Population
At the end of June 2024, 197,800 Nepalese−born people were living in Australia. This is almost 5 times the number (42,900) at 30 June 2014. This is the eighth largest migrant community in Australia, equivalent to:
- 2.3% of Australia's overseas-born population
- 0.7% of Australia's total population.
For Australia's Nepalese-born migrants:
- The median age of 29.1 years was 9.2 years below that of the general population.
- Males outnumbered females—54.4% compared with 45.6%.
(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s Population by Country of Birth)
Permanent migration
Australia's permanent Migration Program comprises economic and family migration and is the main pathway to permanent residence. The only other way to obtain permanent residence is on humanitarian grounds.
Find out more about
permanent migration.
This table shows the size of permanent migration from Nepal by migration category.
Table 1: Permanent migrant places granted 2021–22 to 2024–25
Migration category |
2021–22 |
2022–23 |
2023–24 |
2024–25 |
Business Innovation and Investment 1 | 12 | <5 | <5 | 0 |
Employer Sponsored | 696 | 761 | 710 | 1,412 |
Skilled Independent | 55 | 2,763 | 4,090 | 999 |
State/Territory Nominated | 2,737 | 3,367 | 2,773 | 2,523 |
Regional | 2,472 | 4,380 | 3,301 | 2,574 |
Global Talent (Independent) 2 | 76 | 26 | 16 | 14 |
National Innovation 3 | n/a | n/a | n/a | 0 |
Partner | 541 | 675 | 571 | 721 |
All other categories 4 | 39 | 69 | 45 | 76 |
Total places granted |
6,628 |
12,041 |
11,506 |
8,319 |
Source: Department of Home Affairs
1We closed the Business Innovation and Investment Program to new applications on 31 July 2024.
2We closed the Global Talent visa to new applications on 6 December 2024. We replaced this with the National Innovation visa.
3The National Innovation visa came into effect on 7 December 2024.
4Data has been perturbed to protect the privacy of individuals.
Note: To protect the privacy of individuals, we have applied various data confidentiality techniques. These include:
-
data masking — using primary and secondary suppression methods for values that we deemed to be a disclosure risk
-
perturbation — a data security technique that allows for random data adjustment to prevent the release of identifiable data.
Temporary migration
People can come to Australia for a temporary stay for a range of purposes that may include tourism, study and short-term work.
Find out more about
temporary migration.
This table shows the number of visa grants to migrants from Nepal for Visitor, Student and Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visas.
Table 2: Temporary visas granted by selected categories, 2021–22 to 2024–25
Temporary visa category |
2021–22 |
2022–23 |
2023–24 |
2024–25 |
Visitor | 18,766 | 41,726 | 42,854 | 37,203 |
Student | 30,667 | 40,731 | 19,397 | 31,869 |
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) | 895 | 1,503 | 2,031 | 6,667 |
Other temporary visa grants 1 | 11,544 | 42,680 | 25,461 | 18,654 |
Total temporary visa grants |
61,872 |
126,640 |
89,743 |
94,393 |
Source: Department of Home Affairs
1Excludes Transit visa (subclass 771), Border visa (subclass 773) and Maritime Crew visa (subclass 988).
Main occupations
This table shows the main occupations for nationals of Nepal, based on Skill stream migration outcomes and Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa grants.
