Egyptian Australians

Egyptian Australians are citizens of Australia and those who have been granted permanent residency in Australia who are of Egyptian heritage. 36,532 Australian citizens and permanent residents reported in the 2011 Census that they were born in Egypt.

According to the results of the 2006 Census, the largest populations of Egyptian immigrants in Australia are found in the cities of Sydney (16,238) and Melbourne (11,156). There are also minor groups in the cities of Perth (1,407), Adelaide (982), and Brisbane (897).

The majority of people of Egyptian ancestry in Australia belong to the Christian religion, which stands in stark contrast to the majority of people of Egyptian ancestry who call Islam their religious affiliation in contemporary Egypt. Although the indigenous Christian Church of Egypt has maintained a sizeable minority throughout its history, all the way up until the present day, Egypt's Muslim majority is the result of centuries of persecution of Copts and conversions of the local indigenous Egyptian population to Islam. Although Islam is the majority religion in modern Egypt, the indigenous Christian Church of Egypt has maintained this minority status. The majority of Egyptians who emigrated to Australia and other countries across the world are Christians. Christianity was the dominant faith in Egypt before Islam was brought there from Arabia, and the ancient Egyptian religion was the dominant faith in Egypt before Christianity was brought there. Before Christianity was brought to Egypt, the dominant faith in Egypt was the ancient Egyptian religion.

During the 2006 Australian Census, around 19,928 Australian citizens and residents identified themselves as members of the Coptic Orthodox Church. However, it is possible that the majority of Egyptian Christians merely identified themselves as "Christians" without mentioning the Coptic denomination, while other Egyptian Christians may belong to a variety of other denominations, either by being born into them or by converting to them. On the other hand, in the New South Wales Parliament in the year 2003, it was said that there were really 70,000 Copts living in only New South Wales alone.

During the census that took place in 2006, an extra 1,890 individuals stated that they had "Coptic" ancestry. The term "Egyptian" is what is meant to be conveyed when the word "Coptic" is used in the context of referring to a person's ethnicity rather than their religious affiliation (almost always in the context of Coptic Christian Egyptians). Because of this, it is quite probable that the 1,890 people who classified their heritage as "Coptic" are really Egyptian Australians. From the Late Egyptian word "Gyptios," via the Classical Arabic word "Qubt," and finally into the English word "Copt," the term "Copt" is derived etymologically from the Greek word "Aiguptious," which literally means "Egyptian." "Copt" comes from the word "Egyptian." The term "Copt" is most often used to refer to Egyptians of the Coptic Christian faith; nevertheless, there have been documented cases of Egyptians of the Muslim faith referring to themselves as "Copts" to emphasise the non-Arabian ancestral background of Egyptians in general.