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JUNE KEY FIGURES

	Population at end Jun qtr 2004	Change over previous year	Change over previous year
PRELIMINARY DATA	'000	'000	%
New South Wales(a)	6,731.3	49.2	0.7
Victoria	4,972.8	61.4	1.2
Queensland	3,882.0	81.0	2.1
South Australia	1,534.3	7.9	0.5
Western Australia	1,982.2	32.3	1.7
Tasmania	482.1	4.8	1.0
Northern Territory	199.9	1.4	0.7
Australian Capital Territory	324.0	0.7	0.2
Australia(b)	20,111.3	238.7	1.2
(a) June quarter 2004 births for New South Wales are high due to a lag in registration processing in the previous quarter. This backlog was cleared and included in June quarter 2004 estimates.
(b) Includes Other Territories comprising Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Population growth

Population growth rate, Year ended current quarter

JUNE KEY POINTS


ESTIMATED RESIDENT POPULATION

• The preliminary estimated resident population (ERP) of Australia at June 2004 was 20,111,300 persons, an increase of 238,700 persons since June 2003 and 49,500 persons since March 2004.
• Preliminary natural increase for the year ended June 2004 was 121,000 persons. This represents an increase of 5,900 persons (5.1%) on the number recorded for the year ended June 2003 (115,200).
• Preliminary net overseas migration was 117,600 persons in the year ended June 2004, 1% higher than in the year ended June 2003 (116,500).

• The national growth rate during the 12 months ended June 2004 was 1.2%. This was similar to the growth rate of the world's population (1.1%) during the 12 months ended June 2004.
• All states and territories recorded positive growth in the year ended June 2004. Queensland recorded the highest growth rate (2.1%) while the Australian Capital Territory recorded the lowest (0.2%).

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The layout and content of this publication has changed. The major changes are detailed below.

• This issue of Australian Demographic Statistics has introduced a change in the treatment for External Territories of Australia. For the first time, separate population estimates as at 30 June 2004 have been shown for the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the Coral Sea Islands Territory, the Australian Antarctic Territory, and the Territory of Heard and McDonald Islands. These are included in Table 7.
• An international comparisons table of population growth rate and rank has been included in the Main Features of this issue.

• Population estimates for Capital City Statistical Divisions and selected Statistical Districts have been revised for 2003. See Table 5 in this issue.
• Data for experimental estimated and projected resident Indigenous population are now based on 2001 census data and are included in Table 9.

• Final - All ERP data up to and including June quarter 2001
• Revised - ERP data from September quarter 2001 to June quarter 2003, inclusive
• Preliminary - ERP data from September quarter 2003 to June quarter 2004, inclusive.

DATA NOT YET AVAILABLE

Household estimates for 2002 and 2003 in Tables 17, 18 and 19 are currently under review.

INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

SUMMARY COMMENTARY


MAIN FEATURES


INTRODUCTION

The preliminary estimated resident population (ERP) of Australia at June 2004 was 20,111,300 persons, an increase of 238,700 since June 2003 and 49,500 since March quarter 2004.

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON

For the 12 months ended June 2004 Australia's population growth rate (1.2%) was just above the world's population growth rate (1.1%). Australia's growth rate was comparable with that of New Zealand (1.1%), higher than those of Germany (which experienced almost no change), Japan (0.1%) and the United Kingdom (0.3%) and lower than those of Papua New Guinea (2.4%), Malaysia (1.9%) and Singapore (1.8%).

In figures provided by the US Bureau of Census (International Data Base) for 227 countries, arranged from highest to lowest population size, Australia's population ranked 52nd in the year 2004 and is projected to rank 65th in 2050.

