Tamil Australians

Tamil Australians
Total population
	150,000 (2023)
Regions with significant populations
	State / Territory
New South Wales	21,527
Victoria	17,452
Western Australia	4,078
Queensland	3,475
South Australia	1,703
Australian Capital Territory	1,416
Northern Territory	280
Tasmania	216
Languages
	Tamil; English;
Religion
	Hinduism; Christianity; Islam; Jainism;
Related ethnic groups
	Sri Lankan Tamils; Indian Tamils; Tamil Malaysians; Singapore Tamils;

Tamil Australians refers to Australians with a Tamil background. It includes people who speak Tamil, those whose ancestors were Tamil or those who identify with Tamil culture. Most Tamil Australians are of Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean or Malaysian descent.^[1]

Demographics

The Census 2021 has found 95,404 people speaking Tamil at home. The total number of ethnic Tamils could be around 150,000 people well above the census data considering the possibility of refugee statuses being getting considered as Migrants as per refugee policy reform.^{[citation needed]} This is the first time Indian Tamils have taken over as the majority over the Sri Lankan Tamils in a foreign country other than the United States. There are no exact figures for the number of Tamil Australians but according to the 2011 census there were 50,151 Australians, 0.23% of the population, who spoke Tamil at home.^[2] Tamil speaking Australians are of Indian, Sri Lankan, Singaporean and Malaysian ancestry.^[1] The Census 2016 shows an increase of 50% in Tamil population who speak Tamil at home.

There were 73,161 Tamil speakers according to the 2016 Census, with the largest proportion of people across Australia in the suburb of Westmead (1,425 people, or 3.6% of people in that suburb), followed by Toongabbie (NSW) (1,404 people, or 3.5% of people in that suburb).^[3]

**Analysis of 2011 census by language and ancestry highlighting Tamil characteristics**^[1]
Ancestry	Language (first ancestry)						Language (second ancestry)
Ancestry	Tamil	English	Sinhala	Not stated	Other	Total	Tamil	English	Sinhala	Not stated	Other	Total
Tamil	11,407	1,057	85	58	149	12,756	650	257	16	13	48	984
Indian Tamil	406	50	4	3	15	478	21	12	0	0	−1	32
Sri Lankan Tamil	4,153	702	102	27	41	5,025	62	83	6	0	8	159
Sub-total Tamil	15,966	1,809	191	88	205	18,259	733	352	22	13	55	1,175
Indian	20,923	77,033	64	3,204	249,641	350,865	540	31,992	38	217	7,246	40,033
Sri Lankan	8,534	23,792	27,862	442	1,551	62,181	300	11,541	679	47	389	12,956
Australian	748	4,777,283	684	24,942	118,275	4,921,932	82	2,135,198	50	6,458	34,761	2,176,549
Sinhalese	942	2,351	16,898	115	225	20,531	76	901	1,372	13	54	2,416
English	862	7,062,120	809	33,676	125,990	7,223,457	7	13,136	8	107	1,821	15,079
Malay	502	6,973	17	134	13,230	20,856	91	9,015	32	56	3,568	12,762
Singaporean	178	1,930	0	123	1,302	3,533	25	2,083	0	13	498	2,619
Not stated	856	391,451	913	979,843	102,167	1,475,230	47,984	10,434,941	45,710	1,060,759	3,465,645	15,055,039
Other	640	4,164,549	754	42,924	3,202,008	7,410,875	313	3,870,132	281	17,808	300,557	4,189,091
Total	50,151	16,509,291	48,192	1,085,491	3,814,594	21,507,719	50,151	16,509,291	48,192	1,085,491	3,814,594	21,507,719

As per the 2011 census, over 39.59% of Tamil speaking Australians were born in Sri Lanka, 34.89% in India and 13.05% in Australia.^[1]

