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Indicator: HS-05 Total population and distribution

Data

Population size and population change
(Based on estimated resident population figures)
Mega-metro regions – 1991-1996-2001

	Population size and percentage of total population (in parenthesis)			Population change
				Numbers		Percentage
	1991	1996*	2001	1991-1996	1996-2001	1991-1996	1996-2001
Sydney Mega-Metro Region	4 362 722 (25%)	4 600 268 (25%)	4 890 418 (25%)	237 546	290 150	5.4	6.3
South East Queensland	1 847 608 (11%)	2 137 591 (12%)	2 374 613 (12%)	289 983	237 022	15.7	11.1
Port Phillip Region	3 420 099 (20%)	3 558 095 (19%)	3 769 104 (19%)	137 996	211 009	4.0	5.9
Perth Corridor	1 226 782 (7%)	1 345 062 (7%)	1 452 754 (7%)	118 280	107 692	9.6	8.0

Note: * Where there are discrepancies between figures in the 1998 and 2003 publications, figures from the 2003 publication are used.

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Population Growth and Distribution Australia, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, viewed 29 Nov 2005, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/subscriber.nsf/Lookup
/D9379A6FFA24473CCA256D470005CC1C/$File/20350_2001.pdf.

Components of population change
Australia – 1996-2001

	Natural increase		Net international migration		Net interstate migration		Total population growth	Percentage of total national population growth
	Number	% of total growth	Number	% of total growth	Number	% of total growth		%
New South Wales	244 414	60.9	243 869	60.8	-86 925	-21.7	401 358	30.6
Victoria	166 298	53.6	141 572	45.6	2332	0.8	310 202	23.7
Queensland	149 510	41.0	88 129	24.2	126 659	34.8	364 298	27.8
South Australia	39 745	118.9	19 621	58.7	-25 950	-77.7	33 416	2.5
Western Australia	84 107	47.6	79 144	44.8	13 361	7.6	176 612	13.5
Tasmania	14 184	385.1	1 550	42.1	-19 417	-527.2	-3 683	-
Northern Territory	16 662	87.4	4 172	21.9	-1 773	-9.3	19 061	1.4
Australian Capital Territory	17 510	199.7	-453	-5.2	-8 287	-94.5	8 770	0.7
Australia *	732 649	56.0	576 221	44.0	-	-	1 308 870

* - includes other territories

Source: Hugo, G, 2004, Australia's Most Recent Immigrants 2001, Australian Bureau of Statistics, viewed 29 Nov 2005, http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/Lookup/
2C95BF6FB48F0F2BCA256ECE007C345E/$File/20530_2001.pdf, p. 61

• Australia's Most Recent Immigrants (PDF - 12 854 KB) 

Size and density changes in Estimated Resident Population of coastal SLAs ^{a b}
Australia - 1996-2004

	Area b (km2)	Estimated resident population (Number)			Population change (%)c		Population density (persons/km2)
		1996	2001	2004p	1996-2001	2001-2004	1996	2001	2004p
All Coastal SLAs (including SLAs within Capital City SDs)	2 163 112.8	7 482 046	7 971 689	8 283 489	1.3	1.3	3.5	3.7	3.8
Coastal SLAs excluding SLAs within Capital City SDs	2 149 279.0	2 977 677	3 193 352	3 339 602	1.4	1.5	1.4	1.5	1.6
Coastal SLAs within Capital City SDs	13 833.8	4 504 369	4 778 337	4 943 887	6.1	3.5	325.6	345.4	357.4
Australia	7 705 315.2	18310714	19 413 240	20 111 297	1.2	1.2	2.4	2.5	2.6

^a - Defined as any Statistical Local Area with a boundary adjoining the sea.  This includes SLAs with boundaries adjoining harbours and rivers, such as Leichhardt (A) in Sydney harbour and South Perth (C) on the Swan River in Perth.  Note that many SLAs extend inland for large distances (for example, East Pilbara Shire in Western Australia has a coastline of roughly 80 kilometres and an area of over 350,000 square kilometres).
^b - Based on 2004 Australian Standard Geographic Classification (ASGC) boundaries.
^c - Average annual growth rate.
^p - provisional numbers

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Unpublished data. Canberra.

Changes in Estimated Resident Population (ERP) in coastal Local Government Areas (LGAs)
Australia 1999-2004

	ERP at 30 June			Change
Coastal LGAs	1999	2003	2004	1999-2004	2003-2004	2003-2004
				%	number	%
NSW	1 534 045	1 617 578	1 632 301	6.4	14 723	0.9
Victoria	753 382	825 195	844 572	12.1	19 377	2.4
Qld	1 759 431	1 945 419	1 997 646	13.5	52 227	2.7
SA	315 781	321 642	323 628	2.5	1 986	0.6
WA	458 780	510 371	527 964	15.1	17 593	3.5
Tas	202 823	204 953	207 081	2.1	2 218	1.0
Australia	5 024 242	5 425 158	5 533 192	10.2	108 034	2.0

Source: National Sea Change Taskforce 2005, New Statistics Show 'Sea Change' Continues to Surge, 28 Mar 2005, viewed N/A, http://www.seachangetaskforce.org.au/Media/New Statistics Show.pdf.

• Meeting the Sea Change challenge: Sea Change Communities in Coastal Australia - Executive Summary (PDF - 1679 KB) 

What the data mean

Australia’s population has increased by 15% between 1992 and 2004 to reach an estimated resident population of 20.2298 million in December 2004. Australia’s population grew at an annual growth rate of 1.2% over the five year period from June 1999.

