MAIN FEATURES


TOTAL POPULATION

The estimated resident population of Australia at 30 June 2007 was 21.0 million people, having increased by 317,200 people since 30 June 2006.

In 2007, just under a third (32.8%) of Australia's population resided in New South Wales, a slight decrease since 2006 (32.9%). Western Australia was the fastest-growing state, growing by 2.3%. The largest-growing state over the year was Queensland, where the population increased by 90,500 people. While all states and territories experienced population growth between June 2006 and June 2007, Tasmania had the smallest and slowest increase (3,400 people or 0.7%). New South Wales and South Australia grew at a slower rate than the remaining states and territories, increasing by 1.1% and 1.0% respectively.

At June 2007, the Sydney Statistical Division (SD) contained 20.6% of Australia's population, compared with 20.7% at June 2006. Melbourne SD had the largest growth (62,700 people) in Australia in the 12 months to 30 June 2007. The capital city SD with the fastest growth over this period was Darwin, with an increase of 2.7%, and with the smallest and slowest growth was Greater Hobart (1,900 people or 0.9%).

In the following analysis only the national estimates include Other Territories.


AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION

The following graph (called a population pyramid) compares the age/sex structure of the population living in Capital City SDs to the population living in the remainder of Australia. Each light bar illustrates the percentage contribution of a sex and five-year age group to the total population of the Capital City SDs in Australia, and each dark bar illustrates the percentage contribution to the population in the remainder of Australia. For example, the graph shows that 3.1% of the combined population of the Capital City SDs are females aged 0-4 years.

The most noticeable feature for both males and females is the high percentages that the age groups 20-24, 25-29, 30-34 and 35-39 years make up of the Capital City SDs compared with the remainder of Australia. This illustrates the attraction of young to middle-aged adults to education, labour market and other opportunities in Australian Capital Cities. In contrast, older adults, especially aged between 50 and 84 years, represent a higher proportion of the population in the remainder of Australia than in Capital Cities. Further, at age 75 years and over the proportion of women is higher than men in both the Capital City SDs and the remainder of Australia because women have longer life expectancies than men.

Almost two-thirds of the Australian population (63.6%) lived in capital city SDs in June 2007. However, the share of the population living in capital city SDs was not evenly spread across all age groups. For example, capital city SDs had 69.3% (3.1 million people) of the population aged 20 to 34 years, but 59.2% (1.6 million people) of the population aged 65 years and older.

MEDIAN AGE

The median age of Australia's population, the age at which half the population is older and half is younger, was 36.8 years at June 2007, compared with 36.6 at June 2006. The median age of males increased to 36.1 in 2007 from 35.9 in the previous year, while the median age for females increased from 37.4 in 2006 to 37.6 in 2007.

The median age of every state and territory increased in June 2007 compared with June 2006. Although South Australia and Tasmania both had the highest median age of 38.8 in June 2006, Tasmania edged ahead by June 2007 with a median age of 39.1 while South Australia had the second-highest median age of 38.9. The Northern Territory had the lowest median age of 31.1 in June 2007.

Among the SDs in Australia, the highest median ages at June 2007 were in Yorke and Lower North (SA) (45.6 years) and Mid-North Coast (NSW) (43.9 years). The SDs with the lowest median ages were Northern Territory - Bal (28.8 years) and Kimberley (WA) (30.2 years).


CHILDREN (UNDER 15 YEARS OF AGE)

The total number of children aged 0 to 14 years in June 2007 was 4.1 million, 24,900 children greater than the population in June 2006. However, the proportion of children aged 0 to 14 in the population decreased slightly from 19.6% in 2006 to 19.4% at 2007.

The Northern Territory continued to have a larger proportion of children aged under 15 (24.1%) than any other state or territory, whereas South Australia again had the lowest proportion (18.1%).

The four SDs that had the highest proportions of children aged 0 to 14 years in 2007 were in regional areas: Northern Territory - Bal (26.8%), North West (Qld) (25.5%), Kimberley (WA) (25.4%) and Pilbara (WA) (25.0%). The four SDs with the lowest proportions of children aged 0 to 14 years were Adelaide (SA) (17.4%), Yorke and Lower North (SA) (18.0%), the Gold Coast (Qld) (18.2%) and Melbourne (Vic) (18.4%).

