Where Australia’s record-breaking wave of 328,000 migrants is coming from: Interactive map reveals stark truth as thousands take to the streets

Australia is in the grip of a historic migration wave.

About 330,000 new arrivals landed in the past year, swelling the nation’s population to just shy of 28 million and fuelling fierce debate over housing, infrastructure and national identity.

Data from the Department of Home Affairs reveals India tops the list of source countries with 76,404 skilled, humanitarian and family migrants arriving on Australian shores between 2024-25. 

It was followed by China (28,902), Nepal (23,137), the Philippines (17,527) and Pakistan (13,968). 

Rounding out the top 10 were Sri Lanka (12,646), as well as Vietnam, Afghanistan and the UK (about 9,000 each). Nearly 6,000 migrants arrived from Bhutan (5,919). 

Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil contributed about 5,000 migrants each to Australia’s intake last year. A total of 3,636 migrants arrived from Ukraine, the majority of whom came on humanitarian visas amid the war with Russia.

Despite growing unease, the Albanese Government is holding firm, keeping the permanent migration intake at the same levels as the previous financial year.

But not everyone is on board.

Protests have erupted across major cities in recent months, with demonstrators demanding a rethink of the country’s immigration policies. 

The unrest mirrors similar scenes overseas, with 100,000 people marching in major British cities over the weekend and protests earlier in the year in Poland.

Many Australians say the system is at breaking point, with housing, healthcare, transport and education under pressure.

Nonetheless, government officials insist migration is vital to the economy because it helps to fill labour shortages and drive growth.

However, a new report from the Australian National University’s Migration Hub has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the current migration program. 

While the permanent intake is capped at 185,000 people per year, the report found only 12 per cent of places are going to genuinely skilled workers from offshore. 

The majority are allocated to partners, children and secondary applicants, many of whom do not meet skilled criteria.

Report author Peter McDonald said the system is clogged with family visas, leaving too few places for employer-sponsored migrants, a group that consistently delivers the strongest labour market outcomes.

‘The government should consider redefining the permanent migration program so that it includes only skilled stream primary applicants,’ he said. 

‘We need to get this right to make sure Australia’s migration policy is better serving the country’s economic and social objectives.’

While experts warn the migration program is failing to prioritise skilled workers, the effects of rapid population growth are already being felt in suburbs absorbing the highest number of new arrivals.

In places like Melbourne – where nearly 10 per cent of Victoria’s 95,500 permanent migrants have settled – local councils are racing to meet housing targets and upgrade infrastructure to keep pace with demand. 

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said it’s the most multicultural city in Australia, home to people from more than 160 cultural backgrounds, who speak 150 languages and practise 80 faiths.

He said Melbourne’s success was built off the back of waves of hard-working immigrants but conceded that came with challenges. 

‘Melbourne is also one of the fastest-growing areas in the country,’ he said.

‘I believe Melbourne can be bigger and better. 

‘We can meet the Victorian Government’s housing targets, provided there is proper investment in local facilities and transport infrastructure to support liveable communities.’

In February 2025, the Victorian Government released housing targets for municipalities across the state, to accommodate a growing population.

For the City of Melbourne, the target is set at 119,500 additional homes by 2051, more than double the number of dwellings in the municipality in 2023.

While Melbourne’s mayor remains optimistic about managing growth, the reality in the suburbs absorbing the bulk of new arrivals is sobering. 

According to Domain, record rents and skyrocketing house prices are now the norm in almost every capital city.

In Western Sydney, the districts of Cumberland, Blacktown, Parramatta, and Canterbury-Bankstown have taken in the largest migrant intakes last financial year.

In the year to June, rents surged more than 50 per cent in Blacktown suburbs like Bidwill, Whalan, and Willmot, pricing out many long-term residents.

Domain’s chief of research and economics, Dr Nicola Powell, said rental vacancy rates remain below two per cent nationwide, well short of demand, and a key driver of rising rents and house prices.

‘Cost of living pressures have reached a tipping point,’ she said.

‘Renters are maxed out and landlords are being forced to hold steady. We’re also seeing a shift in demand – renters are downsizing or choosing units to stretch their budgets, which is why unit rents are now rising faster than houses.

‘With new-build pipelines thin and population growth resilient, a return to balanced conditions will likely be slow.’ 

Experts warn that without a serious rethink of migration policy, Australia risks deepening the crisis.

For groups like Sustainable Population Australia, the solution lies not in halting immigration but in slowing it to sustainable levels so cities remain liveable for all.

The organisation also warns that dismissing sensible and respectful debate about Australia’s population future risks driving people to political extremes. 

Since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the population of Australia has grown by more than 40 per cent. 

Spokesman Michael Bayliss said growing numbers of Australians are increasingly alarmed by the levels of population growth and its impact on housing costs, congestion, overstretched services and ecological decline. 

‘These population pressures raise mounting public concerns in Australia,’ he said.

‘The simplest way to reduce these tensions is to progressively slow the population growth rate and ultimately bring Australia to a stable population size under 30 million.’