Egyptian Australians

Egyptian Australians (Arabic: مصريون أستراليون) are Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents of Egyptian descent. According to the Australian 2011 Census, 36,532 Australian citizens and permanent residents declared that they were born in Egypt,^[2] while based on the 2006 Census, at least an additional 31,786 declared that they were of full or partial Egyptian ancestry and born in a country other than Egypt (including most numerously Australian-born persons of full or partial Egyptian ancestry).^[3] The 2021 Census shows that the majority of Egypt-born Australians are located in Sydney (19,680) and Melbourne (13,312).^[4][5]

The majority of Egyptian Australians are Christians, which is in contrast to the religious affiliation to Islam of the majority of the population of ethnic Egyptians within modern Egypt. Centuries of a steady continuous persecution of Copts and conversions of the local indigenous Egyptian population has resulted in modern Egypt's Muslim majority, although the indigenous Christian Church of Egypt has retained a sizeable minority throughout its history, up until today. Christians comprise much of the Egyptian diaspora, both in Australia and elsewhere. The majority religion of Egypt before the introduction of Islam from Arabia was Christianity, and prior to introduction of Christianity to Egypt the majority religion was the Ancient Egyptian religion.

Some 19,928 Australian citizens and residents declared membership of the Coptic Orthodox Church at the 2006 Census.^[6] Most Egyptian Christians, however, may simply have declared themselves "Christian" without specifying the Coptic denomination, while other Egyptian Christians may belong to various other denominations, either born into or converted. In 2003, however, it was claimed in the New South Wales Parliament that there were in fact 70,000 Copts in New South Wales alone.^[7] An additional 1,890 persons in the 2006 Census reported themselves as being of "Coptic" ancestry. The term Coptic ordinarily refers to adherents of Coptic Christianity, but when used as a term referring to ethnicity means "Egyptian" (almost always in the context of Coptic Christian Egyptians). The 1,890 persons who described their ancestry as "Coptic" are thus most likely Egyptian Australians.^[3] Copt as an ethnonym is etymologically derived from the Greek "Aiguptious," literally meaning "Egyptian," from the Late Egyptian word "Gyptios", via the Classical Arabic "Qubt", into the English "Copt". The word ordinarily refers to Coptic Christian Egyptians, though there have been instances of Muslim Egyptians referring to themselves as "Copts" to emphasise the non-Arabian ancestral origin of Egyptians in general.