More than 5.7 million people have become citizens since Australian citizenship was introduced in 1949.
Former nationality or citizenship
In 1949, during the inaugural year of the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948, Australian citizenship was granted to 2,493 people from just over 35 different nationalities. The top 5 nationalities (and number of grants) at that time according to the Australian Yearbook 1953, ABS were:
- Italian (708)
- Polish (597)
- Greek (276)
- German (225)
- Yugoslav (80)
In 2021-22, a total of 167,232 people became Australian citizens by conferral, representing over 200 different nationalities.
The following table shows the number of people who were conferred as Australian citizens during 2021‑22, according to their former nationality.
| Number of people conferred Australian citizenship, by financial year and top 10 countries of nationality (1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022) |
|---|
| Country of nationality | No. of people |
|---|
| India | 30,160
|
United Kingdom
| 19,251
|
Philippines
| 11,156
|
New Zealand
| 6,254
|
Pakistan
| 6,247
|
Vietnam
| 6,171
|
China*
| 5,392
|
Iraq
| 5,114
|
South Africa
| 4,869
|
| Afghanistan | 4,777
|
| Other | 67,841
|
|
Total |
167,232 |
*“China” denotes mainland China only and does not include the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
