3101.0 - Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 25/06/2015   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All
MEDIA RELEASE
25 June 2015
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
73/2015

Victoria experiences record net interstate migration

Victoria has recorded its highest net interstate migration in over forty years, figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have revealed.

Denise Carlton from the ABS said the latest figures from Australian Demographic Statistics, December Quarter 2014, reflected an ongoing trend of increasing population growth for Victoria.

"Victoria has experienced increasing population growth since 2011, with a net gain of 9,300 people from the rest of Australia in the last year alone," said Ms Carlton.

"Most of this increase for Victoria can be attributed to people moving from New South Wales (2,700 movers), with South Australia (2,100), Western Australia (1,400) and Queensland (1,100) the next largest contributors."

While the population of all states and territories grew over the period, for half of them more people left than arrived from other parts of Australia. One of the largest declines was in Western Australia, which saw its first year of negative net interstate migration since 2002 (a loss of 400 people this year, down from a gain of 5,200 in 2013).

Net overseas migration figures continue to decline, with the national total falling by 15 per cent in the last year.

"Western Australia saw a near-halving of its net overseas migration figures, which dropped from 36,100 in 2013 to 18,900 this year. Queensland’s net overseas migration also fell from 35,100 to 24,200, a decline of 31 per cent. The Northern Territory’s figures also fell by over half to 1,900 people."

Overall, Australia’s total population increased by 330,200 people to reach 23.6 million by the end of December 2014, a growth rate of 1.4 per cent.

Over the year, natural increase contributed 146,100 people to Australia’s population, made up of 299,700 births (1.8 per cent lower than the previous year) and 153,600 deaths (4.7 per cent higher than the previous year).

In the same period, overseas migration contributed 184,100 people to the population (14.8 per cent lower than the previous year), and accounted for 56 per cent of Australia’s total population growth.

Population at end Dec Qtr 2014
Change over previous year
Change over previous year
PRELIMINARY DATA
'000
'000
%
New South Wales
7 565.5
103.0
1.4
Victoria
5 866.4
101.5
1.8
Queensland
4750.5
64.2
1.4
South Australia
1691.5
14.8
0.9
Western Australia
2581.3
40.1
1.6
Tasmania
515.2
1.4
0.3
Northern Territory
244.3
0.9
0.4
Australian Capital Territory
387.6
4.3
1.1
Australia (a)
23 625.6
330.2
1.4
(a) Includes Other Territories comprising Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.


Further information is available in Australian Demographic Statistics, December Quarter 2014 (cat. no. 3101.0).

For population estimates at the regional level, please see Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2013-14 (cat. no. 3218.0) and Population by Age and Sex, Regions of Australia, 2013 (cat. no. 3235.0), available for free download from http://www.abs.gov.au

Media Note:
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • Media requests and interviews - contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070