| November 25, 1998 | Embargoed: 11:30 AM (AEST) | 131/98 |
Northern Territory in focus - ABS overview
Record floods in the Katherine/Daly region in January this year, establishment of the Alice Springs to Darwin railway corridor, and the Statehood referendum in October are just some of the main events of 1998 outlined in Northern Territory in Focus 1998, released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Some of the many facts and figures include:
- At June 30 1997 the population of the NT was 187,132, an increase of 5,289 (2.9%) since June 1996. This was the highest rate of growth for any State or Territory. The NT population represents approximately 1% of Australia's total of 18.5 million.
- During the 1996 Census nearly one-quarter (46,277 or 24.4%) of the NT population identified themselves as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
- While home ownership by the NT population increased during the 1990s, it is still below that of any other State or Territory. At the 1996 Census 40.4% (23,229) of occupied private dwellings in the NT were owned or being purchased compared to 66.4% nationally.
- The Territory's Gross State Product (GSP) at market prices was $5,418 million in 1996-97, an increase of 7.3 % from 1995-96.
- The industry sectors which provided the greatest contribution to NT GSP were mining (10.7%); government administration and defence (8.3%); retail trade (8.3%) and construction (8.2%).
- The NT Government has the lowest percentage contribution of all States and Territories from taxes, fees and fines, accounting for only 17.9% ($308 million) of total NT government revenue.
- In June 1998 the NT's unemployment rate was 4.0%, down 1.3 percentage points from June 1997. The NT had the lowest unemployment rate of any State or Territory, and was 3.9 percentage points below the national rate of 7.9%.
- An economic downturn in the South East Asian economy has contributed to the decline of what had been one of the NT's fastest growing industries. Live cattle exports to Indonesia have gone into decline in 1998, halving total live cattle exports from the NT.
- In 1996-97, $91.1 million was spent on mineral exploration in the NT, while a further $41.5 million was spent on petroleum exploration.
- In 1996-97 the number of visitors to the NT was 1,299,000, 3% less than the previous year.
Northern Territory in Focus 1998 (cat. no. 1306.7) costs just $39, and is available from ABS bookshops.
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