Culturally and linguistically diverse Australians

Australia is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world. Cultural and linguistic diversity can encompass a range of aspects including a person’s country of birth, their ancestry, where their parents were born, what language/s they speak, and their religious affiliation. There is no one definition of cultural and linguistic diversity, and often a range of information is required to identify the unique characteristics of a person that may affect their health care needs.

As at 30 June 2020, 3 in 10 people living in Australia were born overseas, with Australia’s population including people born in nearly every country of the world. According to the 2016 Census of Population and Housing (the most recent for which detailed data are available):

• nearly half (49%) of Australians were born overseas or had parents who were born overseas
• around 1 in 5 (21%) Australians spoke a language other than English at home
• Australians identified with over 300 ancestries, and
• more than 300 languages were spoken in Australian homes.

People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds often face greater challenges when dealing with the health and welfare system. Language barriers, lower health literacy, and difficulties navigating an unfamiliar system put them at greater risk of poorer quality health care and poorer health outcomes compared with other Australians. Some groups within the CALD population experience higher risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and have a higher rate of hospitalisation for some chronic conditions.

People from CALD backgrounds are a population of interest across the health sector, including several key Australian Government strategies. Understanding patterns of disease and service use within this community is important to address the health needs of CALD Australians and to inform improved and equitable service delivery.

Information to identify CALD people in data is limited, is not collected consistently, and has not been routinely reported on. The growing availability of linked data has provided a solution to some of these challenges. Combining different sources of information can tell a rich story of a person’s demographic profile and interactions with various services. Because the data are linked at the level of the individual, information from one data set (for example, CALD information from the Census of Population of Housing) can be used to supplement information in data sets that do not collect this information.

However, it is important to note that the health of CALD populations is a product of many factors – including environmental, economic, genetic and socio-cultural factors in their home country and Australia, as well as their migration experience – many of which are unable to be captured consistently in data.