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Inner West CouncilCommunity profile

The three largest ancestries in Lewisham in 2021 were English, Australian and Irish.

Ancestry defines the cultural association and ethnic background of an individual going back three generations. Ancestry is a good measure of the total size of cultural groups in Lewisham regardless of where they were born or what language they speak.

Ancestry data, should be combined with data on Birthplace, Language Spoken at Home and Religion for a more complete picture of Lewisham's ethnic characteristics.

Please note that the "Australian Aboriginal" and "Torres Strait Islander" categories in this topic are not directly comparable from 2021 to previous years, due to a change in the wording of the question. In 2021, these options were marked boxes on the question rather than write-in options. The "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Origin" question is still considered a more reliable count for this group, and can be found on the Population summary page.

Please note: Due to changes in ABS rules around perturbation and additivity of data to protect the confidentiality of individuals, counts of ancestry groups and totals derived from them may differ slightly from those published by the ABS. For more information see notes on data confidentiality.

Q:

Derived from the Census question:

'What is the person's ancestry?'

Multi-response

Ancestry - Totals
Lewisham - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
Ancestry totalsNumber%Inner West Council area %Number%Inner West Council area %2016 to 2021
Not stated2474.53.52375.65.9+10
Total responses5,546----4,212----+1,334
Total people4,071----3,167----+904
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information
Ancestry - Ranked by size
Lewisham - Total persons (Usual residence)20212016Change
AncestryNumber%Inner West Council area %Number%Inner West Council area %2016 to 2021
English1,14928.229.999031.328.9+159
Australian1,05625.924.482626.123.0+230
Irish56213.813.748015.213.5+82
Chinese42610.58.51825.78.1+244
Scottish3638.99.63139.98.9+50
Italian2847.06.81705.46.4+114
Greek1503.74.31043.34.1+46
German1263.13.41504.73.3-24
Indian822.01.9481.52.1+34
Filipino771.91.8461.51.5+31
Show all (51 entries)

Excludes ancestries with fewer than 10 responses (multi-response).

Dominant groups

Analysis of the ancestry responses of the population in Lewisham in 2021 shows that the top five ancestries nominated were:

  • English (1,149 people or 28.2%)
  • Australian (1,056 people or 25.9%)
  • Irish (562 people or 13.8%)
  • Chinese (426 people or 10.5%)
  • Scottish (363 people or 8.9%)

In combination these five ancestries account for 3,556 responses in total, or 87.35% of all responses.

The major differences between the ancestries of the population in Lewisham and Inner West Council area were:

  • A larger percentage of people with Chinese ancestry (10.5% compared to 8.5%)
  • A larger percentage of people with Australian ancestry (25.9% compared to 24.4%)
  • A smaller percentage of people with English ancestry (28.2% compared to 29.9%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the reported ancestries of the population in this area between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Chinese (+244 persons)
  • Australian (+230 persons)
  • English (+159 persons)
  • Italian (+114 persons)

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