Some 80.4 per cent of people who said they were of Irish ancestry also stated another ancestry.
Over two million Australians have Irish ancestry, according the latest Australian census.
The figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show that in the 2011 census 2.08 million Australians listed Ireland as their most common ancestry.
This figure can be broken down in terms of first generation ancestry, second generation ancestry and third-plus generation ancestry.
Some 12.9 per cent of Australians who listed Irish as their ancestry said it was first generation, 13.9 per cent said second generation and 73.2 per cent said Ireland was their third generation ancestry.
Some 80.4 per cent of people who said they were of Irish ancestry also stated another ancestry.
Overall, the new figures represent an increase on the last census figures released in 2006, which showed that 1,803,736 people cited Ireland as the number one place of origin for their ancestors.
This figure represented 7.1 per cent of the population at that time.
The figures show that seven million Australians list Australia as the place of origin for their ancestors, representing 25.4 per cent of the population.
England, meanwhile, was listed by 25.9 per cent of Australians as the number one place of origin for their ancestors, the highest ranking country on the list.
Over 7.2 million people cited English as their ancestry.
This represents an increase since the 2006 census was published. When surveyed at that time just 6.2 million people – or 24.7 per cent of the Australian population – listed Britain as their ancestors’ place of origin.
In 2006, more Australians felt that Australia was their ancestors main place of origin, with 7.3 million people or 29 per cent of the population at that time listing Australia when surveyed.
The census shows that one in four people living in Australia was born overseas.
The data shows that 15 per cent of Australia’s population of 21.5 million people does not hold Australian citizenship.
Just under 70 per cent of the population was born in Australia – a reduction on the previous census.
:: Population grows
Australia’s population has risen by 8.3 per cent since the 2006 census, with the fastest growth in the resource-rich states.
Western Australia’s population jumped by 14 percent to 2.24 million people, while Queensland’s grew by 11 per cent to just over 4.3 million people.
The states that recorded the lowest population growth were Tasmania (up 4 per cent), South Australia (up 5.4 per cent) and New South Wales (up by 5.6 per cent).
“Historically, the majority of migration has come from Europe, however, there are increasingly more people born in Asia and other parts of the world now calling Australia home,” 2011 census executive director Andrew Henderson said.
“The leading birthplace for those who arrived since 2006 was India (13.1 per cent), closely followed by the United Kingdom (12.1 per cent).”
