POPULATION GROWTH AND TURNOVER IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS, 2006 to 2011


Introduction
Highlights from this release
Further information


INTRODUCTION

Between 2006 and 2011, the East Pilbara region in Western Australia had both the highest growth in population and the highest population turnover - that is, people moving into and out of the region. However, high growth and high turnover do not always go hand in hand, and regions with different rates of growth and turnover present different issues for the planning, design and delivery of services and infrastructure.

A new issue of the ‘Perspectives on Regional Australia’ series, released by the ABS on 21 January 2012, entitled ‘Perspectives on Regional Australia: Population Growth and Turnover in Local Government Areas, 2006 to 2011' (cat. no. 1380.0.55.007), uses data from the 2006 and 2011 Censuses of Population and Housing to explore:

• Which local government areas had high population growth and high (or low) turnover rates of people moving in or out between 2006 and 2011;
• Which local government areas had low population growth and high (or low) turnover rates of people moving in or out between 2006 and 2011.

This release updates previous analysis of data released in Population Growth and Turnover in Local Government Areas (LGAs), 2001 to 2006 (cat. no. 1380.0.55.007).


HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS RELEASE

Analysing population growth rates and population turnover rates together is useful because it can provide additional insight into the dynamics of a region’s population and the needs of the community living there.

Between 2006 and 2011, the median average annual population growth rate for local government areas (LGAs) was 0.9%, and the median population turnover rate was 441.9 arrivals and departures per thousand people.

To examine LGAs from both a population growth and a population turnover perspective; LGAs can be grouped into one of the following four categories:

• High average annual population growth rates between 2006 and 2011, and high population turnover rates between 2006 and 2011;
• High growth and low turnover;
• Low growth and high turnover;
• Low growth and low turnover.

LGAs were considered to have high (or low) population growth if their average annual population growth rate was above (or below) the median growth rate for all LGAs. Similarly, LGAs were considered to have high (or low) population turnover if their population turnover rate was above (or below) the median turnover rate for all LGAs. Map 1 presents the results of classifying LGAs into one of these four categories.





With high population growth and high turnover between 2006 and 2011, many LGAs in Category 1 were located in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Mining areas in regional Western Australia and Queensland – such as Ashburton (S), Roebourne (S) and Port Hedland (T) in Western Australia and Weipa (T), Isaac (R) and Mt Isa (C) in Queensland - featured prominently in this category, as did many inner city LGAs including Adelaide (C), Darwin (C), Melbourne (C), Perth (C) and Sydney (C).

Category 2 LGAs (high growth and low turnover) were typically larger regional centres and areas of new housing, such as Greater Bendigo (C) and Ballarat (C) in Victoria, Orange (C) in New South Wales, Toowoomba (R) in Queensland and the Barossa (DC) in South Australia.

Category 3 LGAs (low growth and high turnover) included many LGAs in rural and remote areas, as well as in the established metropolitan areas of capital cities. Outer regional and remote LGAs in this category include Katanning (S) and Carnarvon (S) in Western Australia and Cloncurry (S) and Torres (S) in Queensland. Metropolitan LGAs falling into this category included Ashfield (A) and Woollahra (A) in New South Wales, Prospect (C) and Unley (C) in South Australia and Hobart (C) in Tasmania.

Over one third of all LGAs in Australia (35%) fell into category 4 (low growth and low turnover) and many of these were located in rural and regional areas. More than half of all LGAs in Tasmania (59%), New South Wales (57%) and South Australia (54%) were in this category, including Devonport (C) and Launceston (C) in Tasmania, Broken Hill (C) and Wagga Wagga (C) in New South Wales and Port Augusta (C) and Whyalla (DC) in South Australia.


FURTHER INFORMATION

For further analysis, see Perspectives on Regional Australia: Population Growth and Turnover in Local Government Areas (LGAs), 2006 to 2011 (cat. no. 1380.0.55.007). Population growth and turnover data for all LGAs is available from the Downloads tab. The publication also includes a detailed explanation of the methodology used and the limitations of using Census data to calculate population growth and turnover.