Country	Population	%
Sri Lanka	19,855	39.59%
India	17,500	34.89%
Australia	6,547	13.05%
Malaysia	2,782	5.55%
Singapore	1,687	3.36%
Not stated	445	0.89%
Other	1,335	2.66%
Total	50,151	100.00%

They live concentrated in Wentworthville, Pendle Hill, Girraween, Toongabbie and Strathfield in Sydney and in Glen Waverley and Dandenong North in Melbourne.^[2]

State suburb	State	Tamils	% of suburb	% of Tamils
Wentworthville^[4]	NSW	1,073	10.13%	2.14%
Glen Waverley^[5]	VIC	945	2.41%	1.88%
Dandenong^[6]	VIC	935	3.75%	1.86%
Westmead^[7]	NSW	908	6.41%	1.81%
Toongabbie^[8]	NSW	853	6.56%	1.70%
Pendle Hill^[9]	NSW	849	12.74%	1.69%
Strathfield^[10]	NSW	815	3.45%	1.63%
Girraween^[11]	NSW	760	16.19%	1.52%
Auburn^[12]	NSW	659	1.99%	1.31%
Lidcombe^[13]	NSW	658	3.95%	1.31%
Seven Hills^[14]	NSW	650	3.45%	1.30%
Homebush^[15]	NSW	588	9.49%	1.17%
Dandenong North^[16]	VIC	531	2.42%	1.06%

More than 80% have completed high school education; the rate is only 50% for the general Australian population.^[2] More than 59% own their houses, compared with more than 67% of the general population.^[2]

Tamil Australians

Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, emeritus professor
Geraldine Viswanathan, actress
Nazeem Hussain, comedian
Clarence Jey, record producer
Suresh Joachim, multiple Guinness World Record holder
Kamahl, singer
Palani O. Thevar, Politician, social worker, Labor candidate for Maiwar in the 2020 Queensland state election [1]
Kumar Mahadevan, Michelin star chef
Jega Nadarajah, Olympic Torch Bearer 2000 Olympics
Samantha Ratnam, Politician, social worker, current leader of the Victorian Greens
Duvashen Padayachee, race driver
Guy Sebastian, singer and winner of the first season of Australian Idol; of partial Malaysian Tamil descent
Prashanth Sellathurai, gymnast
Maha Sinnathamby, entrepreneur^[17]
Renuga Veeran, badminton player
Jonathan Sriranganathan, Councillor for The Gabba Ward in the Brisbane City Council
Ecca Vandal, Singer-songwriter
Vimala Raman, actress
Dhee, Singer
Prof Rama Jayaraj, Darwin
Nivethan Radhakrishnan, Cricketer

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "2011 Census of Population and Housing". Table Builder. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Census Explorer". Special Broadcasting Service.
^ "ஆஸ்திரேலியாவின் எந்த suburb-இல் தமிழர்கள் அதிகமாக வாழ்கின்றனர்? | SBS Your Language". www.sbs.com.au. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017.
^ "Wentworthville Code SSC12459 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Glen Waverley Code SSC20535 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Dandenong Code SSC20366 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Westmead Code SSC12484 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Toongabbie (NSW) Code SSC12293 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Pendle Hill Code SSC11859 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Strathfield (NSW) Code SSC12164 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Girraween (NSW) Code SSC10950 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Auburn (NSW) Code SSC10070 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Lidcombe Code SSC11363 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Seven Hills (NSW) Code SSC12064 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Homebush (NSW) Code SSC11125 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Dandenong North Code SSC20367 (SSC)". Quick Stats. Australian Bureau of Statistics.
^ "Maha Sinnathamby - Greater Springfield". Greater Springfield. Retrieved 16 April 2018.

External links

^ According to the local classification, South Caucasian peoples (Azerbaijanis, Armenians, Georgians) belong not to the European but to the "Central Asian" group, despite the fact that the territory of Transcaucasia has nothing to do with Central Asia and geographically belongs mostly to Western Asia.