Statistics for cultural diversity

This page contains demographic information about the Gold Coast’s cultural diversity. The information is sourced from:

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021) Census of Population and Housing

Population and age structure

Over 181,800 Gold Coast residents were born overseas as of 2021, representing 29.1% of the Gold Coast population.

A higher proportion of Gold Coast’s overseas born population was aged 25 years or older, compared to the city’s overall population:

• only 4.8% of Gold Coast’s overseas born population were aged under 15 years, compared to 17.6% of the total population;
• 72.9% were aged 15–64 years, compared to 69.7% of the overall population; and,
• 21.9% were aged over 65 years, compared to 17.8% of the overall population.

Compared to Queensland’s overseas born population, Gold Coast’s overseas born population is slightly older with:

• 4.8% of Gold Coast’s overseas born population aged under 15 years, compared to 5.7% of Queensland’s overseas born population;
• 72.9% aged 15–64 years, compared to 74% of Queensland’s overseas born population; and,
• 21.9% aged over 65 years, compared to 20.3% of the overall population.

Spatial distribution of overseas-born residents

Within the Gold Coast, areas with the highest proportions of overseas-born residents are:

• Surfers Paradise – North: 40.4%
• Southport – North: 39.2%
• Surfers Paradise – South: 39.1%
• Clear Island Waters: 37.7%
• Southport – South: 36.9%
• Arundel: 36.9%
• Benowa: 36.7%
• Biggera Waters: 35.9%
• Hope Island: 35.4%
• Molendinar: 34.9%

Areas with the lowest proportions of overseas-born residents are:

• Jacobs Well – Alberton: 16.9%
• Currumbin Waters – 17.6%
• Currumbin – Tugun: 18.1%
• Elanora: 18.5%
• Currumbin Valley – Tallebudgera: 18.5%
• Coolangatta – 20.9%
• Guanaba – Springbrook: 20.9%
• Burleigh Heads: 21.6%
• Miami: 22.5%

View interactive maps showing the distribution of our culturally diverse population across the Gold Coast.

Country of birth

• The Gold Coast population is extremely diverse with 29.1% of residents born overseas. This is a higher proportion than Queensland (22.7%) and Australia (27.7%).
• A proportion of 12.7% of Gold Coast residents come from countries where English is not the first language.
• Between 2016 and 2021, the number of residents born overseas increased by 24,912 or 15.9%, and the number of residents from a non-English speaking background increased by 18,574 or 29.3%.
• The largest changes in birthplace countries of the Gold Coast population between 2016 and 2021 were for those born in India (with an additional 2,813 residents), followed by Brazil (an additional 2,632 residents). In 2021, after Australia, New Zealand was the highest stated country of birth (7.1%), higher than Queensland (4.0%) and Australia (2.1%).

The top 10 countries of birth for Gold Coast’s overseas born residents were:

Language

• Almost 14% of Gold Coast residents speak a language other than English at home which is slightly higher than Queensland (13.2%) yet less than Australia (22.3%).
• After English, the most frequently spoken language is Mandarin (1.9%) followed by Japanese (1.0%), Portuguese (0.8%), Spanish (0.8%), Korean (0.6%), Filipino/Tagalog (0.6%), Cantonese (0.5%), and Punjabi (0.5%).
• Over 10,000 Gold Coast residents (1.6% of residents) had poor English proficiency, meaning they spoke another language but spoke English not well or not at all. This was lower than in Queensland (1.8%) or Australia (3.4%).

Religion

• The most practiced religion on the Gold Coast is Christianity. A total of 274,930 residents identified as being Christian at the time of the 2021 Census, representing 44% of Gold Coast’s population – a 9.4% decrease from 2016 (or 21,783 residents).
• The other most common religions practiced in the city were Buddhism (9,061 residents, 1.4% of population), Hinduism (6,670 residents, 1.1% of population), and Islam (6,088 residents, 1.0% of population).

Year of arrival in Australia

• Most overseas born Gold Coast residents (45,436 residents) arrived in Australia between 2001 and 2010, representing 25% of all overseas born residents. A similar proportion of Queensland overseas born residents arrived in Australia during the same period (24.8%).
• Of Gold Coast’s overseas born population,  16.1% arrived in Australia recently, that is – between 2016 and August 2021 (29,300 residents). A similar proportion of Queensland residents arrived in Australia during this recent period (16.8%)

Ancestry

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 Gold Coast city regardless of where people were born or what language they speak.

