In measuring social exclusion we found that immigrants from non–English speaking countries consistently experience more social exclusion than native-born Australians.

In 2018 (the latest data), 27% of these immigrants experienced exclusion compared with 25% of people born in Australia and 24% of immigrants from English-speaking countries.

The rate of deep social exclusion was 7% in 2018 for immigrants from non–English speaking countries, 6.1% for people born in Australia and lower for immigrants from English-speaking countries (3.4%).

Over the period 2009 to 2018, the gap between the social exclusion of people born in Australia and of those born overseas has narrowed.

In the graph below, the ‘all social exclusion’ lines show the total of marginal social exclusion and deep social exclusion.

Line graph of marginal and deep social exclusion by country of birth, Australia, 2009 to 2018
To copy this graph for your own use, right-click on the image (or control-click on a Mac) and paste the graph into your document. Please credit 'The Brotherhood of St. Laurence and the Melbourne Institute 2020’.
Data table for Social exclusion in Australia by country of birth, %, 2009–18
2009201020112012201320142015201620172018
All social exclusion
Australia – all social exclusion22.123.323.32323.623.824.224.323.524.7
Other English-speaking – all social exclusion25.128.423.522.426.921.425.324.123.223.8
Non–English speaking – all social exclusion30.832.730.730.530.130.729.627.127.327.2
Deep exclusion
Australia – deep exclusion5.14.95.35.45.65.95.75.75.86.1
Other English-speaking – deep exclusion5.47.14.24.2544.34.74.43.4
Non–English speaking – deep exclusion7.87.36.76.27.36.66.65.55.67

About the social exclusion monitor

The social exclusion monitor is the work of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (MIAESR). This page was updated using analysis of Wave 18 of the HILDA Survey in October 2020.