MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Population at end Mar qtr 2008	Change over previous year	Change over previous year
PRELIMINARY DATA	'000	'000	%
New South Wales	6 947.0	72.4	1.1
Victoria	5 274.4	87.6	1.7
Queensland	4 253.2	91.9	2.2
South Australia	1 598.0	16.9	1.1
Western Australia	2 149.1	54.2	2.6
Tasmania	497.3	4.5	0.9
Northern Territory	218.4	4.6	2.2
Australian Capital Territory	342.7	4.6	1.4
Australia(a)	21 282.6	336.8	1.6
(a) Includes Other Territories comprising Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Population growth

Population Growth Rate, Year ended current quarter

MARCH KEY POINTS


ESTIMATED RESIDENT POPULATION

• The preliminary estimated resident population (ERP) of Australia at 31 March 2008 was 21,283,000 persons. This was an increase of 336,800 persons (1.6%) since 31 March 2007 and 102,000 persons since 31 December 2007.
• Preliminary natural increase recorded for the year ended 31 March 2008 (137,700) was 0.7% (or 940 persons) lower than the natural increase recorded for the year ended 31 March 2007 (138,600).
• Preliminary net overseas migration for the year ended 31 March 2008 was 199,100 persons.

POPULATION GROWTH RATES

• Australia's population grew by 1.6% during the 12 months ended 31 March 2008. Natural increase and net overseas migration contributed 41% and 59% respectively to this total population growth.
• All states and territories experienced positive population growth over the 12 months ended 31 March 2008. Western Australia recorded the largest percentage gain (2.6%) and Tasmania the smallest (0.9%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2008	2 December 2008
September 2008	18 March 2009
December 2008	4 June 2009
March 2009	22 September 2009
June 2009	3 December 2009

ERP STATUS

Data for 30 September 2001 to 30 June 2006 are final and based on the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Data from the 30 September 2006 onwards are preliminary. For the current status refer to paragraph 7 of the Explanatory Notes.


PRELIMINARY DATA

Due to the collection and estimation methods applied to produce preliminary statistics, users should exercise caution when analysing and interpreting the most recent annual and quarterly estimates for births, deaths and net overseas migration, particularly when making time series comparisons. For analysis of fertility trends over time users should refer to Births, Australia (cat. no. 3301.0) - see paragraphs 7-9 of the Explanatory Notes for more detail.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

In keeping with normal practice the number of reference quarters included in this issue has been reduced to nine quarters of data. Longer time series are available in the time series spreadsheet accompanying this release.

The content of Table 16, Categories of net overseas migration, Australia, has been expanded to include states and territories.

Following the completion of sub state final rebasing for the 2006 Census of Population and Housing, and the release of Experimental Estimates of Indigenous and non-Indigenous estimated resident populations the following tables have been updated:

• Table 5 Estimated resident population, Major population regions-at 30 June 2007
• Table 11 Experimental estimated resident population Australian Indigenous population, Age groups-at 30 June 2006
• Table 12 Experimental estimated resident population Australian Non-Indigenous population, Age groups-at 30 June 2006.

Following the release of Population Projections, Australia (cat. no. 3222.0) Table 9 Projected resident population, has been updated.


UPCOMING RELEASES

Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories, June 2008 (cat. no. 3201.0) will be released on 15 December 2008.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Diala Raad on Canberra (02) 6252 5640.