Wyndham’s Filipino Community
Wyndham’s Filipino community has been growing steadily since 1970, however, the majority of this population (53%) arrived in the 10 years between 2001 and 2011. At the 2011 Census, people born in the Philippines made up 2.4% of Wyndham’s total population. In 2016, this figure had increased to 2.6%, equating to a total of 5,727 people. Over 7,600 Wyndham residents claim Filipino ancestry.
At the 2016 Census, the majority of the Filipino community lived in Tarneit and Point Cook.
Demographic data sources for this profile are the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2011 and 2016) Census of Population and Housing unless otherwise indicated.
As seen in the graph below, more than half (52%) of the Wyndham residents born in the Philippines are aged between 35 and 59 years, compared to 33% of people across Wyndham. Furthermore, less than 1% of the Filipino community is aged 0-4 years, compared to nearly 10% across Wyndham.
Age profile of Wyndham residents born in the Philippines compared to total Wyndham population, 2016
Tagalog, a language spoken by approximately one third of the population of the Philippines, is the most commonly language spoken at home amongst Wyndham residents born in the Philippines (44%). Filipino, the standardised version of Tagalog and the official language of the Philippines, is the second most commonly spoken language amongst Wyndham residents born in the Philippines (33%).
Language spoken at home amongst Wyndham residents born in the Philippines, 2016
Approximately 18% of people speak English at home, and almost 80% of people can speak English well or very well.
The Philippines is the largest Catholic country in Asia and the majority of Wyndham’s Filipino community continues to practice Catholicism (72%).1
In 2016, a large proportion of Filipino residents aged over 15 had obtained a bachelor or higher degree (PhD, Masters) (45.9%) and approximately 23.3% had obtained a certificate or advanced diploma or diploma.
Over a fifth of Wyndham’s Filipino community aged over 15 years work as managers and professionals (20.6%, down from just under 25% in 2011), and 16.8% work as labourers and machine operators (down from 18% in 2011).