three times that of Perth. Table 30 indicates that there
is a disproportionate concentration of Sub-Saharan Africa-born persons in
Western Australia. One of the most distinctive features of the historical
settlement of Africans in Australia has been what Hugo (1996) has described as
an ‘Indian Ocean Connection’. He showed how data from the 1991
census indicated that the ring of nations around the Indian Ocean have a
disproportionately large share of their Australian-based populations living in
Western Australia. In 1981 Western Australia had 16.9% of the Australian
Africa-born population – double that state’s share of the national
total population. This is obviously partly a factor of greater proximity to the
Indian Ocean region than any other Australian state and the fact that Perth was
the first port of call of early visitors and settlers from South Africa; the
establishment of a substantial South African community in Perth served as an
anchor for later settlement. By 2006 the proportion of Australian Africans
living in Western Australia had risen to 21.4%, more than double that
state’s share of the total Australian population (9.9%).
The data on settlement patterns referred to so far are 2006 census data but,
as indicated earlier, there has been a substantial increase in the inflow from
Africa, along with a change in its composition, in the last four years.
Moreover in recent years there have been increased efforts by federal, state and
local governments to encourage immigrants to settle in particular parts of
Australia and facilitate regional development. Accordingly 20.9% of settlers in
2005-06 came under the State Specific and Regional Migration (SSRM) scheme,
which only allows people to settle outside of major metropolitan destinations on
Australia’s east and south west coasts. The SSRM scheme only applies to a
range of skill and family migration visa categories and not to
refugee-humanitarian migrants. Nevertheless efforts are made to settle
refugee-humanitarian migrants in the SSRM areas, where the necessary support is
available to assist them (see Table 31). While NSW is
Australia’s largest state and takes a larger share of migrants than any
other state or territory, it is apparent that it has taken less Ethiopian,
Eritrean and Congolese migrants (509) than Victoria (2,051) and Western
Australia (749). In addition, South Australia (with only 7.5% of the national
population) is home to 464 (10.4%) of this group of migrants.
Table 31: Settlement locations of migrants from
Ethiopia, Eritrea and Congo, 2000-05
Source: DIMA 2006a, b, c
|
Ethiopia | Eritrea | Congo |
---|---|---|---|
New South Wales | 318 | 84 | 107 |
Victoria | 1,546 | 426 | 79 |
Queensland | 239 | 61 | 63 |
South Australia | 249 | 62 | 153 |
Western Australia | 425 | 117 | 207 |
Tasmania | 162 | 32 | - |
Australian Capital Territory | 51 | - | |
Northern Territory | 30 | 314 | 24 |
Total | 3,020 | 796 | 633 |
12 Conclusion
Any comprehensive consideration of international migration in Africa must
include consideration of the movement out of the continent. This paper has
demonstrated that this can be studied to a substantial extent using data from
destination nations and not be reliant upon data collected in Africa. This
approach of using destination data is an under-utilised approach in African
migration study. Nevertheless the development of effective international
migration data systems is an essential pre-requisite to the development of
effective migration policies and programmes. Nations cannot hope to manage
migration, or have policies which are able to maximise benefits to their country
and minimise its negative effects, if there is not a sound knowledge of the
dynamics of that movement and an understanding of its main drivers and effects.
The international migration data collection systems utilised here have been
developed in Australia over a long period. The important issue is that the
expense involved in these systems is not massive. Indeed developments in
information technology have greatly improved the timeliness, effectiveness and
cost efficiency in collecting information on migration flows. With the
increasing significance of ‘south-north’ migration, as well as
intra-African movement, the need to improve these data collection systems is
pressing.
The exchange of people between Africa and Australia has undergone substantial
changes over the post-war period. However, the consequences of this movement
for Africa and for Australia, as well as for the immigrants, are little
understood. There is a pressing need for this to be addressed. In considering
the future of international migration between Africa and Australia it can be
confidently predicted that the level and complexity of the interaction will
increase over the next decade. The upsurge in settlement of Africans in
Australia in recent years, and the increased diversity of the groups arriving,
has led to an increase in the strength and spread of the social networks linking
the two nations. Moreover, the immigration industry in both continents is
strengthening and will continue to encourage and facilitate this movement,
although it is likely that it will continue to be greater from Africa to
Australia than in the opposite direction. However, as the economies of the
countries become more closely linked, it can be expected that there will be some
increase in movement of skilled Australians to work and live in African
countries, as has been the case in some Asian nations.
Africa has a large reservoir of people who readily fit the criteria currently
adopted by the Australian Government for selection of settlers and for those to
enter the country as temporary workers. Consequently, these flows are likely to
increase in the future. As a result, there is a need to investigate in more
detail the implications and impacts of this movement; not only on those who
move, but also on their communities and countries of origin and destination.
