Birthplaces of Singleton's people

About 17,700 of Singleton's people (87%) were born in Australia and 1,430 (7%) born overseas, with the rest unknown. The proportion born overseas was much less than NSW's rate of 23%, and their number was up by 15 since 1996. The most common foreign birthplace in Singleton was the U.K. with some 520 people, followed by New Zealand with about 350, Holland with about 57 and the Philippines with about 55 people.

The biggest increases since 1996 were among those born in New Zealand (up by 59 people), Yugoslavia (up by 22) and Vietnam (up by 7). The overseas-born population with the biggest fall was from the U.K. (down by 42), then Ireland (down by 12). Falls are usually most common among post-war European immigrant communities due to ageing; significant reductions in more-recent ethnic communities may indicate population movements.

Place of birth

Number of people

Proportion of population

Sing'n 2001

change
1996–2001

Sing'n 2001

Sing'n 1996

NSW 2001

Australia

17,716

(down 139)

87%

89%

71%

Overseas

1,424

(up 15)

23%

not stated

1,152

(up 368)

Total

20,292

(up 198)

100%

20,094

the U.K.

524

(down 42)

2.7%

2.9%

4.6%

New Zealand

350

(up 59)

1.8%

1.5%

1.8%

Holland

(down 6)

0.3%

the Philippines

(up 2)

0.3%

0.9%

Germany

(down 5)

0.2%

0.3%

0.5%

the USA

(down 8)

0.2%

0.3%

South Africa

(up 5)

0.1%

0.5%

Ireland

(down 12)

0.1%

0.2%

0.3%

Yugoslavia

(up 22)

0.1%

0.3%

Malta

(down 8)

0.1%

0.3%

Greece

0.1%

0.6%

Poland

(down 4)

0.1%

0.3%

Canada

(down 1)

0.1%

0.2%

Malaysia

(down 6)

0.1%

0.4%

Hong Kong

(up 5)

0.1%

0.0%

0.6%

China

(up 3)

0.1%

0.0%

1.4%

Italy

(down 1)

0.0%

0.1%

1.0%

India

(up 1)

0.0%

0.6%

Indonesia

(up 1)

0.0%

0.4%

Singapore

(up 2)

0.0%

0.1%

Vietnam

(up 7)

0.0%

1.1%

France

n.a.

0.0%

n.a.

0.1%

Sri Lanka

(down 3)

0.0%

0.1%

0.3%

Egypt

(down 1)

0.0%

0.3%

Fiji

(down 3)

0.0%

0.5%

Lebanon

0.0%

0.9%

Korea

n.a.

0.0%

n.a.

0.5%

other places

121

(up 12)

0.6%

0.9%

4.9%

all smaller

323

(up 332)

14%

Sing'n percentages which are high relative to NSW are bold and shaded light green; low percents are shaded darker orange. 'All smaller' birthplaces was the sum were those listed from Ireland down). People born overseas excluded.

Ancestry of Singleton's people

The 2001 Census was the first to ask people to describe their ancestry. Some people gave multiple answers. In Singleton, 55% gave their ancestry as Australian. Of the others, the most commonly cited ancestry was English (40%) followed by Irish (10%), German (4%), Scottish (3%), Dutch and North European.

Compared with NSW, the biggest differences in the common ancestries of Singleton were the larger proportions of people with Australian ancestry (55% versus 38%), English ancestry (40% v. 34%), and German ancestry (4.2% v. 3.2%). There were smaller proportions with Chinese (0.36% v. 4.5%), Italian (0.92% v. 3.8%) and Lebanese ancestry (0.04% v. 2.0%).

Singleton's indigenous population in 2001 was counted as 441 (419 Aboriginals, 9 Torres Strait Islanders and 13 who identified as both). They constituted 2.2% of the population compared with 1.9% over NSW. Over 1996–2001, the indigenous population of 222 males and 219 females grew by 14%, while NSW's increased by 18%.

Ancestries

No. in

% of population

Sing'n

NSW

Australian

10,360

55.3%

38.3%

English

7,494

40.0%

33.8%

Irish

1,911

10.2%

10.7%

German

793

4.2%

3.2%

Scottish

579

3.1%

2.8%

Dutch

250

1.3%

1.1%

North European

243

1.3%

1.9%

Italian

172

0.9%

3.8%

New Zealander

144

0.8%

0.7%

Maori

111

0.6%

0.4%

East European

103

0.5%

2.2%

N & S America

0.5%

1.0%

Greek

0.4%

2.2%

Maltese

0.4%

0.9%

Chinese

0.4%

4.5%

Filipino

0.4%

1.1%

Polish

0.3%

0.8%

Serbian

0.2%

0.6%

Other Australian

0.1%

0.2%

Sub-Saharan African

0.1%

0.6%

NE Asian

0.1%

0.8%

Pacific Islands

0.1%

0.7%

South/Central Asian

0.1%

1.0%

Croatian

0.1%

0.6%

Indian

0.1%

1.2%

SE Asian

0.1%

0.5%

Russian

0.1%

0.4%

N Africa & Mid East

0.1%

1.4%

Vietnamese

0.1%

1.0%

Lebanese

0.0%

2.0%

Indonesian

0.0%

0.2%

Turkish

0.0%

0.4%

all smaller ancestries

776

4.1%

25.1%

Not stated

1,563

Total Responses

24,396

(multiple answers allowed)

Sing'n percentages which are high relative to NSW are bold and shaded light green; low percents are shaded darker orange. Overseas visitors excluded. 'All smaller ancestries' includes those listed from East European to Macedonian

Languages spoken at home in Singleton

While 98% of Singleton's people speak English in their homes, 2% speak another language (compared with 20% in NSW). The most commonly spoken language in 2001 was Tagalog (Filipino), spoken by 27 people (0.1%), followed by Greek (19 or 0.1%), then German, Maltese, Cantonese and Spanish.

