Australian/Brisbane demographics

[neulite]

So I'm entering the 2012 med class at UQ this January and I can't help but notice certain immigration numbers in and outside the medical school. Why are there so many brits and south africans in Australia? And why so few Americans? I'm currently an American and can't figure out why more don't immigrate down under.

Is it an economy thing becuase ours is now crap. When I tell people I am moving there they are suprised and seem to be envious yet I know of only 3 Americans in my med class and according to Wikipedia the US occupies a very small portion of the Brisbane population.

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[JoeNamaMD]

You will see a lot more Americans in Sydney and Melbourne than any place else in Australia. About 150,000 US citizens reside in the country, the vast majority in these two capital cities. It is true that there are far more Poms and South Africans in Australia than Americans, in a way its an economic thing but its really a Commonwealth thing, Britain, SA, and Australia are part of the Commonwealth, so is Canada, that is another reason why you see more Canadians studying in Australia than Americans. It was really easy to run into Americans in Sydney, I just went there a month ago, ran into a United Airlines flight attendant from CA who gave me a hug. Usually if I run into anyone with an American sounding accent they are almost always Canadian.

Brisbane is more of an up and coming city and most people outside of Australia are not familiar with it. Everyone from overseas who goes to Australia winds up in Sydney or Melbourne, hence those cities feel very international, like the New Yorks and LAs of the Southern Hemipsphere. People compare Sydney to San Francisco, in a way it does look like SF, but feels more like NYC due to its international population.

 

[Zuckman]

There are definitely a lot of South Africans and Brits in Australia. It's probably a Commonwealth thing. There are lots of South Africans and Brits in Canada too! Especially British and South African trained doctors. I've worked with many of them. Their training is recognized in Canada.

 

[rugbyMD]

Lots of South Africans in general are wanting immigrate out, it's a beautiful country but many many problems. Australia is most likely a popular destination because it is similar in many ways minus the bad stuff, plus it's common wealth. My family is South African and a fair number have immigrated to Oz and New Zealand over the years.

 

[JoeNamaMD]

Australian official statistics tend to be way out of date. Official figures say about 9 percent of Australians are of Asian origin. A friend of mine who is Asian thinks that number is much higher, probably 20 to as high as 30 percent. Any given day, about a third of the faces in Brisbane that I see are Asian. Also remarkable is how well people seem to tolerate one another. I knew one dude who whined about racism, but then saw a documentary about Parisian race riots and then remarked that Australia is nothing like France. I would not be surprised if Asians become the largest group in Australia, foods like Lhaksa and Gyudon are as common in Brisbane as Roast Beef and Potatoes. Anyway these days its not much of a secret that the Australian government is trying to increase ties with Asian countries such as China because the country's economic prosperity and future ride on good relations with these new rising economic superpowers. In fact what amazed me was the huge sections of ethnic foods in Australian supermarkets, the amount of curries and sauces were pretty striking, many of these products in the US tend to be found in specialty ethnic stores but in Australia they are in mainstream supermarket chains.

 

[Zuckman]

Not too many Australians in Canada though. I've only bumped into a couple of Aussie students studying in Canada for a semester. Never met an Australian doctor in Canada either. Guess it's just too cold

 

[JoeNamaMD]

Actually a lot more Aussies live in Canada than in the US, there are a lot of reasons for this, the first being that its way easier to get work visas for Canada than the US. The most popular country for Aussies overseas is the UK by a longshot.

 

[redshifteffect]

I've actually had a string of Americans in the ED over the last few weeks. It seems no matter where in the world you go, you'll always find an American.

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

I've actually had a string of Americans in the ED over the last few weeks.

Fellow registrars or patients?

 

[redshifteffect]

Both.

 

[Daemos]

Don't forget about the supposed "man drought" which IMO is more important...(being male and all)

 

[guy30]

You'll find a lot of aussies at any ski resort you go to in Canada though!

 

[Theillestill]

Too bad @ melbourne about 95% (i'm not kidding you) of the classes in Medicine and Dentistry are Asian.

BTW: I'm Asian too.

 

[jellyfishing]

hiya.. i'm a vet student from UQ i'm australian but i'm also asian!!

 

[Dr.Millisevert]

Too bad @ melbourne about 95% (i'm not kidding you) of the classes in Medicine and Dentistry are Asian.

Too bad? What's wrong with being asian?

 

[Theillestill]

I just expected to be in a more diverse class demographic.