Demographics of Australia
Population pyramid of Australia in 2022
Population	26,518,400 (as of June 2023)
Growth rate	1.60% (2023 est.)
Birth rate	12.3 births/1,000 population
Death rate	6.77 deaths/1,000 population
Life expectancy	83.09 years
• male	80.93 years
• female	85.36 years
Fertility rate	1.63 children
Infant mortality rate	3.01 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate	6.93 migrant(s)/1,000 population
Sex ratio
Total	0.99 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
At birth	1.05 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	Australian
Major ethnic	English Irish Scottish Han Chinese Italians Germans Aboriginal Australians Arabs[N 1] Greeks Dutch Vietnamese various others

The population of Australia is estimated to be 26,971,600 as of 16 January 2024.^[1] Australia is the 55th^[2] most populous country in the world and the most populous Oceanian country. Its population is concentrated mainly in urban areas, particularly on the Eastern, South Eastern and Southern seaboards, and is expected to exceed 30 million by 2029.^[3]

Australia's population has grown from an estimated population of between 300,000 and 2,400,000 Indigenous Australians at the time of British colonisation in 1788 due to numerous waves of immigration during the period since. Also due to immigration, the European component's share of the population rose sharply in the late 18th and 19th centuries, but is now declining as a percentage.^[4]

Australia has an average population density of 3.5 persons per square kilometre of total land area, which makes it one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. This is generally attributed to the semi-arid and desert geography of much of the interior of the country. Another factor is urbanisation, with 89% of its population living in a handful of urban areas, Australia is one of the world's most urbanised countries.^[5] The life expectancy of Australia in 2015–2017 was 83.2 years, among the highest in the world.^[6]

Cities

Australia contains five cities (including their suburbs) that consist of over one million people. Most of Australia's population live close to coastlines.^[7]

Ancestry

The earliest accepted timeline for the first arrivals of humans to the continent of Australia places this human migration to at least 65,000 years ago,^[9] most probably from the islands of Indonesia and New Guinea.^[10]

Captain James Cook claimed the east coast for Great Britain in 1770; the west coast was later settled by Britain also. At that time, the indigenous population was estimated to have been between 315,000 and 750,000,^[11] divided into as many as 500 tribes speaking many different languages.

Between 1788 and the Second World War, the vast majority of settlers and immigrants came from the British Isles (principally England, Ireland and Scotland), although there was significant immigration from China and Germany during the 19th century. In the decades immediately following the Second World War, Australia received a large wave of immigration from across Europe, with many more immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe than in previous decades. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973, Australia has pursued an official policy of multiculturalism,^[12] and there has been a large and continuing wave of immigration from across the world, with Asia being the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century.^[13]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics no longer collects data on race, but does ask each Australian resident to nominate up to two ancestries each census.^[14] These ancestry responses are classified into broad standardised ancestry groups.^[15] In the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated individual ancestries as a proportion of the total population were:^[16]

At the 2021 census, 3.2% of the Australian population identified as being Indigenous — Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders.^{[N 4][18]} In 2020, 7.5% of births were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons up from 5.7% in 2010; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fertility rates have stayed above replacement levels even as the nation's has declined rapidly.^[19]

Although the ABS does not collect data on race and ethnic background, various studies have put together results of the census to determine the ethnic composition of Australia, the Australian Human Rights Commission has estimated the European population at 76% of the Australian population,^[20] while a media diversity study put it at 72%, the non-European proportion was 21% and 23% respectively, and the Aboriginal Australian population at 3% in both.^[21]

Immigration minister Andrew Giles has pledged to incorporate a question on ethnicity into the 2026 Australian census.^[22]

Immigration and country of birth

Australian and foreign born population pyramid in 2021

In 2019, 30% of the Australian resident population, or 7,529,570 people, were born overseas.^[23]

Australia's population has quadrupled since the end of World War I,^[24] much of this increase from immigration. Australia has the world's eighth-largest immigrant population, with immigrants accounting for 30% of the population, a higher proportion than in any other nation with a population of over 10 million.^[23][25] Most immigrants are skilled,^[26] but the immigration quota includes categories for family members and refugees.^[26]

The following table shows Australia's population by country of birth as estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2021. It shows only countries or regions or birth with a population of over 100,000 residing in Australia.

As of 2020, 29.8% of Australia's population was born overseas and 76% as of 2016 had European ancestry. The percentage of Australians with European backgrounds has been declining since the 1960s and 1970s, which is around the time the White Australia policy was abolished.

Religion

Australia has historically been a majority Christian, and Christian-influenced nation: the first census Australia held in 1901 had the Christian population at 96.1% of the population. In every census since 1991 this number has continued to drop, with it being under half of the population by the 2021 census.

