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Vietnamese community profile

Information about the Vietnamese community in Victoria including where they live and when they arrived, languages spoken, English language proficiency, religions and significant dates.

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These profiles are of Victorian communities, using the best available data we have from the 2021 Australian Census.

The Census defines ancestry as the cultural or ethnic group you most identify with.

We acknowledge that the profiles are not definitive. There are limitations and challenges in assigning ancestry or ethnicity to a specific ‘community’, especially as defined by geographical borders.

History

The Vietnamese community in Victoria is well established and there have been two waves of migration.

The first wave was in the 1970s and 1980s. At the end of the Vietnam War, Victoria became home to many Vietnamese refugees. Many people from resettlement camps based in South–East Asia also arrived at this time.

Victoria was a popular destination because of several migrant hostels in Melbourne’s south– eastern and western suburbs. Many of these suburbs (including Footscray, Springvale and Richmond) became hubs of Vietnamese culture and businesses in Victoria.

The second wave of migration was because of the family reunion scheme. In 1982, the Australian and Vietnamese governments agreed to a migration program for family reunion. Two thirds of arrivals over the next few years were women.

From the 1990s onwards, there was a steady wave of Vietnamese people arriving in Victoria because of the family reunion scheme. Brimbank and Greater Dandenong are now the top two local government areas for the Vietnamese community in Melbourne.

Vietnamese community

The Vietnamese community in Victoria is one of the largest in Australia. There are 121,137 people in Victoria who have Vietnamese ancestry, of which 93,598 were born in Vietnam.

The gender breakdown is:

Most of the Vietnamese population is young, with the largest cohorts aged from 0–14 (19.6%), 25–34 (17.8%), and 15–24 (16.1%).

Insights for communication and engagement

The following are some key insights from the data when communicating and engaging with the Vietnamese community:

For more insights about communicating with multicultural audiences read the:

Better practice guide for multicultural communications PDF 3.35 MB (opens in a new window)

Better practice guide for multicultural communications - accessible version Word 2.33 MB (opens in a new window)

Location

Many people in the Vietnamese community live in Melbourne’s south–eastern and western suburbs.

The City of Brimbank is home to one of the largest Vietnamese communities in Victoria with 32,861 people. The City of Greater Dandenong is next with 17,653 people.

The following 10 local government areas have the largest Vietnamese communities.

Local government area Population
Brimbank 32,861
Greater Dandenong 17,653
Maribyrnong 9,680
Whittlesea 5,026
Melton 4,645
Monash 4,154
Melbourne 3,625
Wyndham 3,442
Moonee Valley 3,358
Darebin 3,295

Vietnam–born population

The statistics below focus on people living in Victoria who were born in Vietnam. This will be referred to as the ‘Vietnam–born population’.

Language

The top languages spoken by the Vietnam–born population in Victoria are:

English language proficiency

The Vietnam–born population in Victoria has medium levels of English language proficiency:

Religion

The Vietnam–born population identify with the following religions:

Years of arrival

There are two key points of arrival to Victoria for the Vietnam–born population. The majority (27.9%) of the population arrived from 1981–1990 and 1991–2000 (17.3%).

Year of arrival Number of arrivals Percentage
1951-1960 18 0.0
1961-1970 147 0.2
1971-1980 9,740 10.4
1981-1990 26,148 27.9
1991-2000 16,167 17.3
2001-2010 14,658 15.7
2011-2015 10,809 11.5
2016-2021 12,471 13.3

Names

In Vietnamese culture, names typically follow this order: [Family name] [Middle name] [Given name]. However, many Vietnamese people living in English–speaking countries have adapted their names to the Western style. In casual settings, Vietnamese people usually address each other by their given (personal) names. They also use honorific titles, which consider factors like gender, age, and social relationships. These titles are typically related to family, like ‘uncle’ or ‘aunt’.

Significant dates

Vietnamese people follow the lunar calendar. Most of the religious celebrations are based on this.

The following are some significant dates:

Sources of information

Communities

Updated 27 March 2024

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