Specifically it found, aside from England as one's country of birth, which was 2.2 per cent of the population, an increase of 0.2 per cent from five years ago, the next most populous country of birth for Ballarat was India.

Compared to the 2016 census, the number of people born in India rose from 860 to 1846, which although is only 1.6 per cent of Ballarat's population, is more than double what was recorded previously.

RELATED: Census 2021: Ballarat's population revealed in snapshot

It also found of Ballarat's emerging Indian community there was a noticeable spike in Ballarat's north Indian Punjabi and south Indian Malayalee communities.

The amount of people who spoke Punjabi more than tripled up from 246 speakers in 2016 to 764 in 2021. Similarly, the number of people who spoke Malayalam almost doubled with 466 speakers recorded in 2021 compared with 234 in 2016.

Jay Nair and his wife Parvathy Devadas form part of Ballarat's growing Malayalee community.

Mr Nair, originally from Kerala in southern India, which has the largest concentration of ethnic Malayalees, moved to Ballarat in August 2021 after spending three and a half years in Sydney and then about six months in Mornington.

He cited his reason for moving to Ballarat was largely due to the region's established Malayalee community as well as the greater job prospects western Victoria had to offer.

"The one thing my wife and I missed a lot was actually the connection to our original community back home and we didn't have any opportunities in Sydney to meet people from the same cultural background and we already knew a couple of people here in Ballarat who were from Kerala through the Ballarat Keralites' Foundation Of Australia so that was the prime reason we moved down," Mr Nair said.

"The association has been so helpful and having them here has really made it feel like home for us.

"I was also passionate about moving into more leadership roles and that was more difficult to come by in Sydney so that was another reason I moved here as I was offered a leadership role in Ballarat."

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Mr Nair and Ms Devadas, who are currently on temporary visas and await the outcome of their permanent residency applications, said while they have rejoiced in the the "personal connections, access to facilities and ease of lifestyle" Ballarat has afforded them, they said Ballarat's climate is the only deterrent pushing them away from making the region their permanent home.

"We're not too sure whether we'd move back to the city but we would consider moving to a bit more of a warmer place if either my wife or I were offered a better job as the winters are quite tough in Ballarat," Mr Nair said.

"However, if everything comes through with our visas and we're able to buy a house at a reasonable price and no other concerns push us back home we would definitely like to stay in Ballarat."

Ballarat Keralites' Foundation of Australia public relations officer Navin Thomas said his association recorded about two families a month, predominantly from the Malayalee community, moved to Ballarat from interstate and overseas, over the past year.

"We saw this growth of Malayalee people moving to Ballarat during the pandemic," Mr Thomas said.

"We anticipate this number to keep growing as a lot of our community find Ballarat is a family-friendly city, has access to all facilties as well as having an affordable housing market when compared with other cities in Australia."

City of Ballarat chief executive Evan King said the 2021 census data highlighted Ballarat's growing cultural diversity.

"I think (the data) reinforces what we're seeing, and what we're feeling, it really is becoming a multicultural city and that's something we should really celebrate," he said.

"Council's been working on ensuring that we do have a really equitable and inclusive city - I think that's certainly something we can celebrate out of the data, bringing all those cultures into Ballarat certainly makes it a vibrant and interesting place."

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