Pakistani Australians refers to someone born in Australia of Pakistani descent or to someone who has immigrated to Australia from Pakistan or has Pakistani ancestry. Most Pakistani Australians are Muslims by religion though there is also a sizeable Christian minority.
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History in Australia
Immigration to Australia from Pakistan mostly occurred in the 1970s, however Pakistani migrants can be dated back to the early 1950s. Early Muslim migrants (known as "Ghans") entered Australia as camel drivers in the late 1800s from areas which are now part of modern-day Pakistan. Since then the number of Pakistani immigrants increased dramatically, with thousands of Pakistanis entering the Australia each year since that time. Pakistani Australians tended to be urban, well-educated, and professional. Many of them had come from cities like Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Hyderabad and Peshawar, and were familiar with Western culture and ways of living. Still most of the Pakistanis immigrating to the Australia are mainly students, professionals and economic migrants who do tend to have some sort of education.
Demographics
Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for indicate that there are about 33,049 Pakistani Australians, of whom 30,221 were born in Pakistan. Sydney has one of the largest Pakistani communities in Oceania. According to the 2006 Census in Victoria there are an estimated 4,703 Pakistani born persons, with the majority living in Melbourne. The number has since tripled from the previous census which was in 1996. Those living in Victoria that are Pakistani born are highly educated with more than a third working in professional positions and about half working in 'clerical, production, service, transport and sales positions'.
In 2012 7,400 Pakistani international students were studying in Australia, an increase from close to 5,000 in 2007. Under the Australia-Pakistan Scholarship Program, 500 scholarships were available to Pakistani students from 2005–2010 to facilitate postgraduate studies in Australia. Australia has become one of the largest markets for Pakistani students outside the United States and United Kingdom.
Politics
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party has a local chapter in New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC), Queensland(QLD) and Western Australia (WA), organised by members of the Pakistani Australian community.