Wyndham's Indian Community

The number of Wyndham residents born in India has grown steadily over the past 40 years. In 2011 a total of 8,094 residents had relocated from India to Wyndham. Almost 25% of this population arrived during 2007 and 2008. In 2016, 10% of the total population of Wyndham was born in India, approximately 22,395 people. Furthermore, a total of 27,435 Wyndham residents claim Indian ancestry.

All data in this profile is from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011 or 2016, Census of Population and Housing.

The majority of Wyndham residents born in India were under 35 years of age in 2011, and less than 5% were aged 60 years and over.  A similar trend continued in 2016 with 61% of people aged under 35 years, and only 2.5% aged over 65. According to the 2016 Census of Population and Housing, the majority of Wyndham residents born in India reside in Point Cook, Truganina and Tarneit.

Wyndham residents born in India are highly diverse. Punjabi is the most commonly spoken language in the homes of Wyndham residents born in India (28%), followed by Hindi (25%), Gujarati (11%) and Telugu (10%). English is the fifth most commonly spoken language (8%).

Despite few residents speaking English at home, English speaking proficiency amongst Wyndham residents born in India is high with over 85% of Wyndham's Indian population speaking English well or very well.

Similarly to languages, there are a diversity of religions amongst Wyndham residents born in India. As shown in the figure below, Hindu (55%) is the most popular religion, followed by Sikh (25%), and Western Catholic (6%). Despite being the second most popular religion in India, only 6% of Indian born Wyndham residents reported practising Islam in 2016.

Wyndham residents born in India -Religion, 2016
Wyndham residents born in India religion, 2016

In Wyndham, 59.1% of the Indian community aged 15 years and over had a bachelor degree or higher. Of these individuals, 47% had obtained a postgraduate qualification (Masters or PhD).

Level of education is reflected in employment type, where a larger proportion of residents work in professional positions (18.2%), similar to 2011 when it was 21%. A further 7.5% work in managerial positions, machinery trades (8.5%) and as labourers (5.5%). Compared with 2011 a lower proportion of residents is in professional, managerial and labour positions, and a higher proportion of residents in machinery trades. 

Just over two thirds (67.9%) of Wyndham residents born in India are employed in full time or part time work (down from 70% in 2011) and approximately 20.5% are not in the labour force, up from 19.4% in 2011.