The people of Australia
Australia’s population is currently at around 21,000,000 with an annual growth rate of 1.4%. Natural increases in population are slowing with a decade long trend towards falling fertility rates but the gap is being filled by immigration rates which are increasing annually. Interestingly, in conjunction with a government campaign to raise fertility in 2005 there was a sharp increase during that year, however it is too early to tell whether that increase is part of a trend.
The average Australian age
The average age in Australia is 36.9 (36 for men and 37.7 for women). And like nearly all OECD countries Australia is ageing as a result of immigration (skilled workers arriving) and lower mortality rates. The proportion of 65+ year olds is expected to double in the next 30 years from 12.5% of the population to over 25%. This is expected to put pressure on resources to the extent that the Federal budget will be pushed into deficit.
The ethnic composition of Australians
85% of Australia’s people are descended from British and Irish settlers. In fact 31.6% of Australians claim English descent compared to 37% who call themselves Australian. In 2006 5 million residents reported being born outside Australia, making up 24% of the population. These were mainly from the UK (1,153,000), New Zealand (476,719) and China (279,000). 50% of Australians claim to have at least one parent who is not native to Australia and the fastest growing group within this statistic is white immigrants from African countries, particularly, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Australia's urban sprawl
Australia, though vast, is one of the most urbanised countries in the world. 91% of it’s population live in urban areas and around 68% live in the South and Eastern states, although there is evidence of a slow trend north and over to Western Australia. It is interesting to note that Aborigine populations are disproportionately distributed with 32% of the population of the Northern Territories being made up by Aborgine and Torres Straight Islanders compared with only 0.6% of Victoria’s population being of Aborigine descent.