Urbis Think Tank
Australia’s population growth continues at a solid clip
For Urbis, so much of our work with cities and property relates to changes in population.
Today, the ABS released the latest update on Australia’s population growth. Although our growth rate in year to 30 June 2011 slowed compared to the previous year, we still had a very healthy increase of 1.4%, which was a rise of 320,800 people.
Importantly, we still had a net overseas migration (NOM) of 170,300 people. While this is well below the peak of 320,000 reached in early 2009, it is still greater than any year until 2006.
So, as at 30 June, Australia has a population of 22.62 million people, and our growth rate is the highest in the developed world. Among developed countries, only NZ (1.1%), Hong Kong and Canada (1.0%) have growth rates that are approaching our own.
Although Australia is growing we are slipping down the world population rankings
Despite our strong population growth rate, we are still only the 52nd most populous country on earth, and the projections are that in 2050 we will have slipped to 59th with 34 million. In 2050, India will have 1.69 billion people and will have passed China with 1.3 billion to take no.1 spot. More importantly for both those countries, their urban population will have skyrocketed, and China will still have the largest urban population breaking the 1 billion mark.
Nigeria – with a bullet
In regard to fast growing countries, Nigeria may be the country to watch. Currently, Nigeria has 158 million people but with a growth rate of 2.5% it is projected to pass Indonesia to be the 4th most populous country with 389 million by 2050. That is a phenomenal 231 million increase in population in the next 40 years!
Growth at that rate often brings significant growing pains, so while Australia’s debate over sustainable population has focused on whether we can cope with the extra 10 or so million we are likely to have in 40 years, it is clear that Nigeria has a demographic issue of much greater gravity to deal with.
For further details, refer to the ABS article here
United Nations population data is available here