India became the largest source of foreign-born residents, overtaking England for the first time since records began in 1891, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Wednesday.
A surge in migrants from India, New Zealand, the Philippines and Nepal have helped lift the nation's foreign-born population by 258,000 to a record high of 8.8 million in 2024/25.
The proportion of Australian residents born overseas climbed to 32 per cent - the highest rate since 1892.
Compared to 12 months prior, Australia's Indian-born population jumped by 55,000 to 971,000, making up 3.5 per cent of the total.
As immigration has surged following the removal of COVID-19 border closures, so have displays of anti-migrant sentiment.
Indian migrants have felt specifically targeted by anti-immigration rallies, with Indian officials in late 2025 expressing concern to the federal government on the safety of its diaspora community.
The number of English-born residents grew by about 7,000 to just under 971,000.
But the number of people born in England and Italy has fallen over the past decade, as the large wave of post-war migrants start to die out.
The median age for people born overseas was 43, compared to 35 for the Australian-born population.
China remained the third-largest source of foreign-born residents, at 732,000, but the rate of migration has fallen since the pandemic.
New Zealand was the fourth-largest source and the Philippines came in fifth.
After falling by almost 10,000 between 2016 and 2021, growth in Australia's New Zealand-born population has accelerated in recent years, climbing by about 20,000 to 638,000 in the 12 months to June 2025.
Nepal, still the eighth-highest country of origin, has recorded one of the largest increases in relative terms.
More than 210,000 residents counted Nepal as their country of birth in 2025, up from 50,000 a decade earlier.
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