For the first time in Australia’s modern history, there are now more individuals born in India than England, a modest but seismic shift in the country’s demographic DNA. New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that on 30 June 2025 there were at least 971,020 residents born in India residing in Australia, just ahead of the 970,950 inhabitants born in England, making Indian-born migrants the largest single foreign-born group in Australia. This milestone is more than a number-crunching curiosity; it’s a reflection of larger trends in global mobility, education-driven migration and the long-running recalibration of Australia’s colonial-era “Anglo-centric” identity. What does it mean for India, for Australia, for the millions of Indians living in the space between the two worlds?
The stats that tell the narrative
The data provides a simple but powerful picture. In 2025, Indian-born people made up around 5.2 percent of Australia’s population of around 27.6 million. Overall, the overseas-born population has increased to 8.8 million, or approximately 32 per cent of the country, near the highest share recorded since 1891.
The growth is not smooth or incremental. The India-born population has increased over the past decade, more than doubling from roughly 411,000 in 2014 to more than 916,000 by 2024 and 971,020 by mid-2025. Meanwhile, the England-born cohort has been in steady decline, down from little over a million in 2013 to below that level now. That means in little over a decade a migratory corridor long dominated by the UK has discreetly shifted towards India and other Asian countries.
The order of foreign-born groups is illuminating when you go below the headline figure. After India and England, the next largest communities are China-born (approximately 732,000), then New Zealand (about 638,000). Following them are migrants from the Philippines, Vietnam, South Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Malaysia, with Australia’s migrant map taking on a more diverse Asia‑Pacific complexion rather than a restricted “Anglo‑Celtic” one.
Why is Australia flourishing in India?
Behind India’s overtaking of England as the main source of migrants are a number of powerful currents.
First, the sheer size and ambition of India’s middle and upper-middle class youngsters. Australia’s education-export industry is particularly attracted to Indian students, who have access to one of the world’s largest pools of English-speaking graduates in engineering, IT, business and healthcare. Universities in places like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have aggressively recruited Indian students, whose tuition fees now comprise a substantial pillar of higher-education revenue. Many of these students arrive on temporary visas, and subsequently transition into permanent residency via skilled migration channels, thus ‘grading into’ long term settlement.
Second, Australia’s post-pandemic re-opening was biased towards skilled and temporary labor. The government has used migration to address vacancies in several sections of the labour market, including in healthcare, IT, construction and aged care. India is more capable of fulfilling that demand profile than many other countries because of its huge pool of English speaking experts. Meanwhile, some older cohorts in the UK (perhaps semi-retired or near retirement) have aged out of the workforce, further skewing the demographic balance to younger, India-born entrants.
Third, there is a quieter, but no less critical, element of perception and choice. For many middle class Indians, Australia also provides a combination of relative stability, cleaner cities and a lifestyle that feels more “family friendly” than other Western options. A student in Bangalore or Pune may compare Australia to the US or the UK and find a little less inflamed social milieu, a milder housing crunch and related politics, and a multicultural model which, at least in theory, promotes variety. Add to that the long-standing visa-pathway talk about “skilled migration” and post-study employment opportunities and it’s easy to understand why the India-born numbers keep growing.
What this means for Australia’s identity
For years, Australia’s self-image has been coloured by its colonial links to Britain. For decades, the biggest group of foreign-born inhabitants was from England, and English-Australian culture — accent, food, sport, even political beliefs — remained important to how Australians thought of “mainstream” identity. India now topping that list is more than a demographic footnote, it is a symbolic tipping point.
This is part of a bigger trend in which Australia’s population is becoming more urban, younger and ethnically diverse. The median age of the overseas-born population is now about 44, down from a peak of 46 in 2002, suggesting that new arrivals – students, young professionals and skilled workers – are pulling the migrant profile younger. This is especially true for Indians, who tend to come to the US in their twenties or early thirties, frequently for education or job, rather than just for familial chain migration.
This prompts a question: how flexible is “Australian” identity in the face of such a shift? Indian restaurants, grocery stores and community groups are so prominent in places such as Sydney and Melbourne that they seem virtually knitted into the cities’ everyday fabric. But there is still a palpable discomfort with the pace of change in areas of the country. The rising number of residents born abroad — already approaching historic highs — has fueled fierce arguments about housing, infrastructure and even national character.
Political conflict over migration
Migration is a huge driver of Australia’s economic growth but it remains one of its most contentious political concerns. The tension is captured in the growth of the Indian-born population.
Business groups, universities and big-city mayors say immigration is the key to growth, especially in an aging population, on one side. They cite to shortages of workers in health care, tech and construction, arguing that curbing migration would risk slowing the economy and straining public services. To these speakers the expanding Indian-Australian population is not a number; it is a resource – physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs and parents whose tax contributions and expenditures assist to sustain schools, hospitals and infrastructure.
But sections of the voters fear fast population increase is making living more difficult. Housing prices are soaring, public transit is packed and hospital wait times are increasing, typically presented as “migration-driven” by the media and some politicians. Populist parties such as One Nation have exploited this resentment, campaigning against high levels of immigration and more strident rhetoric about “losing control” of borders.
In this setting, the fact that Indians are now the largest migrant group can become a lightning rod. Social media responses in Australia have ranged from celebration to outright anger, with some comments criticizing the government of “betrayal” or “treason” for allowing numbers to climb. Groups like the Australian Human Rights Commission, which advocates for civil rights, have warned that such rhetoric might devolve into racism and xenophobia, reducing nuanced policy arguments to a blame-the-victim approach against certain communities.
What this implies for India and its diaspora
The data tell a double-edged reality for India. On the one hand, Indians being Australia’s largest migrant community is a badge of soft power and global mobility. It shows that Indian professionals, students and families are in demand in one of the world’s most education-friendly and comparatively stable countries. It also signals India’s achievement in creating a massive reservoir of human capital—engineers, IT specialists, accountants, doctors and nurses—who can tap into global labor markets.
On the flip side, it raises unsettling questions regarding “brain drain.” Australia is attracting many people from India’s most rich, educated and mobile classes. What does it say about India’s own growth path if the finest and brightest from Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi are building their lives and careers in other countries? Can the country tap into the diaspora as a resource (in terms of remittances, investments and knowledge transfer) and at the same time create enough possibilities at home to stop the heavy outflow of talent?
For the Indian-Australian community itself, this change from ‘second largest’ to ‘first’ group provides both affirmation and new pressures. There is pride at having outstripped a historically dominating British group, of being viewed as part of the country’s future, not merely a growing minority. Being the biggest group can also make Indians an obvious target for political opportunism, especially around difficult subjects like housing, job markets and cultural integration.
India-Australia ties: beyond migration
This demographic transition also factors into the overall India-Australia relationship. The two nations have deepened their relationship in trade, defence, education and technology over the past decade and are now seen as vital allies in the Indo-Pacific region. The huge Indian-Australian community is a live bridge to such relationships, building informal networks of business, culture and politics that cross formal government agreements.
Indian-Australian professionals populate Australia’s tech clusters, universities and hospitals, and frequently collaborate with Indian researchers and companies. Indian-Australian students tend to maintain close links with their family and with institutions back home, and occasionally even develop businesses that link the two nations. In a sense, the migratory surge is not simply about people migrating out of India but about constructing transnational lives that bind India more closely to Australia’s economy, culture and society.
India overtakes UK as Australia’s biggest migrant group – what does the change mean
