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FACT SHEET:
Muslim & Arab Australians in Queensland

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1. Muslim Australians

• Total number of
  Muslims in Australia: 281,578
• Total number of
  Muslims in Queensland: 14,990
• Proportion of
  the Australian population who are Muslim: 1.5%
• Proportion of
  the Queensland population who are Muslim: 0.4%

*Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001
Census.

Figure 1:
Australian Muslim population by state and territory

Source:
ABS, 2001 Census. Basic Community Snapshots and Profiles.


Click here for text only version.

Table 1: Geographic
Distribution of Muslims in Australia, 2001

State/territory	Proportion of all Australian Muslims	Proportion of total state or territory population
New South Wales	50%	2.2%
Victoria	33%	2.0%
Western Australia	7%	1.1%
Queensland	5%	0.4%
South Australia	3%	0.5%
Australian Capital Territory	1%	1.1%
Northern Territory	0.3%	0.5%
Tasmania	0.3%	0.2%
Total	100%	1.5%

Source:
ABS, 2001 Census.

Table 2: Distribution
of Australian Muslims by major statistical local areas in Brisbane statistical
division, 2001

Statistical local area	Number
Runcorn	388
Eight Mile Plains	347
Woodridge	312
Kuraby	276
St Lucia	231
Holland Park	226
Sunnybank Hills	220
Mount Gravatt East	209
Greenslopes	207
Coorparoo	203
Annerley	200
Ipswich (C) - East	188
Kingston	176
Calamvale	167
Browns Plains	167
Doolandella-Forest Lake	165
Capalaba	160
Acacia Ridge	149
Mansfield	144
Stretton-Karawatha	139
West End	134
Wishart	134
Marsden	133
Upper Mount Gravatt	118
Slacks Creek	115
Alexandra Hills	113
Carindale	112
Rochedale South	99
Toowong	98
Moorooka	96
Woolloongabba	93
Ipswich (C) - Central	92
Algester	91
Loganholme	90
Indooroopilly	89
Seventeen Mile Rocks	89
Taringa	89
Inala	88
Underwood	88
Loganlea	85
Sunnybank	84
Robertson	82
Other SLAs	3,977
Total Brisbane SD	10,463

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2. Arab &
Middle-Eastern Australians

• Total number of
  Australians born in the Middle East or North Africa in Australia: 213,940
  (1.1% of the national population)
• Total number Australians
  born in the Middle East or North Africa in Queensland: 8,115
  (0.2% of the QLD state population)

*Source: Australian
Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2001 Census.

Definitions

Defining who is an
‘Arab’ or exactly which countries lie within the Middle East
is a complex matter.

The Australian Bureau
of Statistics (ABS) defines the Middle East as: Bahrain,
Gaza Strip and West Bank (Palestine), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait,
Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates,
Yemen. North Africa is defined as: Algeria, Egypt, Libya,
Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and the Western Sahara. ‘Arab’
includes: Algerian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Libyan,
Moroccan, Palestinian, Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Tunisian.

This summary uses
ABS definitions and highlights specific countries of origin for a significant
number of Australians. These countries are: Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq,
Iran, Syria and Israel. Other Middle Eastern, North African and Arab countries
with much smaller representation in Australian are grouped into two categories:

• ‘Other Middle
  East’ (which includes Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine,
  Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen)
• ‘Other North
  Africa’ (which includes Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,
  Mauritania, Djibouti and Western Sahara)

Table 3: Main countries of
birth of Australians of Middle Eastern & North African origin, 2001

Country of birth	Number
Lebanon	71 349
Egypt	33 432
Turkey	29 821
Iraq	24 832
Iran	18 789
Syria	6 710
Israel	6 574
Other Middle East	13 212
Other North Africa	8 918
Other not further defined	303
Total	213 940

Source: ABS, 2001
Census, Unpublished data.

Figure 2:
State & territory distribution of Australians born in the Middle East
& North Africa, 2001

Source: ABS, 2001
Census. Basic Community Profiles and Snapshots.

Click here for text only version.

Table 4: Australians born
in the Middle East or North Africa in major statistical local areas of
Brisbane, 2001

Statistical Local Area	Egypt	Iran	Iraq	Lebanon	Syria	Turkey	Other Middle East	Other North Africa	Total
Woodridge	15	0	48	55	6	3	7	27	161
Annerley	7	10	13	9	0	5	10	39	93
Sunnybank Hills	25	13	4	11	4	6	13	10	86
Greenslopes	3	10	51	3	0	4	5	8	84
Kuraby	4	3	23	10	3	0	17	21	81
Mansfield	11	14	0	23	6	8	10	6	78
West End	22	6	4	4	5	6	11	18	76
Capalaba	16	7	0	6	0	40	0	3	72
Wishart	14	13	0	16	4	10	9	3	69
Coorparoo	17	7	5	13	0	5	4	15	66
Highgate Hill	16	7	12	7	0	9	6	7	64
Carindale	10	9	4	22	4	4	7	3	63
Holland Park	6	9	7	10	3	3	13	12	63
Rochedale South	25	3	0	17	0	4	3	4	56
Mount Gravatt East	12	0	7	11	4	0	12	9	55
Doolandella-Forest Lake	0	36	3	3	0	5	7	0	54
Ipswich (C) - Central	6	13	4	3	0	15	3	9	53
Yeronga	0	12	10	0	0	3	0	27	52
Calamvale	26	9	0	7	0	5	0	4	51
Runcorn	11	3	10	9	3	7	8	0	51
Slacks Creek	14	0	0	17	0	9	10	0	50
Seventeen Mile Rocks	5	16	3	12	3	0	6	3	48
Alexandra Hills	4	9	0	11	4	17	3	0	48
Browns Plains	6	8	0	7	10	5	6	4	46
Ipswich (C) - East	7	4	7	6	0	13	3	5	45
Robertson	7	3	0	3	0	7	18	6	44
Albany Creek	6	3	5	8	0	3	5	14	44
Moorooka	3	3	8	3	0	4	0	22	43
Aspley	4	5	0	5	0	4	8	16	42
Middle Park	5	3	9	9	8	5	3	0	42
Chapel Hill	7	20	0	3	0	7	4	0	41
Stretton-Karawatha	4	8	0	12	4	7	6	0	41
Indooroopilly	3	22	4	3	0	0	8	0	40
Kangaroo Point	5	15	3	5	0	6	3	3	40
Toowong	4	7	3	3	0	3	17	3	40
Other SLAs	438	469	207	470	79	221	276	295	2455
Total for Brisbane SD	768	779	454	816	150	453	521	596	4537

*Source:
ABS, 2001 Census, Unpublished data

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Race Discrimination
Unit, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, July 2003. ABS data
used with permission from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.