Relative to NSW, Singleton's most common foreign language spoken at home was Netherlandic (spoken by 0.4 times the proportion of people of NSW), with Maltese spoken by 0.3 times NSW's proportion.

Singleton's fastest growing community language was Vietnamese, spoken by 11 more people than in 1996, followed by Mandarin, spoken by 9 more, and Tagalog (Filipino), spoken by 5 more. The biggest falls were in German, down by 18 from 1996, and Spanish, down by 10.

Among local indigenous people, none spoke indigenous languages at home. In NSW, 1.4% of the indigeneous people did so.

Languages spoken at home

number in Sing'n

% of Sing'n

change since 1996

% in NSW

English only

19,068

98.5%

(up 1,599)

80%

non-English

297

1.5%

(down 2)

20%

Tagalog (Filipino)

0.1%

(up 5)

0.7%

Greek

0.1%

(down 3)

1.5%

German

0.1%

(down 18)

0.4%

Maltese

0.1%

(up 5)

0.3%

Cantonese

0.1%

(up 4)

2.0%

Spanish

0.1%

(down 10)

0.8%

Italian

0.1%

(down 6)

1.6%

Netherlandic

0.1%

(down 0)

0.2%

Vietnamese

0.1%

(up 11)

1.1%

Polish

0.1%

(down 2)

0.3%

Mandarin

0.0%

(up 9)

1.1%

Arabic/ Lebanese

0.0%

(up 3)

2.4%

Persian

0.0%

n.a.

0.2%

Japanese

0.0%

n.a.

0.2%

French

0.0%

(down 10)

0.2%

Croatian

0.0%

(up 4)

0.4%

other Chinese

0.0%

(down 3)

0.3%

Hindi

0.0%

n.a.

0.5%

Indonesian

0.0%

same

0.3%

Serbian

0.0%

(up 1)

0.3%

Hungarian

0.0%

(down 3)

0.1%

Portuguese

0.0%

(up 3)

0.2%

South Slavic

0.0%

n.a.

0.1%

Tamil

0.0%

n.a.

0.2%

other languages

0.3%

n.a.

2.5%

all smaller languages

177

0.9%

13%

Total persons

19,365

100%

Not stated / OS visitor

1,023

Total people

20,388

Sing'n percentages which are high relative to NSW are bold and shaded light green; low percents are shaded darker orange. 'All smaller languages' includes those listed from Netherlandic to 'other languages'.

Immigration and English proficiency in Singleton

Singleton's population born overseas decreased by 33 between 1996 and 2001. Some 159 immigrants arrived from overseas over the period and stayed in Singleton (at least for Census night). This number was offset by a net movement out of Singleton of about 192 overseas-born people who arrived here before 1996.

Compared with NSW, Singleton has fewer recent immigrants, with 7% of the overseas-born population arriving over 1999–2001, and a further 5% over 1996–1998, while NSW's rates were 9% and 8%.

Of the 1,400 or so people born overseas, six-sevenths (85%) speak only English and a further 12% speak English well. However, 2% of the overseas-born (around 24 people) were poor speakers of English. About one-quarter of the poor English speakers arrived in the past six years. About four-ninths arrived more than 15 years ago.

English proficiency and arrival period of immigrants

1999–2001

1996–1998

1991–1995

1986–1990

before 1986

not stated

Total

Speaks English only

118

830

1,218

Speaks English well / very well

174

Speaks English not well / not at all

English proficiency unstated

Total arrivals

112

143

936

1,428

% of arrivals from each period, in Sing'n

10%

66%

100%

% of arrivals from each period in NSW

11%

14%

53%

100%

% of poor English speakers from each period

% who were poor English speakers in NSW

18%

16%

14%

10%

16%

People who do not speak 'English only' speak another language at home. Table excludes persons who did not state their birthplace.

Religion in Singleton

Singleton's main religious belief in 2001 was Christianity, followed by 81% of the community. The main Christian churches were Catholic (39%), Anglican (26%), Uniting Church (8%) and Presbyterian (3%). The most significant differences from NSW among Christian beliefs were Singleton's larger Catholic and Uniting Church communities (14.8% and 2.2% more of the population than in NSW), and the smaller Churches of Christ and Anglican communities (2.9% and 2.6% less).

The most common non-Christian religion was Islam, with some 44 followers or 0.2% of the community (2.3% for NSW). Other religions included Buddhism with about 30 followers.

Between 1996 and 2001, the religion with the largest increase was Catholic with a rise of some 210 while the biggest fall was 197 for the Uniting Church religion. Meanwhile, the number of people with no religion increased by 47 and the number who did not give their religion rose by 269.

Religion

Number of people

Proportion of population

Sing'n 2001

change
96–01

Sing'n 2001

Sing'n 1996

NSW 2001

Catholic

7,827

(up 209)

38.6%

37.9%

23.8%

Anglican

5,336

(up 29)

26.3%

26.4%

28.9%

Uniting Church

1,529

(down 197)

7.5%

8.6%

5.3%

Presbyterian

659

(down 116)

3.2%

3.9%

3.8%

Baptist

428

(up 43)

2.1%

1.9%

1.5%

Pentecostal

116

(down 96)

0.6%

1.1%

0.9%

Jehovah's Witnesses

(up 6)

0.4%

Seventh-day Adventi