Table 3: Main occupations, 2021–22 to 2024–25
Period |
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visas |
No. of migrants |
Skill stream migration |
No. of migrants |
2024–25 | Chefs | 1,586 | Chefs | 586 |
Nursing support and personal care workers | 542 | Registered nurses | 550 |
Cooks | 342 | Accountants | 417 |
Bakers and pastrycooks | 222 | Software and applications programmers | 167 |
Cafe and restaurant managers | 125 | ICT business and systems analysts | 141 |
Aged and disabled carers | 112 | Civil engineering professionals | 134 |
Accountants | 74 | Nursing support and personal care workers | 116 |
Motor mechanics | 63 | Enrolled and mothercraft nurses | 110 |
Welfare support workers | 48 | Early childhood (pre-primary school) teachers | 98 |
Registered nurses | 43 | Database and systems administrators, and ICT security specialists | 98 |
2023–24 | Chefs | 291 | Registered nurses | 2,114 |
Bakers and pastrycooks | 137 | Accountants | 889 |
Cooks | 136 | Chefs | 617 |
Nursing support and personal care workers | 88 | Software and applications programmers | 292 |
Cafe and restaurant managers | 48 | Enrolled and mothercraft nurses | 266 |
Aged and disabled carers | 40 | ICT business and systems analysts | 204 |
Motor mechanics | 24 | Computer network professionals | 157 |
Accountants | 23 | Civil engineering professionals | 156 |
General practitioners and resident medical officers | 20 | Early childhood (pre-primary school) teachers | 123 |
Registered nurses | 14 | Cooks | 111 |
2022–23 | Chefs | 260 | Registered nurses | 2,558 |
Cooks | 187 | Accountants | 1,246 |
Bakers and pastrycooks | 62 | Enrolled and mothercraft nurses | 367 |
Cafe and restaurant managers | 38 | Chefs | 322 |
Software and applications programmers | 25 | Cooks | 162 |
Structural steel and welding trades workers | 22 | Software and applications programmers | 153 |
Accountants | 19 | Welfare, recreation and community arts workers | 99 |
Computer network professionals | 14 | ICT business and systems analysts | 86 |
ICT business and systems analysts | 12 | Civil engineering professionals | 80 |
General practitioners and resident medical officers | 11 | Computer network professionals | 77 |
2021–22 | Chefs | 213 | Registered nurses | 1,267 |
Cooks | 69 | Accountants | 358 |
Accountants | 44 | Chefs | 243 |
Software and applications programmers | 21 | Software and applications programmers | 152 |
Registered nurses | 19 | Enrolled and mothercraft nurses | 146 |
Bakers and pastrycooks | 11 | Civil engineering professionals | 111 |
Physiotherapists | 8 | Cooks | 111 |
Cafe and restaurant managers | 7 | ICT business and systems analysts | 94 |
Civil engineering professionals | 6 | Computer network professionals | 51 |
Computer network professionals | 6 | Welfare, recreation and community arts workers | 47 |
Source: Department of Home Affairs
Note: Occupation level information is available for primary applicants only. It is based on Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations at the unit level.
Geographic distribution
This table shows where migrants reside by state and territory, based on:
- 2021 Census
- permanent additions, for the Skill and Family streams
- visa grants for:
- international students
- Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa primary applicants.
Table 4: Geographic distribution by state and territory
Population |
NSW |
Vic |
Qld |
SA |
WA |
Tas |
NT |
ACT |
Census 2021 (%) |
Of all persons | 32 | 26 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
Of Nepalese-born | 53 | 16 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 |
Permanent additions - 2024–25 (%) |
Skill stream | 31 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 4 | 16 |
Family stream | 46 | 19 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Temporary visa grants - 2024–25 (%) |
International student visa grants | 53 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa (primary) grants | 51 | 23 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics and Department of Home Affairs
Note: Permanent additions consist of two components:
- people who, while already in Australia on a temporary basis, are granted permanent residence status
- people who have subsequently arrived from overseas during the reporting period and are entitled to stay permanently in Australia.
Country ranking
This table uses rankings to show the significance of Nepalese migration for the past 4 financial years.
Table 5: Country ranking, 2021–22 to 2024–25
Ranked position of migrants |
2021–22 |
2022–23 |
2023–24 |
2024–25 |
Population in Australia 1 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
Regional | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Employer Sponsored | 9 | 10 | 11 | 7 |
Total Skill stream | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Total Family and Child stream | 24 | 13 | 15 | 13 |
International students | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Temporary Resident (Skilled Employment) visa | 16 | 14 | 8 | 4 |
Visitors | 14 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics and Department of Home Affairs
1Population level data is by country of birth and lags one year behind the financial year specified. Data based on the estimated residential population at 30 June 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
