Out-marriage and the survival of ethnic communities in Australia

Marriage Registry data covering the years 1996 to 1998 for second-generation Australians show that only a small minority choose partners who originate from the same country. This implies that there is little prospect of ethnic communities being reproduced across successive generations. The main exception concerns people from the Middle East. There is not sufficient evidence at this time to judge whether second generation persons of Asian origin will follow the Middle Eastern pattern. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s