By LAURA WAKELY
BRIMBANK has again proven a melting pot of cultures in the results of the 2011 Census.
The data shows residents who were born in India have doubled since 2006, while Islam has overtaken Anglican faith as the fifth highest religious affiliation in Brimbank.
Most Brimbank residents – 46.9 per cent – were born in Australia, but 9.8 per cent come from Vietnam and 4.3 per cent of us were born in India.
In 2006, just 1.8 per cent of Brimbank residents were born in India, with the country replacing Malta as the third highest country of birth.
The figures are much higher than the rest of Australia, for example just 0.9 per cent of Australians nationwide were born in Vietnam.
A massive 62.3 per cent of Brimbank residents speak two or more languages at home, compared to just 20.4 per cent of Australians.
Vietnamese ranks the highest with 14.2 per cent, while 4.8 per cent speak an Indo-Aryan language, 3.3 per cent speak Maltese and 3.2 per cent speak Greek or Italian.
Catholics still make up the bulk of Brimbank’s religious affiliations, but have decreased by four per cent overall since 2006.
Christianity is on the decline, with decreases in Eastern Orthodox (1.3 per cent) and Anglican (0.8 per cent).
Buddhism and Islam are on the rise, with an increase of 1 and 0.6 per cent respectively since 2006, while 1.7 per cent more residents identify with no religion at all.
The data also reveals 182,735 residents call Brimbank home, an eight per cent increase from the 2006 Census, with women slightly outnumbering men in the municipality by 49.
Brimbank’s most populous age group is 25-29 year olds who account for 8.4 per cent of residents, while just 1.2 per cent are aged 85 years and older.
Just seven per cent of Brimbank had a weekly household income of more than $3,000 compared to the nation’s 11.2 per cent.
Three bedroom houses were most common with 58.6 per cent of residents, while 36.5 per cent own their own home.
For the 35.7 per cent with a mortgage, monthly repayments averaged $1600 and for the 23 per cent who rent, weekly payments are an average of $265.
Each home owns an average of 1.8 vehicles, but 35.8 per cent own more than two.
Employment figures will be released in October.
