Profile of study cohort
Outcomes are reported for refugees and humanitarian entrants and for people who have migrated to Australia under other permanent migration visas (family, skilled and other) as a comparison. Where possible comparisons are made to published data in the general Australian population to provide context. These comparisons should be cautiously interpreted as differences in methodology and data sources may contribute to differences. Please see Technical notes for further information.
For the purposes of this project, humanitarian entrants refers to those who have been resettled in Australia under the offshore component of Australia’s Humanitarian Program. The term humanitarian entrants is used in the report to refer to refugees and humanitarian entrants.
The Department of Home Affairs administers the Australian Government’s Refugee and Humanitarian Program which resettles humanitarian entrants in Australia. Consistent with the approach adopted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), under the Humanitarian Program, Australia prioritises those cohorts who have the greatest resettlement need, including:
- people outside their home country, assessed as refugees by the UNHCR and referred to Australia for resettlement
- applicants proposed by a close family member in Australia
- vulnerable cohorts within refugee populations, including women and children, ethnic minorities, LGBTQI+ and other identified minority groups. (Home Affairs 2023).
For details about how the cohorts were defined from the Settlement Database, please see the Technical notes. For details of settlement services in Australia, please refer to information on settling in Australia provided in our previous report. For details of the data sources, who is included in the data, the linkage strategy, and data gaps, please see the Technical notes.
Demographic profile
In 2020–21, the humanitarian entrant population was 210,310 people (50.4% female and 49.6% male), and the other permanent migrant population was 2,794,284 people (52.8% female and 47.2% male). The sex ratio was consistent between 2016–17 and 2020–21.
As these analyses include humanitarian entrants and other permanent migrants who arrived in Australia from the year 2000, the age profile of both populations is relatively young (Figure 1). In 2020–21, the humanitarian entrant population (median age 31.8) was younger than other permanent migrants (median age 37.4) and the general Australian population (median age 39.3) (ABS 2021).
The age structure of the populations is consistent across the last 5 financial years, 2016–17 and 2020–21.
For humanitarian entrants, the most populous age group is 20 to 29, with more than 1 in 5 of the cohort in this age group. The other permanent migrant comparison group is slightly older, with almost 1 in 3 of the cohort in the 30 to 39 year age group. There are very few people in the older age groups, with only 9.2% of humanitarian entrants and 6.8% of other permanent migrants aged over 60 in 2020–21, compared with 22% of the general Australian population, excluding Western Australia and the Northern Territory as of December 2020 (ABS 2021). For details of the data sources, who is included in the data, the linkage strategy, and data gaps, please see the Technical notes.
Figure 1: Cohorts, by age group, 2020–21
This column charts shows the age distribution of humanitarian entrants, other permanent migrants, and the general Australian population. Humanitarian entrants are generally younger, peaking at 20-29 years old. Other permanent migrants are older, peaking at 30-39 years. The general Australian population has a flatter age structure with a larger proportion in the older age groups.
| Age Group | Humanitarian entrants | Other permanent migrants | General Australian population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 5.7% | 4.6% | 12.3% |
| 10-19 | 17.2% | 8.2% | 12% |
| 20-29 | 22.9% | 13.1% | 14.2% |
| 30-39 | 19.9% | 33.1% | 14.5% |
| 40-49 | 14.6% | 23.9% | 22.1 |
| 50-59 | 10.5% | 10.4% | 12.1% |
| 60-69 | 5.8% | 4.3% | 10.5% |
| 70-79 | 2.4% | 1.7% | 7.4% |
| 80+ | 1% | 0.7% | 4.2% |
Sources:
Refugee health linked data set
Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) National, state and territory population December 2020 (ABS 2021)
Notes:
- The cohorts shown here do not include people living in WA or the NT.
- The general Australian population is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimated residential population (ERP) at 31 December 2020 (ABS 2021).
A larger proportion of the migrant populations lived in New South Wales and Victoria (Table 1).
State or Territory | Humanitarian entrants | Other permanent migrants | General Australian population |
|---|---|---|---|
NSW | 32.2 | 33.6 | 31.8 |
Vic | 33.1 | 27.9 | 25.9 |
Qld | 13.3 | 15.1 | 20.2 |
SA | 8.9 | 5.6 | 6.9 |
WA | 8.9 | 13.4 | 10.4 |
Tas | 1.9 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
NT | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
ACT | 1.2 | 2.4 | 1.7 |
Total population (people) | 210,310 | 2,794,284 | 25,694,393 |
Sources: Refugee health linked data set, Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) National, state and territory population December 2020 (ABS 2021)
Notes:
- State is as recorded on the Medicare Consumer Directory on 31 December 2020.
- State of the general Australian population is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimated residential population (ERP) at 31 December 2020 (ABS 2021).
- Proportion of the population living in WA and NT are provided to demonstrate to demonstrate the proportion living in these jurisdictions. These jurisdictions are excluded from hospitals and ED analysis but included in analysis of specialist homelessness services and deaths.
Australian Bureau of Statistic (ABS) (2021) National, state and territory population, Australian Bureau of Statistics website, accessed 5 June 2023.