Population, Growth rate and Rank, Selected countries - at 30 June
	ESTIMATED POPULATION			PROJECTED POPULATION	RANK
	2003	2004	Growth rate	2050	2004	2050
Country	million	million	%	million	no.	no.
Australia	19.9	20.1	1.2	26.4	52	65
Canada	32.2	32.5	0.9	41.4	35	42
China	1,291.5	1,298.8	0.6	1,424.2	1	2
Germany	82.4	82.4	-	73.6	14	23
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	6.8	6.9	0.7	6.2	96	115
India	1,049.7	1,065.1	1.5	1,601.0	2	1
Indonesia	234.9	238.5	1.5	336.2	4	5
Japan	127.2	127.3	0.1	99.9	9	17
Malaysia	23.1	23.5	1.9	43.1	46	41
New Zealand	4.0	4.0	1.1	4.8	121	123
Papua New Guinea	5.3	5.4	2.4	10.7	108	91
Singapore	4.3	4.4	1.8	4.6	119	128
Thailand	64.3	64.9	0.9	74.0	19	22
United Kingdom	60.1	60.3	0.3	64.0	21	29
United States of America	290.3	293.0	0.9	420.1	3	3
World	6,299.8	6,372.8	1.1	9,190.3	. .	. .
. . not applicable
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
ABS for Australian estimates and projected populations (Series B); US Bureau of Census, International Data Base (IDB) for selected countries and world estimated and projected populations and all rankings.

COMPONENTS OF AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION CHANGE

The growth of Australia's population has two components; natural increase (the number of births minus the number of deaths) and net overseas migration (net permanent and long-term movement plus the migration adjustment).

Natural increase

For the year ended June 2004, natural increase was 121,000 persons, an increase of 5,900 persons (5.1%) on the number recorded in the year ended June 2003 (115,200). The number of births registered in the year ended June 2004 (254,600) increased by 2.9% when compared with the previous 12 months (247,400). The number of deaths increased by 1.1% over the same period from 132,200 in 2003 to 133,600 in 2004.

Births in New South Wales for the June quarter 2004 are high due to a lag in registration processing in the previous quarter. The backlog was cleared and included in June quarter 2004 estimates.

Net overseas migration

Net overseas migration was 117,600 persons in the year ended June 2004, an increase of 1.0% from the number recorded in the year ended June 2003 (116,500). On a quarterly basis, net overseas migration in the June quarter 2004 (14,300) was 11.4% lower than in the June quarter 2003 (16,100).

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) applies a number of adjustments to the overseas arrivals and departures data used to produce estimates of net overseas migration (NOM). These mainly comprise adjustments designed to reflect differences between stated travel intentions and actual travel behaviour, but (in the case of revised NOM estimates) also include adjustments to transform numbers of overseas movements into numbers of travellers. These are collectively referred to as 'migration adjustments'. For more information see the Technical Note - Measuring Net Overseas Migration.

STATES AND TERRITORIES

Population

The population of Australia's states and territories at June 2004 were as follows: New South Wales 6,731,300, Victoria 4,972,800, Queensland 3,882,000, South Australia 1,534,300, Western Australia 1,982,200, Tasmania 482,100, Northern Territory 199,900, and the Australian Capital Territory 324,000.

Consistent with the recent amendments to the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918, estimates of the population of each of the Other and External Territories are listed separately in Table 7 of this publication. The populations of the Other Territories continue to be included in the Australian totals presented in other tables (see paragraph 2 of the Explanatory Notes).

Growth rates

All states and territories recorded positive growth in the year ended June 2004. Queensland recorded the highest growth (2.1%) followed by Western Australia (1.7%), Victoria (1.2%), Tasmania (1.0%), New South Wales and the Northern Territory (each 0.7%), South Australia (0.5%) and the Australian Capital Territory (0.2%).

All states and territories recorded a positive growth in the June quarter 2004. The largest gain was recorded by Queensland (0.5%) and the lowest was by South Australia and Tasmania (each 0.1%). The Australian Capital Territory experienced little change during the quarter.

Interstate migration

In the year ended June 2004 Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia recorded net interstate migration gains, and the remaining states and territories recorded net losses. Queensland had a gain of 36,700 persons while Tasmania gained 2,500 persons and Western Australia gained 1,300 persons. This is the second financial year in which Tasmania has experienced a net gain through interstate migration since the year ended June 1992. New South Wales lost the largest number of persons through interstate migration (-30,400) followed by South Australia (-3,200), the Australian Capital Territory (-2,400), Victoria (-2,300) and the Northern Territory (-2,100).

Similarly, for the June quarter 2004 Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania recorded net gains through interstate migration, with the rest of the state and territories recording net losses.

Net interstate migration, States and territories