13/04/2021 How the pandemic has hit Australia’s fastest-growing migrant group – Monash Lens For more than a decade now, migration from Nepal to Australia has increased signi cantly. Between 2006 and 2016, Nepal-born residents represented the fastestgrowing overseas-born group in the country. The numbers are staggering – between 2006 and 2011, the Nepal-born population quadrupled in number from 4567 to 24,635, and then more than doubled to 54,757 in 2016. Nepal’s ongoing political-economic instability is a key factor driving the country’s middle-class youth to pursue student migration as a livelihood strategy – but why is Australia so attractive to them? Australia has two standout advantages over comparable countries with cheaper education, such as Canada and the UK. Firstly, there’s the promise of being able to nd a job to pay education fees and cover living expenses. Few Nepali students are able to pay for their degrees without nding work in their host countries, and often it’s the prospect of earning an income rather than the cost of education that guides students’ decisions. https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2021/04/12/1383007/tracing-the-impacts-of-the-covid-pandemic-on-australias-fastest-growing-migrant-… 4/8