Chinese and Indian communities in Australia and UK

The Australian 2011 Census and UK 2011 Census each have fascinating data about Chinese communities in the two countries, yet the data alone do not tell complete stories to companies hoping to sell to Chinese customers.

 For example, the Australian Census shows that Chinese and Indian immigrants are fast-growing in numbers, the largest source countries for migrants. In 2011, recent arrivals accounted for 47% of the total Indian-born population in Australia and 35% of the total Chinese-born population. In the UK in 2011, Indians (60,113) also outnumbered Chinese (44,707) arrivals.

The Australian Census shows the two largest non-European ancestry groups are Chinese (4.3% of total population) and Indian (2.0%). The UK Census shows that the largest non-European group are Indians (2.3% of total UK population), with Chinese as fourth largest (0.69%), behind the Pakistanis (1.9%) and Bangladeshis (0.72%).

But what the Census figures don’t show you is why these groups are increasing. One factor is that India and Australia are both former British colonies and members of the Commonwealth of Nations. China is a major trading partner for Australia, and is increasing ties to the UK and other European nations.

In both Australia and the UK, “Many Asian migrants start out as international students,” says Simon Marginson. He is a professor of international higher education at the Institute of Education, London, and a professorial associate at the University of Melbourne, Australia. “Both the UK and Australia generate major export income as providers of English-language education, charging Asian and African students fees well above those paid by local students.”

Chinese students sometimes study overseas in order to avoid China’s rigorous national college entrance examinations. Or their parents may want them to learn English by studying in an English-speaking country.

Once these students enter the job market, they often settle in established Chinese and Indian communities. In the UK, the Chinese areas would be in London (including Boroughs of Barnet, Southwark, Camden, and Lewisham), Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and Sheffield. In Australia, the Chinese areas would be in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Wollongong. There have been Chinatowns in the UK since 1885, and in Australia since the Victorian Gold Rush of the 1850s.

 In both Australia and the UK, older Chinese suffer in terms of employment and finances if their English language skills are poor; in contrast, Indian migrants usually speak English because it is an official language in India. In Australia, among those Indians who speak Hindi, 80.2% speak English very well. In the UK, the 2011 Census showed that 8% of all UK residents do not speak English or Welsh as their main language; less than half a per cent could not speak English. In Australia, the 2011 Census showed that 23.2% of the total population speak a non-English language at home; 11.5% do not speak English well or at all.

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Footnote

“Links with China: why Australian universities are leading the way,“ by Simon Marginson, The Guardian, 7 July 2014. (http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/jul/07/australian-uk-universities-links-china)

 “Language of convenience” by He Na, China Daily, 30 May 2011. (http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-05/30/content_12600258.htm)