A slowdown in immigration hasn’t hampered Australia’s population growth, new figures show.
The latest demographic figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the country’s population grew by 388,000 last year to a total of 24.8 million.
This is in spite of a slowdown in net overseas immigration towards the end of 2017.
Net immigration slowed considerably in the last quarter of 2017, to the lowest level seen for many years. Yet over the year immigration was still responsible for much of the country’s population growth.
The latest data from 2017 found natural increase made up just 38 per cent of the growth, while migration was responsible for 62 per cent of the increase.
Net overseas migration covers people who have been in the country at least 12 out of the last 16 months and arrivals on temporary visas including workers, students and tourists.
ABS demography director Anthony Grubb said Victoria continues to lead the nation in population growth with an annual increase (+2.3 per cent), followed by the Australian Capital Territory (+2.2 per cent) and Queensland (+1.7 per cent) while the Northern Territory recorded the lowest growth (+0.2 per cent).
Based on current projections Australia should have a population of 25 million by early August, the ABS said.
Article published 28th June 2018