Only then will there be a sound basis for policy development which maximises the
benefits of this movement and minimises its negative effects.
13 Appendix
A: Australia: Africa-born population, 1996, 2001 and 2006
Source: ABS 1996, 2001 and 2006 Censuses, Enumeration
|
Number of Persons | Average Annual Growth Rate (%) 2001-06 |
||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
1996 | 2001 | 2006 | |
Algeria | 753 | 980 | 1,004 | 0.5 |
Angola | 344 | 353 | 396 | 2.3 |
Benin | 12 | 24 | 19 | -4.6 |
Botswana | 225 | 706 | 865 | 4.1 |
Burkina Faso | 10 | 23 | 26 | 2.5 |
Burundi | 23 | 25 | 753 | 97.6 |
Cameroon | 35 | 66 | 125 | 13.6 |
Cape Verde | 24 | 22 | 22 | 0.0 |
Central African Republic | 14 | 3 | 10 | 27.2 |
Chad | 21 | 36 | 27 | -5.6 |
Comoros | 6 | 18 | 12 | -7.8 |
Congo | 22 | 135 | 520 | 31.0 |
Congo, Dem Republic of | 321 | 267 | 618 | 18.3 |
Cote d'Ivoire | 52 | 69 | 255 | 29.9 |
Djibouti | 75 | 68 | 97 | 7.4 |
Egypt | 34,158 | 33,432 | 33,496 | 0.0 |
Equatorial Guinea | 3 | 6 | 9 | 8.4 |
Eritrea | 1,161 | 1,599 | 2,015 | 4.7 |
Ethiopia | 2,353 | 3,544 | 5,634 | 9.7 |
Gabon | 19 | 19 | 25 | 5.6 |
Gambia | 26 | 53 | 130 | 19.7 |
Ghana | 1,495 | 2,040 | 2,769 | 6.3 |
Guinea | 19 | 28 | 334 | 64.2 |
Guinea-Bissau | 10 | 15 | 8 | -11.8 |
Kenya | 5,333 | 6,869 | 9,935 | 7.7 |
Lesotho | 58 | 54 | 78 | 7.6 |
Liberia | 84 | 125 | 1,523 | 64.9 |
Libya | 1,277 | 1,439 | 1,518 | 1.1 |
Madagascar | 137 | 156 | 188 | 3.8 |
Malawi | 423 | 485 | 685 | 7.1 |
Mali | 15 | 29 | 47 | 10.1 |
Mauritania | 3 | 16 | 16 | 0.0 |
Mauritius | 17,083 | 16,962 | 18,173 | 1.4 |
Mayotte | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
Morocco | 1,100 | 1,170 | 1,293 | 2.0 |
Mozambique | 428 | 551 | 631 | 2.7 |
Namibia | 303 | 437 | 703 | 10.0 |
Niger | 10 | 14 | 11 | -4.7 |
Nigeria | 1,260 | 1,738 | 2,501 | 7.6 |
Reunion | 64 | 71 | 126 | 12.2 |
Rwanda | 22 | 46 | 202 | 34.4 |
Sao Tome and Principe | 12 | 11 | 9 | -3.9 |
Senegal | 170 | 185 | 199 | 1.5 |
Seychelles | 2,561 | 2,448 | 2,508 | 0.5 |
Sierra Leone | 164 | 363 | 1,809 | 37.9 |
Somalia | 2,058 | 3,713 | 4,314 | 3.0 |
South Africa | 55,756 | 79,425 | 104,132 | 5.6 |
St Helena | 25 | 25 | 37 | 8.2 |
Sudan | 2,417 | 4,900 | 19,049 | 31.2 |
Swaziland | 145 | 202 | 233 | 2.9 |
Tanzania | 1,561 | 1,714 | 2,300 | 6.1 |
Togo | 9 | 16 | 34 | 16.3 |
Tunisia | 450 | 422 | 444 | 1.0 |
Uganda | 1,178 | 1,217 | 1,712 | 7.1 |
Zambia | 2,565 | 3,072 | 4,078 | 5.8 |
Zimbabwe | 8,957 | 11,733 | 20,155 | 11.4 |
14 Appendix
B: Australia: Migration to and from Sub-Saharan Africa by country of birth,
1994-95 to 2007-08*
Source: DIAC unpublished data
COUNTRY BIRTH | Settler Arrivals | Long Term Arrivals | Short Term Arrivals | Permanent Departures | Long Term Departures | Short Term Departures |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ANGOLA | 58 | 135 | 4,600 | 38 | 103 | 4,680 |
