Australian Bureau of Statistics: Indian migration numbers on the rise

While there have been many differences between where he grew up on the subcontinent and Australia, he said there were many benefits to living abroad.

"The best part has been the chance to meet new people and exploring the area, as well as being able to study here," he said.

"There's also been the opportunity to find a very large Indian community here in Australia.

"Moving to Canberra has been better than I expected it."

Mr Dhull moved to Canberra in order to study a Bachelor of Advanced Computing at the Australian National University, which has seen the 19-year-old focus on cyber security and artificial intelligence.

"Australia seemed like a good option for study, and that was one of the main reasons I moved here," he said.

The student is one of thousands born in India who have moved to Australia in recent years.

New overseas migration figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed a dramatic increase of people from India moving to Australia.

In the 2019-20 financial year, those from India overtook the number of new arrivals from countries such as China and New Zealand, to become the second largest group of overseas-born residents, only behind only English-born migrants.

In the past five years, the number of overseas-born residents from India grew more than any other country, rising from 449,000 in June 2015 to 721,000 in June 2020.

While those from England represent the largest group of residents born overseas, the group shrunk slightly in the same time period, from just more than 1 million in 2015 to 980,000 in 2020.

Nationally, the next largest group of overseas-born residents were those from China, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Figures for overseas migration on a state and territory level by nationality were not included, but data from the 2016 census revealed Indians in Canberra made up 11 per cent of the ACT's population.

The bureau's director of migration statistics Jenny Dobak said the number of residents in Australia born overseas was steadily increasing.

"Australia's population encompasses migrants born in nearly every country worldwide, highlighting our culturally diverse society," she said.

Residents born overseas made up 30 per cent of the population in 2020, compared to 28 per cent in 2015 and 27 per cent in 2010.

However, the new figures from the bureau revealed how the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted on overseas migration trends.

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In the year to June 2020, there was a drop of more than 7 per cent of overseas migrant arrivals, with just more than 500,000 coming to Australia from abroad.

The past financial year also led to the highest number of overseas migrant departures from Australia on record, with an increase of 2 per cent to 315,200 departures.

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