Resettlement of China-born immigrants in Australia: Age, duration of stay and interstate migration

Internal migration is an important settlement adjustment process for immigrants. For a high migration country, such as Australia, understanding the internal migration patterns is also needed for studying the demographic dynamics of immigration. With large numbers of immigrants now coming from Asia, little is known about how they move subsequently within Australia and whether they follow similar patterns of European-origin groups. This paper examines resettlement patterns of the largest non-European-origin population in Australia: immigrants born in mainland China. Data from the 1986–2016 Australian Censuses are used to examine the complex relationship between age, duration of stay and interstate migration observed amongst China-born immigrants in comparison with other major overseas-born populations. Results show that migration probabilities peak for young and recently arrived immigrants, with an evident age-on-arrival effect. Considerable variations in migration patterns are identified across birthplaces, states and territories of residence and arrival cohorts. Interstate migration of China-born immigrants increased over time, with recent arrivals exhibiting higher migration probabilities than that of the Australia-born population in 2016. The findings extend our knowledge on immigrants adjustment and (re)settlement in the destination society and provide a basis for examining Australia's regional migration policies.