• Forty per cent of Gold Coast residents identify as having “English” ancestry. This is slightly higher than Queensland (38%) and a slight decrease of 0.3% since 2016.
• Around 30.7% of Gold Coast residents identify as having “Australian” ancestry. This is lower than Queensland (33.4%) and a slight decrease of 0.2% since 2016.
• Other common ancestries on the Gold Coast are Irish (10.4%, down by 0.9% since 2016), Scottish (10.0%, down 0.2% since 2016) and German (4.7%, down by 0.2% since 2016).
• Since 2016, the largest increases in ancestry were for Australian Aboriginal, which increased by 1.9% since 2016, Italian, which increased by 0.4% and Filipino, which increased by 0.3%.
• The largest decreases in ancestry were for Irish, which decreased by 0.9% since 2016, New Zealander, which decreased by 0.4% and English, which decreased by 0.3% since 2016.
• On the Gold Coast, 35% of residents had both parents born overseas, 7.4% had only their father born overseas and 6.2%, their mother. By comparison, 27.9% of Queensland’s residents had both parents born overseas, 6.7% had only their father born overseas and 5.3%, their mother.

Education

• On the Gold Coast, 27.4% of overseas born residents aged 15 years and older had a Bachelor or Higher Degree as their highest educational qualification. On the other hand, 17.3% of Australian born Gold Coast residents had a Bachelor or Higher Degree as their highest educational qualification. By comparison, 30.6% of Queensland’s overseas born residents had a Bachelor or Higher Degree.
• On the Gold Coast, 14.9% of overseas born residents had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma as their highest educational qualification. On the other hand, 13.7% of Australian born Gold Coast residents had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma as their highest educational qualification. By comparison, 13.7% of Queensland’s overseas born residents had an Advanced Diploma or Diploma.
• Almost 37% (36.9%) of Gold Coast’s overseas born residents aged 15 years and older had no education qualification beyond secondary education. On the other hand, 43.6% of Australian born Gold Coast residents had no qualification beyond secondary school. By comparison, 36.7% of Queensland’s overseas born residents had no education qualification beyond secondary education.

Labour force and employment

• On the Gold Coast, 64.9% of overseas born residents aged 15 years and older were in the labour force, compared to 67.1% of Australian born residents aged 15 years and older. By comparison, 65% of Queensland’s overseas born residents aged 15 years and older were in the labour force.
• Around 94.5% of overseas born Gold Coast residents in the labour force were employed, and 5.5% unemployed. Similarly, 94.7% of Australian born residents in the labour force were employed, and 5.3% unemployed. By comparison, 94.6% of Queensland’s overseas born residents in the labour force were employed (5.4% unemployed).
• Around 50.6% of Gold Coast’s overseas born residents in the labour force were employed full-time and 34.9%, part time. On the other hand, 52.2% of Gold Coast’s Australian born residents in the labour force were employed full-time and 32.7%, part time. By comparison, 55.2% of Queensland’s overseas born residents in the labour force were employed full time and 31.7%, part time.

Occupations of employment

• On the Gold Coast, the top occupation of employment was “Professionals”, an occupation employing 21% of all overseas born employed residents. This was followed by Technicians and Trade Workers (13.9%) and Community and Personal Service Workers (13.7%).
• By comparison, Australian born employed Gold Coast residents were mostly also Professionals (20.1%), Technicians and Trades Workers (14.3%) and Clerical and Administrative Workers (13.3%).
• Compared to Gold Coast’s overseas-born employed residents, a larger proportion of Queensland’s overseas born employed residents were Professionals (24.2% compared to 21%), Labourers (11.5% compared to 10.4%) and Machine Operators/Drivers (6.7% compared to 5.7%).
• On the other hand, a smaller proportion of Queensland’s overseas born employed residents were Technicians and Trade Workers (12.1% compared to 13.9%), Community and Personal Service Workers (13.1% compared to 13.7%), Managers (11.8% compared to 12.9%), Clerical and Administrative Workers (10.9% compared to 11.5%) and Sales Workers (6.7% compared to 5.7%).

Industries of employment

The largest industries of employment for Gold Coast’s overseas-born employed residents were:

•  Health Care and Social Assistance (17.2%) 
• Accommodation and Food Services (10.6%)
• Construction (9.9%)
• Retail Trade (8.6%)
• Education and Training (7.0%).

By comparison, Australian-born employed Gold Coast residents were predominantly working in Health Care and Social Assistance (13.8%), Construction (12.3%), Retail Trade (11.3%), Education and Training (9.0%) and Accommodation and Food Services (8.0%).

Compared to Gold Coast’s overseas-born employed residents, a larger proportion of Queensland’s overseas born employed residents worked in the Health Care and Social Assistance (18.6% compared to 17.2%), Education and Training (7.5% compared to 7.0%), Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (7.7% compared to 6.9%), Manufacturing (6.6% compared to 5.5%), Transport, Postal and Warehousing industries (5.5% compared to 4.3%).

On the other hand, a smaller proportion of Queensland’s overseas born residents worked in the Accommodation and Food Services (8.6% compared to 10.6%), Construction (7.1% compared to 9.9%), Retail Trade (7.6% compared to 8.6%) and Administrative and Support Services industries (4.2% compared to 4.8%).

More information

For more information, please call 1300 GOLDCOAST (1300 465 326) or email communities@goldcoast.qld.gov.au.