Australia’s population live primarily along the eastern seaboard with higher densities in areas closer to the coast. However the Indigenous population is spread more evenly with a larger proportion living in regional areas. The highest proportion of the Indigenous population was living in major cities (30%), with the lowest share (9%) living in areas classified as 'remote'. About one-fifth of the Indigenous population was living in each of the inner regional, outer regional and very remote areas. This contrasts with the non-Indigenous population which had a high concentration in major cities (67%) and only 2% in remote or very remote areas.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of Australia’s population lives in major urban centres while a little less than a quarter (22%) live in other urban localities. A tenth of the population lives in rural localities. In 2001 84.7% of Australia’s population lived within 50 km of the coastline. Source: Smith T and Doherty M 2006, The suburbanisation of coastal Australia, Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra, viewed N/A, http://www.deh.gov.au/soe/2006/integrative/coastal/index.html.

Of the four mega-metro regions (MMRs) that are identified in this report, Sydney mega-metro region was home to 25% of Australia’s population in 2002 while the Port Phillip region housed nearly 19%, South East Queensland housed 12% and the Perth corridor 7% of the population. These shares of population have not changed over the period from 1996-2004.

Sydney MMR and Port Phillip region have continued to grow over the last decade (1991-2001) while South East Queensland and the Perth Corridor have shown slower growth in the 1996-2001 period compared to the 1991-1996 period.

The two driving factors, natural increase and international migration, have contributed to population change in equal proportions in recent years; in the period between 1996 and 2001 the two factors have contributed 56% and 44% respectively. While the rate of natural increase in population has slowed steadily since the late 1980s, international migration figures have fluctuated greatly; the numbers have continued to increase from a low during the mid 1990s.

Overall, the three east coast states have contributed to 82% of Australia’s population growth in the period between 1996 and 2001.

Increase in the population in coastal areas during the period 1996-2004 was higher than the average increase nationally (13.% compared to 1.2% respectively). The percentage increase within capital city SLAs was much higher than in SLAs outside capital cities (6.1% vs 1.4% between 1996 and 2001).

Between 1999 and 2004 the population of coastal local government areas (LGAs) increased by 10%, with the highest increases recorded in Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria.

Data Limitations

The population data are quoted here is the final estimated resident population data as at 30 June, based on census counts by place of usual residence, with an allowance for net census undercount, to which are added the number of Australian residents estimated to have been temporarily overseas at the time of the census. Overseas visitors in Australia are excluded from this calculation.

Issues for which this is an indicator and why

Human Settlements — External pressures on human settlements - Population growth and distribution 

Population growth and distribution are both directly measurable.

Other indicators for this issue:

• HS-07 Migration patterns 
• HS-08 Populations projections 
• LD-15 Area and proportion of land surface occupied by human settlements, structures and activities that support human settlement 

Coasts and Oceans — Direct pressure of human activities on coasts and oceans - Direct pressure of coastal activities (other than shipping and fishing) 

Australia’s population is concentrated in the coastal regions. Population increases can translate directly and indirectly into pressure on coastal and marine biodiversity.

Other indicators for this issue:

• CO-27 Number, frequency, extent and volume of oil spills from all sources 
• CO-28 Quantity of discharges of different substances from humans activities to coastal and marine waters 
• CO-29 Change in area of coastal potential acid sulphate soils under development for human use 
• CO-30 Length and area of coastal and estuarine foreshore altered for human purposes 
• CO-32 Number of injuries to marine animals from marine debris 
• CO-44 Marine chlorophyll concentration 
• CO-46 Comparative water quality of coastal lakes and lagoons (water quality gradient from north to south) 
• CO-53 Evidence or examples of noise or visual disturbance of marine species by human activities 
• CO-60 Sea salinity 
• CO-65 Correlation between various human activities and introduction of coastal and marine species 
• IW-12 Catchment nitrogen and phosphorus load 
• IW-19 Exceedance of total nitrogen and phosphorus water quality triggers 
• LD-40 Current research into pressures and contributions of naturalised introduced species 
• BD-09 The change in extent of selected nationally significant invasive species 
• BD-10 Examples of native species whose populations have declined where various invasive species have established resident populations 

Biodiversity — Pressures on biodiversity - Pressures on marine biodiversity: pressures of coastal activities 

Australia’s population is concentrated in the coastal regions. Population increases can translate directly and indirectly into pressure on coastal biodiversity.

Other indicators for this issue:

• CO-27 Number, frequency, extent and volume of oil spills from all sources 
• CO-28 Quantity of discharges of different substances from humans activities to coastal and marine waters 
• CO-29 Change in area of coastal potential acid sulphate soils under development for human use 
• CO-30 Length and area of coastal and estuarine foreshore altered for human purposes 
• CO-32 Number of injuries to marine animals from marine debris 
• CO-44 Marine chlorophyll concentration 
• CO-46 Comparative water quality of coastal lakes and lagoons (water quality gradient from north to south) 
• CO-53 Evidence or examples of noise or visual disturbance of marine species by human activities 
• CO-60 Sea salinity 
• CO-65 Correlation between various human activities and introduction of coastal and marine species 
• IW-12 Catchment nitrogen and phosphorus load 
• IW-19 Exceedance of total nitrogen and phosphorus water quality triggers 

Further Information

• Population Growth and Distribution, Australia, 2001 
• Population Growth and Distribution, Australia, 2001 - Report 
• Regional Population Growth 2003-04 - Report 
• Australia's Most Recent Immigrants, 2001 
• New Statistics Show ‘Sea Change’ Continues to Surge. Media Release