Demographic Information
Population
The 2006 Census shows that there were 35,976 people of Greek-speaking background in the 60+ age group living in Victoria. Ninety-six per cent lived in the Melbourne metropolitan region. The remainder, some 1264 people, were distributed across Victorian cities.
Location
The metropolitan area with the highest population of 60+ year olds was the Northern Region, with 11,181 people of Greek-speaking background. This was followed by the Eastern Region, with 10,669, and the Southern Region, with 7690. The Western Region has the lowest number of Greek-speaking 60+ year olds, with 5,172. Of the metropolitan Local Governments Areas, Darebin has the highest population of Greek-speaking 60+ year olds (3607), followed by Monash (3357), Moreland (3056) and Whittlesea (2049).
Proficiency in English
Forty-seven per cent of the Victorian population of Greek Australians over the age of 60 were not able to speak English well, or were not able to speak it at all. This percentage increases in older groups. Fifty-five per cent of people in the 70+ group were not able to speak English well, or were not able to speak it at all ccmpared to 40 per cent in the 60-69 age group.
Projected growth
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare projects that the number of 70-year-olds+ of Greek-speaking background will increase by 83 per cent in the period 2006 to 2021: from 16,872 to 30,879.
Demographic data
For more detailed demographic data, download the following three Excel spreadsheets:
