By XAVIER SMERDON
THE number of Wyndham residents born in India has multiplied by more than five times in as many years, the latest government statistics reveal.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the results of the 2011 census last week.
The statistics, which are calculated every five years, show that almost 40 per cent of Wyndham residents were not born in Australia.
When the census was last calculated in 2006 it showed that the most common country of birth apart from Australia was England with 3941 residents or 3.5 per cent of the total population.
The number of people born in India was just 1573 or 1.4 per cent of the total population.
But the latest census showed that 8094 people, or five per cent of Wyndham residents were born in India, making it the most common foreign country of birth.
The number of Indian-born people calling Wyndham home is now higher than both the Victoria and Australia-wide figures, which are 2.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent of residents respectively.
Nisarg Khan, who has lived in Point Cook for the last five years since moving from the southern Indian state of Kerala, said he had definitely seen an influx of his fellow country people in the area.
“When I first came here it was almost strange to see another Indian walking around in Point Cook,” Mr Khan said.
“But at the same time it was almost strange to see anyone walking around Point Cook because there were nowhere near as many people here as there are now.
“Without a doubt Indians are coming here in droves, which I think is because they can’t afford a house of the same sizes anywhere else in Melbourne.”
Wyndham’s overall population has also risen by almost 50,000 residents in the last five years to now be 161,575.
