Twenty-eight new Australians were welcomed at a citizenship ceremony on June 28 in the Bega Valley Civic Centre.
The origins of the shire's newest citizens are diverse - the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and New Zealand.
The ceremony coincided with the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) release about Australia's cultural diversity as part of its findings from the 2021 Census conducted in August last year.
The census found that 27.6 per cent of Australians were born overseas while 48.2 per cent have a parent who was born overseas.
The top five reported ancestries continue to be: English (33%), Australia (29.9%), Irish (9.5%), Scottish (8.6%) and Chinese (5.5%).
Of the 1,020,007 people who have moved to Australia since 2017, 21 per cent came from India and 6.6 per cent came from Nepal.
India has moved past China and New Zealand to become the third largest country of birth behind Australia and England.
"Census data collected information on over 250 ancestries and 350 languages," Dr David Gruen AO, Australian statistician, said.
"The information collected in the Census provides important data to help plan services and support for culturally and linguistically diverse communities at the local level," said Dr Gruen.
"For example, by understanding the growing population groups in their area, community groups can provide in-language services at the local level."
Bega Shire's newest citizens originated from Brazil, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Lebanon, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In March the ABS reported that the population of regional Australia grew by 70,900 during 2020-21. Regional New South Wales led the way with numbers swelling by 26,800. In contrast, capital city populations declined by 26,000.
ABS director of demography Beidar Cho said this was the first time since 1981 that Australia's regional population grew more than the capital cities, "due to changing migration patterns during the pandemic".
The second release of 2021 Census data in October was expected to show some interesting changes and patterns in mobility of the population between the 2016 and 2021 Censuses, including employment arrangements, journey to work, occupation and internal migration.
