Humanitarian Settlers in Wyndham

The Australian Government Department of Social Services has provided statistical data on permanent settlers to Australia since 1991. Data is collated from various sources such as Medicare and the Department of Immigration and Border Protection. Because of changes to some skilled visa subclasses in 2012, these visas are not being categorised correctly and consequently a large proportion of data is ‘unknown’. Furthermore, some of the data collected is voluntary, again leaving a lot of missing data. Other limitations to the data include no adjustment for those who have permanently departed Australia or deceased.

Permanent settlers include those with humanitarian, family or skilled visas. According to the Australian Government Department of Social Services, approximately 4,823 people, or 1.9% of permanent settlers, settled in Wyndham in 2017. By March 2018, there were an additional 1,216 permanent settlers in Wyndham. Because the provision of information for non-humanitarian visas is largely voluntary, there are major information gaps for people settling in Australia on those visa types. Data about humanitarian migrants is more documented, and this profile covers this group of people.

Approximately 372 people settled in Wyndham in 2019 via the humanitarian migration stream, which is slightly below the 326 that did in 2018. In 2017, Wyndham City welcomed the third highest number of humanitarian migrants of all Victorian growth councils, behind only Hume and Casey. Victorian growth Councils include Cardinia, Casey, Hume, Melton, Mitchell, Whittlesea and Wyndham. In 2018 Wyndham is not in the top three, but still one of the major destinations for humanitarian migrants in Victoria.

The following demographics focus on persons who permanently settled in Wyndham in 2018 according to their date of settlement and data provided by the Australian Government Department of Social Services, 2019. 

Gender

The gender of people who settled in Wyndham on humanitarian visas in 2019 is displayed in the figure below. There was an even split in 2019, with 188 men and 184 women settling in Wyndham.

Gender – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Humanitarian settlers by gender in Wyndham, 2019

Age

As shown in the graph below, humanitarian visa holders are generally young. In 2018, more than 75 per cent of all settlers are younger than 35 years old. The three largest age groups are 12-17 (15.9%), 18-24 (15.9%), 25-34 (15.9%) and 0-5 (14.8%). Older migrants on these visas are less common - only one in ten humanitarian settlers are aged 45 or above.

Age profile – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Wyndham humanitarian settlers age profile, 2019

Marital Status

In 2019, the majority of those who settled in Wyndham on humanitarian visas were not married (63.2%), just underone third (31.7%) were married, and small proportions were divorced (1.6%) or widowed (2.2%).

Marital status – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Wyndham humanitarian settlers'  marital status, 2019

Country of Birth and Ethnicity

Country of birth

As shown in the figure below, three quarters of humanitarian visa migrants in 2018 were from Myanmar (26.3%), Thailand (25.3%) or Congo DRC (12.9%). A notably lower proportion of people who settled in Wyndham in 2019 were born in other countries. Notably, few migrants from the Middle East have arrived in Wyndham in 2019, while there are also fewer African migrants in 2019 than before.

Countries of birth – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Countries of birth – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019

Ethnicity

Aligned with the countries of birth identified above, the Karen community is the key migrant community in 2019 when it comes to humanitarian visas. Almost half of those settling in Wyndham through the humanitarian stream reported their ethnicity as Karen (22.6%). Other ethnicities common in Myanmar and Thailand, such as Chin and Karenni, form a substantial remainder of migrants in 2019.

Ethnicities – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham 2019
Ethnicities – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham 2019

Language

Primary language

The languages of humanitarian settlers in Wyndham in 2019 is listed in the figure below. The languages are aligned with ethnicities and countries of birth identified above, and point most of all to the diverse set of languages spoken by the Karen community.

Language spoken – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Primary language spoken – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019

English Proficiency

More than three quaters of humanitarian migrants in Wyndham have no English proficiency (78.5%), which is lower than in previous years. A further 19.1 per cent have poor English proficiency, and 1.3 per cent have good to very good English language skills.

English proficiency – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
English proficiency – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019

Religion

The religions of people who settled in Wyndham in 2019 on humanitarian visas are shown in the graph below. A third of humanitarian migrants are Christian (33.3%), with the next largest religions being Islam (12.6%) and Buddhism (12.4%).

Humanitarian migrants in 2019 differ substantially from those in 2018, among whom Christianity accounted for 63.8 per cent.

Religious affiliation – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019
Religious affiliation – humanitarian migrants in Wyndham, 2019