An Arab Australian is an Australian citizen or resident of Arab cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity whose ancestry traces back to any of various waves of immigrants originating from one or more of the twenty-three countries comprised by the Arab World (from the northernmost Syria and westernmost Morocco in North Africa to the southernmost Sudan and easternmost Iraq in Southwest Asia).

Although Arab Australians comprise a highly diverse group of people, differing in ancestral origins, religious backgrounds and historic identities, Arab Australians hold a heritage that shares common linguistic, cultural, and political traditions, and it is these factors which are the ties that bind.

Population[link]

Arab Australians are people in Australia who have ancestry from the Arab World and are citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia, totaling approximately 308,104. The majority of Arab Australian originate from Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Morocco and other Arab nations, which are small in numbers but present nonetheless. The largest group of whom are the Lebanese numbering 199,640 or (0.92%), Palestinians who number 45,001 or (0.03%) , Syrian who number 20,213 or (0.08%), Iraqis who number 11,190 or (0.05%), Egyptians who number 50,001 or (0.12%), Sudanese who number 3,788 or (0.01%), Jordanians who number 2,687 or (0.01%), and Algerians who number 696 or (0.003%).^[2]

The city with the largest percentage of Arab Australians is Sydney at nearly 45%. Lakemba, Bankstown, Campsie, Merrylands and Fairfield suburbs is home to the largest concentration of Arab Australians in Sydney in Melbourne Arabs are mostly concentrated in Broadmeadows, Coburg and Flemington.

Sydney has the most Lebanese Australians and Iraqi Australians, usually live in the Canterbury-Bankstown section of Sydney Inner suburbs of Melbourne as well. Melbourne has a sizable Arab-Australian population, mainly are immigrants involved in the oil and energy business came to the city during the 1970s/1980s and a developed noticeable community in Perth.

Demographics[link]

Egyptian[link]

Emiratis[link]

There are a growing number of people from the United Arab Emirates who visit and stay in Australia. They are overwhelmingly international students; their number is estimated between 1,200^[3][4] and 2,000.^[5] Australia is also a major tourist destination, with 14,000 Emiratis entering the country each year.^[5]

Palestinians[link]

Saudis[link]

Religious background[link]

Most Arab Australians are Muslims followed by Christians.

The percentage of Arab Australians who are Christians has increased in recent years, due to the fact that most new Arab immigrants tend to be Christians; this stands in contrast to the first wave of Arab immigration to Australia in the late late 20th century, during which immigrants were almost all Muslims. Most Maronite Catholics tend to be of Lebanese extraction; those Christians of Palestinian background are often Eastern Orthodox. A small number are Protestants, either having joined a Protestant denomination after immigrating to Australia. or being from a family that converted to Protestantism while still living in the Middle East (European and American Protestant missionaries were fairly commonplace in the Levant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).

Racial status[link]

Arabs in Australia are officially classified as North African and Middle Eastern by government agencies, including the Australian Census Bureau.

Famous Australians of Arab descent[link]

• Don Hany
• Osamah Sami
• Loudy Wiggins
• Raymon Youmaran

See also[link]

• Arab American
• Arab diaspora
• Iraqi diaspora
• Refugees of Iraq
• Western Muslims

References[link]

v t e Arab diaspora Africa Côte d'Ivoire Americas Argentina Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Haiti Mexico Peru United States Venezuela Asia Afghanistan Indonesia Iran Pakistan Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Turkey Europe Bulgaria France Germany (Berlin) Greece Netherlands United Kingdom Oceania Australia

v t e Arab Australians North African Egyptian Sudanese West Asian Armenian Iraqi Jordanian Lebanese Palestinian Saudi

v t e Lebanese people and diaspora Countries Americas Argentina Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Ecuador Jamaica Mexico Paraguay United States Uruguay Venezuela Europe Bulgaria France Italy Sweden United Kingdom Greece Africa Côte d'Ivoire Senegal Sierra Leone Asia Israel Turkey Oceania Australia Personalities Americas Argentina Brazil Canada Chile Colombia Cuba Curaçao Dominican Republic Ecuador Guatemala Haiti Jamaica Mexico Puerto Rico United States Uruguay Venezuela Europe Bulgaria Cyprus Denmark France Germany Italy Monaco Netherlands Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Africa Egypt Ghana Sierra Leone South Africa Oceania Australia

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