Australia’s population grew by 0.5 per cent during the year ending 31 December 2020, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Demography Director Beidar Cho said: “2020 was a year of unusually low population growth in Australia, due to the effects of COVID-19 on overseas migration. During 2020, Australia’s population grew by 0.5 per cent (136,300 people) to 25.7 million, compared with a growth of 1.5 per cent in 2019.”
Natural increase accounted for 97.6 per cent of annual population growth, while net overseas migration accounted for the remaining 2.4 per cent. This is a shift from the long run trend of net overseas migration driving the majority of Australia’s population growth.
With COVID-19 international travel restrictions still in place, net overseas migration was down 98.7 per cent compared with the previous year, driven by a decrease in overseas migration arrivals (59.9 per cent).
There were 243,500 overseas migration arrivals and 240,200 departures during the year ending 31 December 2020, resulting in net overseas migration of 3,300 people. Just over half of these movements were in the three months to March 2020, prior to the closure of Australia’s international border.
In 2020, there were 294,400 births and 161,400 deaths in Australia. Natural increase during this period was 133,000 people, a decrease of 4.5 per cent from the previous year.
Tasmania
Tasmania’s population grew by 3,237 in 2020, bringing the total number of Tasmanians to 541,506 according to the latest ABS data for the year ending December 2020.
The data also shows there were 5,780 births in Tasmania during the year and the annual growth rate of 0.6 per cent was slightly higher than national growth.
“These statistics confirm what many of us already know – that Tasmania is a great place to live, work and raise a family with one of the strongest performing economies in the country,” said Minister for State Growth Roger Jaensch.
The minister’s claim is not particularly well-supported by the data, with net interstate migration adding just over 1,100 to the state’s population. Queensland meanwhile netted over 30,000 new residents, mainly at the expense of New South Wales (-19,000) and Victoria (-13,000).
In early 2014, Tasmania had one of the lowest growth rates in Australia and trends evident at that time indicated Tasmania’s population would be in decline by 2050.
The state government decided to try to reverse this trend, setting a target to increase the state’s population to 650,000 by 2050.
Tasmania was one of the few jurisdictions with growth from ‘natural increase’ (births minus deaths) and net interstate and overseas migration.
Graham Palmer
June 17, 2021 at 17:12
To rely on population moving here to grow the economy is false economics. Do the costs of investment in infrastructure, schools, energy supply and hospitals get calculated?
It is already difficult to afford to buy or rent a house in Hobart where most people apparently want to move and there is a shortage of social housing. Most importantly, it cannot continue forever.
Growth is a fetish we will soon learn to curse, having been sucked into and believing it was always going to be to our benefit.
Chief Editor TT
June 17, 2021 at 17:18
St Helens and Bicheno together include about 3,000 people.
If the government is planning new increases of that size or greater each year for the next 30 years, it would be best if we had a decent discussion about it as a community.
Sure, there are some infill opportunities in the bigger centres, but they also come with costs, as you have pointed out. Thank you for your comment.