Descriptive statistics of Australian population composition by country of birth, from census data 1891–1986
| Year | UK/Ireland n (%) | Northern Europe n (%) | Southern Europe n (%) | Other place of origin n (%) | All foreign-born n (%) | Australian born n (%) | Total |
| 1891 | 821 166 (26%) | 75 145 (2.4%) | 5307 (0.2%) | 113 799 (4%) | 1 015 417 (32%) | 2 158 975 (68%) | 3174 392 |
| 1901 | 679 159 (18%) | 67 291 (2.0%) | 7382 (0%) | 111 666 (3%) | 865 498 (23%) | 2 908 303 (77%) | 3773 801 |
| 1911 | 591 729 (13%) | 63 594 (1.4%) | 9348 (0.2%) | 122 664 (3%) | 787 335 (17.7%) | 3 667 670 (82.3) | 4455 005 |
| 1921 | 676 387 (12%) | 52 503 (1.0%) | 15 539 (0.3%) | 109 118 (2%) | 853 547 (15.7%) | 4 581 663 (84.3%) | 5435 210 |
| 1933 | 732 674 (11%) | 48 125 (0.7%) | 44 680 (0.7%) | 94 860 (1%) | 920 339 (13.8%) | 5 726 566 (86.2%) | 6646 905 |
| 1947 | 542 910 (7%) | 50 180 (0.7%) | 58 516 (0.8%) | 90 995 (1%) | 742 601 (9.8%) | 6 835 171 (90.2%) | 7577 772 |
| 1954 | 664 205 (7%) | 294 667 (3.3%) | 196 192 (2.2%) | 39 756 (0%) | 1 194 820 (13.4%) | 7 700 064 (86.6%) | 8894 884 |
| 1961 | 755 402 (7%) | 433 999 (4.1%) | 406 791 (3.9%) | 178 612 (2%) | 1 774 804 (16.9%) | 8 729 406 (83.1%) | 10 504 210 |
| 1966 | 908 664 (8%) | 430 574 (3.7%) | 554 273 (4.8%) | 237 409 (2%) | 2 130 920 (18.4%) | 9 419 542 (81.6%) | 11 550 462 |
| 1971 | 1 088 210 (9%) | 475 095 (3.7%) | 633 173 (5.0%) | 382 840 (3%) | 2 579 318 (20.2%) | 10 176 320 (79.8%) | 12 755 638 |
| 1976 | 1 117 600 (8%) | 460 673 (3.4%) | 632 550 (4.7%) | 508 209 (4%) | 2 719 032 (20.1%) | 10 829 617 (79.9%) | 13 548 649 |
| 1981 | 1 132 599 (8%) | 471 278 (3.2%) | 678 445 (4.7%) | 900 143 (6%) | 3 182 465 (21.8%) | 11 393 865 (78.2%) | 14 576 330 |
| 1986 | 1 127 191 (7%) | 488 825 (3.1%) | 662 124 (4.2%) | 1 213 554 (8%) | 3 491 694 (22.4%) | 12 110 456 (77.6%) | 15 602 150 |