how many australian citizens are leaving australia

There isn’t a single official number that says “how many Australian citizens are leaving Australia each year,” but the best available data shows that around 17,000 Australian‑born people have a net loss through migration per year , and roughly 260,000–270,000 total migrant departures (including foreigners and Australians) occurred in 2024–25 , with departures rising by about 13% compared to the prior year.

What the official numbers actually say

Net loss of Australian‑born citizens

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that in the 2024–25 financial year :

• There was a net loss of 17,000 Australian‑born citizens through migration.

* This means that, on balance, about 17,000 more Australian‑born people left Australia than came back in that year.
* That figure is “consistent with the average annual net loss recorded in the five years before the Covid‑19 outbreak”.

This is the closest official figure to “how many Australian citizens are leaving,” but it’s a net figure (outflows minus inflows), not a raw count of all departures.

Total departures (all people, not just citizens)

In the same period:

• Departures increased to 263,000 in 2024–25 , compared with 232,000 the previous year.

• This rise in departures, combined with a 14% fall in new arrivals, helped push net overseas migration down to 305,600 in 2024–25.

These 263,000 departures include:

• Australian citizens and permanent residents leaving for long periods,
• Foreign nationals (students, temporary workers, tourists) exiting Australia.

They are not broken out by citizenship in the headline figures, so we cannot say from this data exactly how many of the 263,000 were Australian citizens.

Quarter‑by‑quarter context

More recent ABS data also shows that:

• In the December 2024 quarter , about 70,000 people left the country , described as “the highest numbers since the” pandemic era.

• Again, this includes all visa and citizenship groups, not just Australian citizens.

Why there is no simple “citizens leaving” number

Australia’s migration statistics focus on:

• Overseas arrivals and departures by visa/citizenship group, but usually as totals or net flows, not raw “citizens leaving” counts.
• Net overseas migration (NOM) : arrivals minus departures, which is widely reported but not the same as “how many citizens left.”

For Australian‑born people specifically, the ABS publishes:

• Net loss of Australian‑born citizens (as above: ~17,000 per year recently).

• Historical series showing that this net loss has been fairly stable pre‑ and post‑pandemic, aside from pandemic interruptions.

There is no public, regularly updated official figure that says “X Australian citizens permanently left Australia last year.” Researchers and commentators often estimate using:

• Long‑term departure data for Australian residents,
• Census‑based comparisons of Australian‑born populations overseas,
• Modelling from survey data.

One Reddit discussion summarised unofficial estimates as “around 140k citizens and residents permanently leave each year” , but this is not an official ABS number and mixes citizens and other residents.

Talking about the trend: are more Australians leaving?

The data suggests:

• Departures overall are rising : from 232,000 to 263,000 in a year.

• Net loss of Australian‑born people has remained around 17,000 per year in recent non‑pandemic years.

• There is no clear signal yet that Australian citizens specifically are leaving in dramatically larger numbers than before; the big increase in departures is driven largely by temporary visa holders (students, workers) and other non‑citizen groups.

Media coverage in mid‑2025 highlighted that “people are leaving Australia in the highest numbers since the” pandemic, with 70,000 departures in one quarter, but again that includes all resident and visitor groups.

Why people are leaving (context, not exact numbers)

While exact numbers by citizenship are limited, common reasons reported in news and forums for Australians leaving include:

• Housing costs and affordability pressures in major cities.
• Concerns about jobs, wages, and career opportunities overseas.
• Desire for different lifestyles (e.g., lower cost of living, different tax systems).
• Family or personal reasons (moving to join partners, parents, or children).

These themes appear in forum discussions and news commentary but are not quantified in the same way as the migration flows. In short:

• The official net figure is about 17,000 Australian‑born citizens per year leaving Australia more than returning.

• Total departures (citizens + foreigners) were around 263,000 in 2024–25 , and rising.

• There is no single official “how many Australian citizens are leaving” count , only this net loss figure and broader departure totals.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.