Skip to main content

HREOC Website: Isma - Listen: National consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australias

Consultations
Homepage

|| Fact Sheet

 

FACT SHEET:
Muslim & Arab Australians in Western Australia


1. Muslim Australians

  • Total number of
    Muslims in Australia: 281,578
  • Total number of
    Muslims in Western Australia: 19,456
  • Proportion of
    the Australian population who are Muslim: 1.5%
  • Proportion of
    the Queensland population who are Muslim: 1.1%

*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001 Census.

Figure 1:
Australian Muslim population by state and territory
Figure 1: Australian Muslim population by state and territory. Click here to text version.

Source:
ABS, 2001 Census. Basic Community Snapshots and Profiles.


Click here for text only version.

Table 1: Geographic
Distribution of Muslims in Australia, 2001
State/territory
Proportion
of all Australian Muslims
Proportion
of total state or territory population
New
South Wales
50% 2.2%
Victoria 33% 2.0%
Western
Australia
7% 1.1%
Queensland 5% 0.4%
South
Australia
3% 0.5%
Australian
Capital Territory
1% 1.1%
Northern
Territory
0.3% 0.5%
Tasmania 0.3% 0.2%
Total
100%
1.5%

Source:
ABS, 2001 Census.

Table 2: Distribution
of Australian Muslims by major statistical local areas in the Perth statistical
division, 2001
Statistical
local area
Number
Stirling (C)
- Central
2766
Gosnells (C) 2206
Canning (C) 1902
Swan (C) 1480
Wanneroo (C)
- South
994
Bayswater (C) 916
Victoria Park
(T)
698
Joondalup (C)
- South
655
Melville (C) 652
South Perth
(C)
639
Belmont (C) 599
Cockburn (C) 495
Joondalup (C)
- North
467
Stirling (C)
- Coastal
338
Vincent (T) 266
Wanneroo (C)
- North-West
263
Armadale (C) 248
Subiaco (C) 233
Rockingham (C) 222
Perth (C) -
Remainder
217
Kalamunda (S) 190
Stirling (C)
- South-Eastern
153
Fremantle (C)
- Remainder
126
Cambridge (T) 111
Nedlands (C) 98
Wanneroo (C)
- North-East
92
Bassendean (T) 88
Mosman Park
(T)
79
Kwinana (T) 77
Claremont (T) 46
Mundaring (S) 40
Fremantle (C)
- Inner
26
Serpentine-Jarrahdale
(S)
26
Perth (C) -
Inner
20
East Fremantle
(T)
13
Cottesloe (T) 10
Peppermint Grove
(S)
0
Total for Perth
SD
17,451

*Source: ABS 2001
Census, Unpublished Data.


2. Arab &
Middle-Eastern Australians

  • Total number
    of Australians born in the Middle East or North Africa in Australia:
    213,940

    (1.1% of the national population)
  • Total number Australians
    born in the Middle East or North Africa in Western Australia: 9,506

    (0.5% of the WA state population)

*Source: Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001 Census.

Definitions

Defining who is an
‘Arab’ or exactly which countries lie within the Middle East
is a complex matter.

The Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS) defines the Middle East as: Bahrain,
Gaza Strip and West Bank (Palestine), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates,
Yemen. North Africa is defined as: Algeria, Egypt, Libya,
Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and the Western Sahara. ‘Arab’
includes: Algerian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Libyan,
Moroccan, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Tunisian.

This summary uses
ABS definitions and highlights specific countries of origin for a significant
number of Australians. These countries are: Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq,
Iran, Syria and Israel. Other Middle Eastern, North African and Arab countries
with much smaller representation in Australian are grouped into two categories:

  • ‘Other Middle
    East’ (which includes Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine,
    Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen)
  • ‘Other North
    Africa’ (which includes Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,
    Mauritania, Djibouti and Western Sahara)
Table 3: Main countries of
birth of Australians of Middle Eastern & North African origin, 2001
Country
of birth
Number
Lebanon 71
349
Egypt 33
432
Turkey 29
821
Iraq 24
832
Iran 18
789
Syria 6
710
Israel 6
574
Other
Middle East
13
212
Other
North Africa
8
918
Other
not further defined
303
Total
213
940
Figure 2:
State & territory distribution of Australians born in the Middle East
& North Africa, 2001
Figure 1: State & territory distribution of Australians born in the Middle East & North Africa, 2001 . Click here to access text version.

Source: ABS, 2001
Census. Basic Community Profiles and Snapshots.

Click here for text only version.

Table 4: Australians born
in the Middle East or North Africa in major statistical areas of Perth,
2001
Statistical
Local Area
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Lebanon
Syria
Turkey
Other
Middle East
Other
North Africa
Total
Stirling
(C) - Central
187 243 409 64 22 54 93 151 1223
Canning
(C)
51 117 57 90 19 188 196 49 767
Gosnells
(C)
62 37 169 112 14 80 132 70 676
Melville
(C)
133 183 33 70 0 16 103 41 579
Swan
(C)
62 98 181 49 8 14 64 18 494
Joondalup
(C) - North
96 167 12 23 6 27 82 14 427
Joondalup
(C) - South
146 72 9 48 6 22 82 41 426
Bayswater
(C)
56 115 82 21 10 19 64 54 421
Wanneroo
(C) - South
43 54 93 43 3 9 24 41 310
South
Perth (C)
45 104 19 29 10 13 49 10 279
Belmont
(C)
27 25 37 60 13 57 40 18 277
Cockburn
(C)
69 47 3 46 14 26 25 16 246
Stirling
(C) - Coastal
60 50 14 7 7 19 48 20 225
Victoria
Park (T)
11 27 23 25 5 35 22 9 157
Vincent
(T)
35 22 16 4 0 11 23 31 142
Cambridge
(T)
40 27 6 3 3 9 24 8 120
Wanneroo
(C) - North-West
62 4 6 3 8 7 21 0 111
Armadale
(C)
27 3 9 18 3 10 23 18 111
Kalamunda
(S)
20 5 3 21 0 8 20 12 89
Rockingham
(C)
27 7 0 16 5 11 14 9 89
Nedlands
(C)
17 31 3 5 3 3 25 0 87
Subiaco
(C)
15 36 6 3 0 9 14 3 86
Stirling
(C) - South-Eastern
10 13 12 4 3 10 13 8 73
Fremantle
(C) - Remainder
31 17 5 3 0 4 4 6 70
Perth
(C) - Remainder
10 19 12 5 0 8 9 4 67
Mosman
Park (T)
8 16 11 3 3 3 13 4 61
Wanneroo
(C) - North-East
10 5 4 5 3 0 14 18 59
Bassendean
(T)
14 18 5 3 0 0 4 8 52
Mundaring
(S)
13 8 3 5 0 0 7 14 50
Claremont
(T)
9 14 0 4 0 3 9 9 48
East
Fremantle (T)
12 7 0 0 0 0 3 6 28
Kwinana
(T)
4 13 0 0 0 3 4 3 27
Cottesloe
(T)
3 7 0 0 0 0 5 0 15
Perth
(C) - Inner
3 4 0 3 0 3 0 0 13
Serpentine-Jarrahdale
(S)
0 5 0 0 0 0 0 6 11
Peppermint
Grove (S)
3 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
Fremantle
(C) - Inner
0 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 7
Total
for Perth SD
1234 1381 833 731 146 631 1183 568 6707

*Source: ABS, 2001
Census, Unpublished data.


Race Discrimination
Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, July 2003. ABS data
used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.