At the 2021 Census, 38.9% of the population identified as having "no religion",^[16] up from 15.5% in 2001.^[29] The largest religion is Christianity (43.9% of the population).^[16] The largest Christian denominations are the Roman Catholic Church (20% of the population) and the Anglican Church of Australia (9.8%). Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%).^[16]

The Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001 Census Dictionary statement on religious affiliation states the purpose for gathering such information:

Data on religious affiliation are used for such purposes as planning educational facilities, aged persons' care and other social services provided by religion-based organisations; the location of church buildings; the assigning of chaplains to hospitals, prisons, armed services and universities; the allocation of time on public radio and other media; and sociological research.

Historically, Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology was the prevalent belief system in Australia until around 1840, when European Australians first outnumbered indigenous Australians. For a period, in the 19th and 20th centuries, Australia was majority Protestant with a large Catholic minority.^[30][31] Catholics first outnumbered Anglicans in the 1986 census.^[32] As a result of this history, while Australia has no official religion and "no religion" constitutes the largest group by religious identification, the various governments of Australia refer to the Christian God in their ceremonies, as do the various Australian Courts.^[33]

As in many Western countries, the level of active participation in religious services is lower than would be indicated by the proportion of the population identifying themselves as affiliated with a religion; weekly attendance at Christian church services is about 1.5 million, or about 7.5% of the population.^[34] Christian charitable organisations, hospitals and schools play a prominent role in welfare and education services. The Catholic education system is the second biggest sector after government schools, with more than 795,000 students (and around 20 per cent of all secondary school enrolments).^[35]

Language

Percentage of people who speak the English language at home in 2016

The vast majority of Australians speak English at home, with the exception of Aboriginal Australians and first-generation immigrants. Although Australia has no official language, English has always been the de facto national language and the only common tongue.^[36] Australian English is a major variety of the language, with a distinctive accent and lexicon,^[37] and differs slightly from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling.^[38] General Australian serves as the standard variety.

At the 2021 census English was the only language spoken in the homes of 72% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin Chinese (2.7%), Arabic (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.3%), Cantonese (1.2%), and Punjabi (0.9%).^[18] Considerable proportions of first- and second-generation immigrants are bilingual.

Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact; fewer than 20 are still in daily use by all age groups.^[39][40] About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people.^[40] At the time of the 2006 census, 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, reported that they spoke an Indigenous language at home.^[41]

Australia has its own sign language, Auslan. It is the main language of about 5,500 deaf people.^[42]

Indigenous population

Indigenous Australians as a percentage of the population as of the 2011 census

The earliest accepted timeline for the first arrivals of indigenous Australians to the continent of Australia places this human migration to at least 40,000 years ago.^[10]

Dutch navigators landed on the coasts of modern Western Australia and Queensland several times during the 17th century. Captain James Cook wrote that he claimed the east coast for Great Britain in 1770 while standing on Possession Island off the west coast of Cape York Peninsula. The west coast was later settled by Britain also. At that time, the indigenous population was estimated to have numbered between as few as 315,000 and as many as 1,100,000,^[11][43] divided into many tribes speaking many different languages. In the 2011 census, 495,757 respondents declared they were Aboriginal, 31,407 declared they were Torres Strait Islander, and a further 21,206 declared they were both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.^[44]

Today, most of Australia's Indigenous population live on the east coast of Australia, where almost 60% of Indigenous Australians live in New South Wales (208,476) and Queensland (188,954) which roughly represents 2–5% of those state's populations. The Northern Territory has an Indigenous population of 61,115, which represents 26.3% of the total Northern Territory population.^[45]

States and territories

State/territory	Population (June 2023 estimate)[46]	Land area		Population density		% of total national population	% of population living in capital	Notes
		km²	mi²	per km²	per mi²
New South Wales	8,339,300	800,642	309,130	8.64	22	32%	63%	[47]
Victoria	6,812,500	227,416	87,806	23.54	61	26%	71%	[48]
Queensland	5,459,400	1,730,648	668,207	2.50	6	20%	46%	[49]
Western Australia	2,878,600	2,239,170	864,548	0.89	2	10%	73.4%	[50]
South Australia	1,851,700	983,482	379,725	1.62	4	7%	73.5%	[51]
Tasmania	572,800	68,401	26,410	7.24	19	2%	41%	[52]
Australian Capital Territory	466,800	2,358	910	151.49	392	2%	100%	[53]
Northern Territory	252,500	1,349,129	520,902	0.16	0.4	1%	54%	[54]

Historical population

European Australians from 1947 to 1966 when racial data was collected in the country

Population estimates in the table below do not include the Aboriginal population before 1961. Estimates of Aboriginal population before European settlement range from 300,000 to one million, with archaeological finds indicating a sustainable maximum population of around 750,000.^[55] Where available, actual population figures from census years are included.

