A new survey has suggested people in Australia - along with the United States, Canada, Japan and much of Europe - believe language matters more to national identity than place of birth.
According to Washington-based think tank Pew Research Center, fewer countries are making strong links between where someone is born and national identity.
The study, entitled "What It Takes to Truly Be 'One of Us'" found only 13 per cent of Australian respondents consider it very important.
In Canada, it was 21 per cent, and in the US it was less than a third.
Bruce Stokes, director of Global Economic Attitudes with the Pew Research Center, said the survey of more than 14,000 people across 14 countries was conducted with an eye on nationalist movements and rising anti-immigrant sentiment.
"Despite the debate we have about immigration and birthright nationality, we hear it in Australia, we hear it in the United States, when you ask people a question about this, they don't put a high premium on it," he said.
"This may make sense because we're all countries of immigration."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, just over 28 per cent of Australia's population was born overseas.
Sam Wong, from the ACT Chinese Australian Association, said exposure to different cultures has helped shape Australia, and its people, over time.
"If you look across the people, a lot of the Chinese, Greek and many other migrants, their children play a very important role in terms of the welfare, administration and management of Australia," he said.
But there were some conditions. The Pew Research Center also found 69 per cent of Australians believe speaking English is very important, and half said sharing "customs and traditions" was also vital.
Some countries were even more scrupulous. In Hungary, more than half considered place of birth very important, followed closely by Japan and Greece, each on 50 per cent.
Harry Danalis from the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales said Greece's experience with migrants entering their country "hasn't been too positive" in the past. But he believed that it was time for a change.
"Until the last 10 to 15 years, Greece has been predominantly a country of people born there," he said. "I think it's going to change over time as they have more experience with migrants coming in from various trouble spots in the world."
More than half of the Greeks surveyed also said a person's religion is highly important to their national identity, and 66 per cent said embracing customs and traditions was also important.
But the Pew Research Center admits none of their questions addressed the role of Indigenous people in relevant countries.
Rod Little from the National Congress of Australia's First People said that was a massive oversight.
"The very center of our culture is identifying the lands and the earth where we were born," he said.
"And who other than first Australians have that cultural connection to land?"
