Population Growth and Distribution
The Census of Population and Housing provides the basis on which estimated resident populations (ERPs) are derived. Population Growth and Distribution (cat. no. 2035.0) includes ERPs for all Statistical Local Areas as well as providing extensive information about the changes in population distribution and migration between 1996 and 2001.
Between 1996 and 2001, Australia's estimated resident population increased by over a million people, from 18.3 million to 19.4 million.
While Australians often see themselves as more at home in the bush, this publication shows that in 2001, 85% of the population lived within 50 kilometres
of the coastline, and 87% of the population lived in urban areas with a population of 1,000 or more people.
Between 1996 and 2001, 6.8 million people, or 42% of the population, changed their address within Australia, with young adults, recent immigrants and Indigenous Australians being the most mobile groups. Queensland (92,900) had the largest net gain through interstate migration, while New South Wales had the largest net interstate migration loss (- 66,500).
Further information is available in Census of Population and Housing: Population Growth and Distribution, Australia (cat. no. 2035.0).
Centre of Population
The Australian centre of population in 2001 was east of the town of Ivanhoe in the Statistical Local Area of Central Darling in New South Wales. This was 6km north of the centre of population in 1996.
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