Australian exodus biggest on record
Thursday, 10 December 2009
A new report released today reveals more people left Australia permanently in 2008-09 than any other year on record – and most of them were young, skilled workers.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s publication Emigration 2008-09shows 81 018 Australian residents permanently departed Australia during the year, an increase of 5.3 per cent from 2007–08.
The figures in the report reinforce the fact that there is an increasing global demand for young, highly skilled people in the international labour market. Australia is a part of this growing global labour market, with many young Australians who leave the country later returning, bringing back with them valuable skills and experience.
The report also highlights the need for Australia to maintain a targeted skilled migration program to meet critical skills shortages in areas such as healthcare, engineering and information technology.
Of those who departed Australia permanently in 2008–09, nearly half were skilled workers while 45 per cent were aged between 25 and 44.
The Emigration 2008–09report also shows:
- since 1975–76, permanent departures have ranged from a low of 18 100 in 1985–86 to a high of 81 018 in 2008–09
- New South Wales experienced the biggest overseas exodus (40.9 per cent) followed by Victoria (21.1 per cent) and Queensland (20.6 per cent)
- the main countries of intended residence for all permanent departures were New Zealand (17.7 per cent), the United Kingdom (17 per cent), the United States of America (9.3 per cent), Hong Kong (7.3 per cent) and Singapore (6.7 per cent)
- 41 249 (50.9 per cent) of the permanent departures were Australian-born
- of the 39 769 permanent departures who were born overseas, 69.2 per cent had resided in Australia for five years or more and 13.9 per cent had lived here for less than two years
- the top six places of birth for those overseas-born people leaving Australia were New Zealand (8003), United Kingdom (6160), China (4999), Hong Kong (2196), Vietnam (1220) and USA (1160).
The Emigration 2008–09 report is based on information from passenger cards supplied on arrival in and departure from Australia and supplemented from passenger and visa information systems. Overall, Australia experienced a net gain of 77–003 people (arrivals minus permanent departures) in 2008–09.
The report is available online:
See: www.immi.gov.au/media/publications/statistics/index.htm
URL: http://www.minister.immi.gov.au
/media/media-releases/2009/ce09105.htm
Last update: 10 December 2009 at 17:02 AEST