BENIN | 41 | 28 | 698 | 4 | 9 | 862 |
BOTSWANA | 628 | 3,650 | 6,972 | 22 | 1,811 | 7,429 |
BURKINA FASO | 9 | 24 | 405 | 0 | 14 | 471 |
BURUNDI | 1,441 | 30 | 623 | 1 | 12 | 690 |
CAMEROON | 71 | 134 | 2,151 | 8 | 82 | 1,919 |
CAPE VERDE | 4 | 8 | 211 | 1 | 3 | 108 |
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC | 16 | 6 | 134 | 1 | 3 | 238 |
CENTRAL & WEST AFRICA, NFD | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
CHAD | 12 | 23 | 340 | 4 | 11 | 315 |
COMOROS | 10 | 2 | 221 | 1 | 0 | 284 |
CONGO | 697 | 98 | 2,400 | 5 | 65 | 2,266 |
CONGO, DEM. REP. OF | 1,313 | 259 | 8,741 | 35 | 159 | 8,570 |
COTE D IVOIRE | 343 | 114 | 2,475 | 9 | 57 | 2,471 |
DJIBOUTI | 64 | 11 | 419 | 3 | 6 | 492 |
EQUATORIAL GUINEA | 0 | 11 | 63 | 1 | 2 | 62 |
ERITREA | 1,798 | 274 | 5,239 | 69 | 202 | 5,798 |
ETHIOPIA | 6,487 | 681 | 20,312 | 151 | 645 | 19,498 |
GABON | 7 | 22 | 380 | 2 | 13 | 894 |
GAMBIA | 32 | 19 | 774 | 2 | 23 | 711 |
GHANA | 1,850 | 1,029 | 16,770 | 95 | 841 | 16,325 |
GUINEA | 543 | 41 | 1,174 | 3 | 20 | 1,308 |
GUINEA-BISSAU | 6 | 2 | 321 | 6 | 5 | 292 |
KENYA | 5,744 | 8,426 | 96,897 | 458 | 4,585 | 97,020 |
LESOTHO | 33 | 115 | 1,218 | 5 | 82 | 1,438 |
LIBERIA | 2,606 | 71 | 1,653 | 5 | 65 | 1,536 |
MADAGASCAR | 52 | 196 | 5,380 | 9 | 83 | 5,564 |
MALAWI | 278 | 693 | 7,752 | 43 | 457 | 7,745 |
MALI | 6 | 45 | 1,632 | 3 | 32 | 1,583 |
MAURITANIA | 49 | 11 | 351 | 1 | 6 | 586 |
MAURITIUS | 2,444 | 10,791 | 112,501 | 356 | 3,769 | 121,012 |
MAYOTTE | 0 | 3 | 99 | 0 | 0 | 302 |
MOZAMBIQUE | 184 | 653 | 7,816 | 44 | 399 | 8,346 |
NAMIBIA | 405 | 577 | 8,946 | 41 | 301 | 9,844 |
NIGER | 98 | 131 | 2,252 | 1 | 122 | 1,765 |
NIGERIA | 1,367 | 1,816 | 25,314 | 109 | 1,389 | 23,961 |
R'EUNION | 24 | 203 | 9,347 | 11 | 66 | 10,049 |
RWANDA | 334 | 74 | 1,020 | 1 | 33 | 871 |
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE | 0 | 3 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
SENEGAL | 135 | 131 | 4,052 | 13 | 84 | 3,743 |
SEYCHELLES | 285 | 1,406 | 12,946 | 96 | 623 | 12,230 |
SIERRA LEONE | 2,826 | 129 | 3,214 | 20 | 96 | 2,914 |
SOMALIA | 4,881 | 719 | 17,224 | 167 | 437 | 16,745 |
S & E AFRICA, NFD | 7 | 6 | 133 | 0 | 3 | 310 |
SOUTH AFRICA | 63,818 | 63,609 | 1,297,606 | 4,170 | 27,329 | 1,317,252 |
ST HELENA | 3 | 4 | 335 | 2 | 4 | 242 |
SWAZILAND | 89 | 222 | 3,068 | 21 | 122 | 3,873 |
TANZANIA | 1,491 | 1,411 | 26,879 | 98 | 921 | 25,943 |
TOGO | 168 | 22 | 644 | 0 | 15 | 563 |
UGANDA | 1,138 | 989 | 20,141 | 82 | 723 | 18,208 |
ZAMBIA | 1,289 | 4,039 | 44,107 | 255 | 2,042 | 41,771 |
ZIMBABWE | 10,816 | 16,224 | 161,016 | 714 | 6,467 | 161,139 |
Grand Total | 116,000 | 119,320 | 1,949,024 | 7,187 | 54,343 | 1,972,279 |
* Short Term in 2001-02 not included |
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[1] And 2008 estimates for the
largest birthplace groups.