International students studying in Australia between 2005 and 2024

This page provides a historical analysis of the total number of international students who have studied in Australia on student visas between 2005 and 2024. This is an annual count of individual students (each student is counted only once).

On this page:

This analysis is presented as two student cohorts: (i) those who had studied between 2005 and 2023 and were no longer studying in 2024, and (ii) those who were commencing or continuing study in 2024.

Between 2005 and 2024, 4,107,286 international students studied in Australia. Of this total, almost 80 per cent (3,281,765) students were no longer studying in 2024 and 20 per cent (825,521) were commencing or continuing study in 2024.

Country Students that studied between 2005 and 2023 and were no longer studying in 2024 Students commencing or continuing study in 2024
China 704903 176522
India 421993 138190
Nepal 131367 64504
Korea Republic of (South) 137915 13420
Brazil 126204 22960
United States of America 134821 7273
Vietnam 98724 36741
Malaysia 117491 15826
Colombia 91131 33167
Thailand 100966 22700
Japan 97050 12086
Indonesia 83638 23307
Philippines 66464 37425
Pakistan 58334 24224
Taiwan 55075 10960
Germany 59992 4326
Sri Lanka 42722 19291
United Kingdom + 53872 5076
Hong Kong SAR 46152 11980
Singapore 49002 6900
Bangladesh 32120 18534
Canada 38527 4025
France 35975 3958
Italy 34704 3903
Spain 31594 5137
Saudi Arabia 31040 3884
Bhutan 13981 13460
Chile 21088 5939
Norway 24394 2288
Kenya 16496 9624
Regions Total
North-East Asia 31.3
Southern and Central Asia 23.9
South-East Asia 16.7
Americas 13.2
North-West Europe 6.6
Southern and Eastern Europe 3.4
North Africa and the Middle East 2.5
Sub-Saharan Africa 1.9
Other 0.5

Source: Department of Education, PRISMS

International students studying in Australia (2005 – 2024)