Hispanic and Latin American Australians

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Hispanic and Latin American Australians (Spanish: australianos hispanos y latinoamericanos) refers to Australians who are of Hispanic, and/or Latin American origin irrespective of their ancestral backgrounds, and their descendants. Brazilian Australians make up the largest proportion of Latin American Australians, while Chilean Australians make up the largest group of Hispanic Australians, followed by Salvadoran Australians. Most Hispanic and Latin American Australians speak English but many continue to use Spanish or Portuguese as well.

At the 2006 Census 86,156 Australian residents declared that they were born in South America (69,157), Central America (12,959) or the Caribbean (4,040).^[1] They constitute only 0.43% of the Australian population. Other statistics state that 1.12 % of Australia's population are of Latin American origin. 93,795 residents declared themselves being of South American, Central American or Caribbean ancestry (either alone or in combination with one other ancestry).^[2]

Until 2006, Chile was the country that had contributed the largest proportion of immigrants to Australia. In the 2006 Census 23,305 Australian residents declared they were born in Chile. Other Hispanic or Latin American countries include El Salvador (18,000), Spain (12,276), Argentina (11,369), Uruguay (9,376), Brazil (6,647), Peru (6,322), Colombia (5,706), and Ecuador (1,356).^[3] But in the 2011 Census, Brazil became the largest source of immigrants of Latin American origin in Australia, with a total of 14,509 Brazil-born people living in the country, leaving Chile in second place.^[4] 4,872 were born in Mexico in 2016. Mexican Australians are concentrated in Brisbane and Sydney.^[5]