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Population

At the start of the 20th century, there were just over 3.5 million Australians. Australia's population reached 25 million for the first time, according to official estimates in August 2018. Over the past three years, Australia's population had grown by about 400,000 people a year, a rise fueled mostly by immigration. The nation has reached the 25 million person milestone almost a quarter of a century earlier than predicted in a prominent government report published in 2002.

This prompted a debate about how many people Australia needs and the role of new settlers in sustaining economic growth. Big or small? The debate about population in Australia is divisive. There is an argument that because of stagnant wages, congestion and unaffordable housing immigration should be scaled back. The federal government, however, has said that new settlers boost the economy. Some experts also stress that the nation needs more skilled workers to support an aging population.

The more rapidly the population increases, the harder it is to provide the services that people expect, and the problem that the governments are facing is that people in particularly Sydney and Melbourne, but to a lesser extent also Brisbane and Perth, quite accurately perceive that their quality of life is going backwards because the infrastructure has not been expanded at the same rate as the population. So the roads are more crowded, the public transport is less adequate, it is harder to get the recreational services that people want.

In 2005 Australia's population reached 20 million, a major milestone for a country that is underpopulated by world standards. In 2003, Australia's population was slightly less than 19.9 million, with an annual growth rate of 1.2 percent. Most of Australia's residents live in two widely separated coastal regions on the east and southwest coasts. Population density is low, at 2.6 persons per square kilometer. Nevertheless, Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world; less than 15 percent of the population lives in rural areas. The most populous state in 2003 was New South Wales, with some 6.6 million residents; the least populous was Tasmania, with approximately 477,000 residents. Population density is highest in the Australian Capital Territory at 137 persons per square kilometer and lowest in the Northern Territory at 0.16 persons per square kilometer. At the end of 2003, 89,437 permanent settlers arrived in Australia, and the country hosted some 22,800 refugees. That same year, 48,148 persons departed Australia permanently. Nearly two out of every seven Australians are foreign-born.

According to 2005 estimates, 19.8 percent of the population is less than 15 years of age, 67.2 percent is 15-64, and those aged 65 and older account for 12.9 percent of the population. The overall population has 0.99 males for every female. The number of births per 1,000 is 12.3 and the number of deaths, 7.4 per 1,000. The infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births is nearly 4.7. The total fertility rate is nearly 1.8 children born per woman. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at 80.4 years (77.5 years for men, 83.4 years for women). Caucasians represent 92 percent of the population of Australia. Asians make up 6 percent, and aboriginal peoples account for 2 percent. English is the official language of Australia, but 2.8 million people, corresponding to 16 percent of the population, speak another language at home, according to the 2001 census. The most commonly used languages after English are Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic (including Lebanese), Mandarin, and Spanish. In addition, more than 50,000 people speak an indigenous language.

Roman Catholics represent 27 percent of the population; Anglicans, 21 percent; other Christian denominations, 20 percent; and non-Christian faiths, 5 percent. Australians claiming no religious affiliation represent 16 percent of the population, while another 12 percent choose not to state their religious affiliation.

Australians enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world (total population 80.4 years; 77.5 male, 83.4 female) and a well-developed health care system. In 2002-3 total spending on health care (government, private health insurance, and individual outlays) as a proportion of the gross domestic product was 9.5 percent. The Australian government provided 68 percent of total health expenditures in 2002-3, which amounted to US$54.8 billion, or US$2,773 per person. The Australian government funds Medicare, the national health insurance program. Around 40 percent of Australians augment their coverage with private health insurance. States and territories are charged with delivery and management of public health services and with regulating health care providers and facilities. In 2002-3 (the most recent year for which figures are available), Australia had 748 public hospitals with 52,200 beds (or 2.6 beds per 1,000 people), representing about 66 percent of all beds in the hospital sector. Private hospitals in 2002-3 numbered 536. In 2003-4, the health care sector employed 384,000 people, or 4 percent of the workforce; females represented 74 percent of the health care work force.

The leading causes of death in Australia in 2002 were cancer (28 percent) and cardiovascular disease (20 percent). In 2003 an estimated 14,000 Australians were living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS); they represented 0.1 percent of the population. Fewer than 200 Australians died from HIV/AIDS during 2003.