Statistics
South Asian Muslim community has been growing rapidly in Sydney over the past 20 years. Earlier a large number of South Asian Muslims, many of them professionals, migrated to Australia in the early 70s and most of them are now approaching retirement age. Many of them have already retired and some have reached critical old age. Few of our elderly are admitted to nursing homes and few are living in their homes but are in need of special care. Many new arrivals have called their old parents to live with them and these elderly are leading quite an isolated life in a foreign land.
The number of elders have increased exponentially over past few years and this trend will continue in coming years.
The table below shows the estimate of elderly population of South Asian Muslims living in New South Wales as per data prepared by Multicultural NSW based on Bureau of Statistics report of 2011. We have prepared the estimates based on two different criteria viz. Ancestry and Language Spoken.
http://multiculturalnsw.id.com.au/
| Ancestry | Total Population | 45+ | Estimated 65+
(20% of 45+) |
Estimated Muslims 65+ |
| India | 138,687 | 28,569(20.6%) | 5713 | 571 (10%) |
| Pakistan | 15,583 | 2353 (15.1%) | 470 | 446 (95%) |
| Fiji Indian | 9,811 | 2708 (27.6%) | 542 | 216 (40%) |
| Bangladeshi | 15,522 | 1878 (12.1%) | 376 | 356 (95%) |
| Afghan | 9,906 | 2109 (21.3%) | 422 | 422 (100%) |
| Nepalese | 16,511 | 611 (3.7%) | 122 | 12 (10%) |
| Sri Lankan | 19,140 | 5914 (30.9%) | 1182 | 118 (10%) |
| Total | 2141 |
| Language spoken | Total Population | 45+ | Estimated 65+
(20% of 45+) |
Estimated Muslims 65+ |
| Urdu | 17,741 | 2874(16.2%) | 574 | 540 (95%) |
| Punjabi | 21,538 | 3618 (16.8%) | 723 | 217 (30%) |
| Bengali | 21,484 | 3072 (14.3%) | 614 | 430 (70%) |
| Gujarati | 13,701 | 1822 (13.3%) | 364 | 109 (30%) |
| Hindi | 52,779 | 12,983(24.6%) | 2597 | 389 (15%) |
| Malayalam | 5771 | 975 (16.9%) | 195 | 58 (30%) |
| Marathi | 4374 | 730 (16.7%) | 146 | 22 (15%) |
| Nepali | 16,142 | 629 (3.9%) | 125 | 12 (10%) |
| Pashto | 1510 | 260 (17.2%) | 52 | 52 (100%) |
| Tamil | 21,527 | 7233 (33.6%) | 1446 | 289 (20%) |
| Telugu | 7113 | 796 (11.2%) | 159 | 16 (10%) |
| Burmese | 3971 | 1382 (34.8%) | 276 | 14 (5%) |
| TOTAL | 1859 |
As per the estimates above, approx. 2000 South Asian Muslim elders live in NSW. With the aim of providing care to these elders of the South Asian Muslim Community, SAMAA is engaging in various programmes as detailed in other sections of this website.