Among the states and territories, Queensland had the largest increase in the number of children aged 0 to 14 (10,300 children) in 2006-07, and Western Australia had the fastest growth (1.6%). There was little to no growth in the number of children aged less than 15 in 2006-07 in New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania.


CHILDREN AGED 0-4 YEARS

The number of children aged 0 to 4 years in Australia increased by 23,300 to 1.3 million in June 2007.

In June 2007, the Northern Territory had the largest proportion of its population aged 0 to 4 years (8.3%), and South Australia had the smallest (5.8%). The five SDs with the largest proportions of their populations aged under 5 years were: North West (Qld) (9.4%), Northern Territory - Bal (9.1%), Pilbara (WA) (9.0%), Kimberley (WA) (8.8%) and South Eastern (WA) (8.2%).

The number of children aged 0 to 4 years increased in all states and territories between June 2006 and June 2007. Victoria experienced the largest increase (6,700 children), and the Australian Capital Territory recorded the fastest increase (3.9%). On the other hand, the Northern Territory recorded the smallest and slowest increase of children in this age group in 2006-07 (110 children or 0.6%).


WORKING AGE POPULATION (AGED 15-64 YEARS)

In June 2007, 67.4% of the Australian population were of working age (15 to 64 years). The number of people of working age increased by 219,800 to 14.2 million in 2006-07.

The Australian Capital Territory had a higher proportion of people aged 15 to 64 years (71.6%) than any other state or territory, but was closely followed by the Northern Territory (71.0%), while Tasmania had the lowest proportion (65.6%). The four SDs with the highest proportions of people of working age were Pilbara (WA) (72.7%), Darwin (NT) (72.6%), Canberra (ACT) (71.6%) and Kimberley (WA) (70.0%). The four SDs with the lowest proportions of people of working age were Yorke and Lower North (SA) (61.3%), Mid-North Coast (NSW) (61.4%), Wimmera (Vic) (also 61.4%) and Wide Bay-Burnett (Qld) (62.5%).

The number of people aged 15 to 64 years increased in all states and territories in 2006-07. Queensland had the largest and fastest growth in people of working age (63,200 people or 2.3%), and Tasmania had the smallest and slowest growth (1,800 people or 0.6%).


OLDER PEOPLE (AGED 65 YEARS AND OVER)

The proportion of the Australian population aged 65 years or over continued to grow in 2006-07, from 13.0% (2.7 million people) in June 2006 to 13.2% (2.8 million people) in June 2007.

South Australia had the highest proportion of people aged 65 years or over in June 2007 (15.2% or 241,000 people), and the Northern Territory had the lowest proportion of people in this age group (4.9% or 10,500 people). Conversely, the Northern Territory had the fastest growth of people aged 65 years or over (8.2%), but this was from a low base, and South Australia had the slowest growth in people aged 65 years or over (1.9%) in 2006-07.

The five SDs with the highest proportions of people aged 65 years or over in June 2007 were in regional areas: Yorke and Lower North (SA) (20.7%), Mid-North Coast (NSW) (19.5%), Wimmera (Vic) (19.4%), East Gippsland (Vic) (18.2%) and Far West (NSW) (17.8%). The lowest proportions were in Pilbara (WA) (2.4%), Northern Territory - Bal (4.1%), Kimberley (WA) (4.6%), Darwin (NT) (5.5%) and North West (Qld) (6.4%).

SEX RATIO

At June 2007, there were 126,000 more females in Australia than males, with 10.4 million males compared with 10.6 million females, resulting in a sex ratio of 98.8 (number of males per 100 females). The Northern Territory had the highest sex ratio with 107.9 males per 100 females, while Tasmania had the lowest, at 97.3.

The SDs with the lowest sex ratios in Australia were Greater Hobart (Tas) (94.6), Adelaide (SA) (95.6) and Sunshine Coast (Qld) (96.3). The SD with the highest sex ratio was the Pilbara (WA) (127.7), which has significant resources sector activity.

In all states and territories, excluding the Northern Territory, the sex ratio was lower in the capital city SDs than in the remainder of the state. Darwin was the only capital city SD in which there were significantly more males than females, resulting in a sex ratio of 112.2, and in Perth, there were slightly more men than women, producing a sex ratio of 100.1. There were more females than males in all of the other capital city SDs.