Statistics on people in detention in Australia
Learn about detention
The Department of Home Affairs (formerly the Department of Immigration and Border Protection) publishes on its website monthly and yearly statistics about people it detains. Its monthly statistics include the number of people in detention facilities in Australia, offshore processing centres, and in the community (either under a ‘residence determination’, or with a ‘bridging visa’.)
The following statistics focus on detention in Australia. There are different kinds of places where people are detained, known as Immigration Detention Centres (IDCs), Immigration Residential Housing (IRHs), Immigration Transit Accommodation (ITAs), and Alternative Places of Detention (APODs).
Please note that as of 15 October 2018, the latest official statistics are still only from 31 July 2018.
You can download the graphs and the data here. You can also click on a graph to view a larger version.
Key numbers (31 July 2018):
- Numbers of people in held detention: 1,345 with key sites being Villawood (502), Christmas Island (173), and Yongah Hill (262)
- Average length of detention: 446 days, with 267 people having spent more than 730 days in detention
- Numbers of people held in detention because they came seeking asylum by boat: 315
- Number of children: in detention facilities including ‘Alternative Places of Detention’: 5, in Nauru Regional Processing Centre: 12, in community detention: 176, and in the community on a bridging visa E: 2,835
- Number of people in community detention: 386, from Iran (221), stateless (46) or from Sri Lanka (36), with 245 people having spent more than 730 days in community detention
- Key nationalities of people in detention: New Zealand (174), Vietnam (104), Sri Lanka (89), and Iran (103).
