Study shows Australia leads most of the world in per capita migrant population

Australia has always been a high migration nation, but new figures show we are world-beaters at welcoming people looking to start a new life.

Record immigration will put pressure on housing availability Picture: Nearmap.com.au

Australia has the highest proportion of migrants in the western world, well above similar countries like the US and Canada, a data analysis shows.

As debate rages over upcoming record net migrant intakes, Australia’s position as a 30 per cent migrant nation is set to go even higher.

Canada, which is a similar high immigrant country, is only 21.2 per cent migrant, while the US has 15.3 per cent of its residents born overseas, according to a review of global migration data.

Migrant populations in other western nations include Germany (18.8 per cent), Spain (14.5 per cent), UK (13.8 per cent) and France (13 per cent).

Australia has the highest per capita migrant population in the western world.

Countries with extremely high migrant cohorts are those with massive numbers of overseas workers such as UAE (88 per cent) and Qatar (77 per cent).

Net overseas migration for Australia is tipped to reach 400,000 in 2022-23, far higher than the pre-Covid trend of about 235,000.

Much of the increase is due to soaring foreign student numbers after a pause during the pandemic.

Environmental group Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) has warned that a new migration deal between Australia and India will create an “open door” policy for Indian students and certain professionals wanting to come here.

“(Among various measures) the agreement allows for five-year student visas, with no caps on the numbers of Indians that can study in Australia,” said SPA president Jenny Goldie.

“Indian graduates of Australian tertiary institutions on a student visa will be able to apply to work without visa sponsorship for up to eight years.”

“While we welcome Indians, these measures only lower the bar for less skilled people, non-genuine students and those who don’t find jobs in skilled areas, to fill up migration quotas.”

Sustainable Population Australia National President Jenny Goldie. Picture: Supplied

Ms Goldie said the deal will lead to massive population growth in Australia, causing more overcrowding and environmental damage.

Figures show that Indians are the biggest migrant group globally, with nearly 18 million born there living in other countries.

Other high emigrant nations included Mexico with 11.1 million of its people living abroad, Russia (10.8 million), China (10.5 million), Syria (8.5 million) and Ukraine (6.1 million).

Of the 281 million migrants worldwide, more than 100 million are refugees, and due to ongoing conflicts the number is set to rise to 117.2 million by the end of 2023.

The US has about 50 million migrants, the most of any country, followed by Germany (15.8 million), Saudi Arabia (13.5 million) and Russia (11.6 million).

Japan has the lowest proportion of migrants in the world, only 2.2 per cent of its residents born overseas.