Historical population of Australia

Current vital statistics

Period	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase
January - June 2022	153,100	93,700	+59,500
January - June 2023	146,000	91,700	+54,400
Difference	-7,100 (-4.64%)	-2,000 (-2.13%)	-5,100

In 2012, the total fertility rate of Australian-born women was 1.94, while for overseas-born women, it was 1.81,^[80] while in 2013, it was 1.91 and 1.79 respectively.^[81] In 2017, TFR was 1.68 for overseas women (overseas father 1.73) and 1.78 for native women (native father 1.69).

Life expectancy at birth from 1921 to 2015

Life expectancy in Australia since 1885

Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations.

1921–1949

1920s		1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929
		61.0	62.9	61.7	62.5	63.2	62.9	62.8	62.9	63.1
1930s	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939
	64.9	65.3	65.6	65.4	64.8	65.1	65.2	65.8	65.8	65.8
1940s	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949
	66.2	66.1	65.9	66.4	68.0	68.5	68.0	68.6	68.5	69.1

Source: Our World in Data^[83]

Life expectancy in Australia since 1960 by gender

1950–2015

Period	Life expectancy in Years	Period	Life expectancy in Years
1950–1955	69.4	1985–1990	76.2
1955–1960	70.4	1990–1995	77.7
1960–1965	70.9	1995–2000	78.8
1965–1970	70.8	2000–2005	80.3
1970–1975	71.8	2005–2010	81.5
1975–1980	73.6	2010–2015	82.3
1980–1985	75.1

Source: UN World Population Prospects^[84]

Other general demographic statistics

As of March 2023, the population growth rate was 1.6%.^[85] This rate was based on estimates of (April 2019):^[1]

• one birth every 1 minute and 42 seconds,
• one death every 2 minutes and 52 seconds,
• one migrant person arriving to live in Australia every 42 seconds,
• one Australian resident leaving Australia to live overseas every 2 minutes and 30 seconds, leading to
• an overall total population increase of one person every 48 seconds.

Much of the data that follows has been derived from the CIA World Factbook^[74] and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, through censuses.

Population

Estimated resident population of Australia since 1981

The following figures are ABS estimates for the resident population of Australia, based on the 2001 and 2006 Censuses and other data.

26,971,600 (as of 16 January 2024)^[1]

23,470,145 (July 2018 est.)

23,232,413 (July 2017 est.)

21,262,641 (July 2009 – CIA World Factbook)

Population pyramid of Australia from 1950 to 2020

Age structure

Australian babies: 0 year olds as a fraction of total persons, in Australia, according to the 2011 census results.

Australian babies: 0–4 year olds as a fraction of total persons, in Australia, according to the 2011 census results

0–14 years: 17.75% (male 2,138,080 /female 2,027,583)

15–24 years: 12.62% (male 1,520,528 /female 1,442,461)

25–54 years: 41.35% (male 4,944,587 /female 4,760,752)

55–64 years: 11.84% (male 1,379,681 /female 1,398,177)

65 years and over: 16.44% (male 1,786,595 /female 2,071,701) (2018 est.)

0–14 years: 17.8% (male 2,122,139/female 2,012,670)

15–24 years: 12.79% (male 1,524,368/female 1,446,663)

25–54 years: 41.45% (male 4,903,130/female 4,725,976)

55–64 years: 11.83% (male 1,363,331/female 1,384,036)

65 years and over: 16.14% (male 1,736,951/female 2,013,149) (2017 est.)

Median age

Map of the median age of Australians by Statistical Local Area in the 2011 census

total: 38.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 58th

male: 38.1 years

female: 39.7 years (2018 est.)

Total: 36.9 years^[86]

Male: 36.6 years

Female: 38.1 years (2009 est.)

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

• Jupp, James. The Australian People: An Encyclopedia of the Nation, its People and their Origins (2002)
• O'Farrell, Patrick. The Irish in Australia: 1798 to the Present Day (3rd ed. Cork University Press, 2001)
• Wells, Andrew, and Theresa Martinez, eds. Australia's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook (ABC-CLIO, 2004)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographics of Australia.

• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Year Book Australia, 2009–10
• Australian population: ethnic origins (DOC)
• Build Australian population graph 1960 – 2013 (World Bank data)
• Build Australian population projection graph till 2100 (United Nation data)
• Build Australian life expectancy at birth graph 1950 – 2013 (United Nation data)
• Australia's population clock