MIGRATION AND THE STATES AND TERRITORIES

All three components of population change: natural increase, NOM and NIM, contribute in varying degrees to the growth, size and structure of the population of each state and territory. While natural increase generally has a positive effect, NOM and NIM can have an impact by either adding to or reducing the size of the population.

All states and territories experienced positive population growth in the year ended 30 June 2010. New South Wales experienced the largest growth numerically at 105,400 persons (1.5%). However, Western Australia had the highest rate of growth at 2.2% with 49,100 persons (table 2.2). The proportion that each component contributed to population growth varied between the states and territories. Natural increase was the major contributor to population growth in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory for the year ended 30 June 2010 (figure 2.3). In Queensland both natural increase and NOM evenly contributed to population growth. For the other states, NOM contributed the most to population growth.

2.2 Components of Population Change(a), Australia - Numbers and growth rates - 2009-10
		NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Number ('000)
	ERP 30 June 2009	7 127.2	5 446.6	4 424.8	1 624.5	2 244.4	503.3	226.2	352.3	21 951.7
	Natural increase	49.9	36.3	39.8	7.7	18.9	2.2	3.1	3.7	161.5
	Net overseas migration	66.0	60.4	39.7	15.4	28.2	1.8	1.3	2.7	215.6
	Net interstate migration	-10.5	2.6	9.6	-3.0	2.0	0.3	-0.8	-0.1	. .
	Growth	105.4	99.3	89.1	20.1	49.1	4.4	3.5	6.3	377.1
	ERP 30 June 2010	7 232.6	5 545.9	4 513.9	1 644.6	2 293.5	507.6	229.7	358.6	22 328.8
Growth rate (%)
	Natural increase	0.70	0.67	0.90	0.47	0.84	0.44	1.35	1.04	0.74
	Net overseas migration	0.93	1.11	0.90	0.95	1.26	0.36	0.57	0.76	0.98
	Net interstate migration	-0.15	0.05	0.22	-0.18	0.09	0.06	-0.37	-0.02	. .
	Growth	1.48	1.82	2.01	1.24	2.19	0.86	1.55	1.78	1.72
. . not applicable
(a) Estimates for 2009-10 are preliminary - see paragraphs 9-10 of the Explanatory Notes.

Net overseas migration

For the year ended 30 June 2010, all states and territories experienced positive NOM (figure 2.3). NOM was the major component of population growth in South Australia at 77% (15,400 persons), New South Wales at 63% (66,000 persons), Victoria at 61% (60,400 persons) and Western Australia at 58% (28,200 persons). The Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and the Northern Territory also gained population through NOM but it was not the major component of their population growth. NOM accounted for 43% (2,700 persons) of population growth in 2009-2010 in the Australian Capital Territory, 42% (1800 persons) in Tasmania and 37% (1300 persons) of the Northern Territory's growth. Queensland was the only state where NOM and natural increase contributed almost equally to population growth in 2009-10 at 45% (39,700 and 39,800 persons respectively).

As shown in table 2.2, Western Australia had the highest NOM growth rate (1.3%) while Tasmania (0.4%) had the lowest.

Net interstate migration

Preliminary NIM was not the major component of population growth for any of the states and territories for the year ended 30 June 2010 (figure 2.3). However, it was a source of population loss for New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory, subtracting 10,500 persons, 3,000 persons and 800 persons respectively from their population. Those states and territories where NIM contributed positively to population growth were Queensland (9,600 persons), Victoria (2,600 persons), Western Australia (2,000 persons) and Tasmania (300 persons). Overall, estimates of interstate migration for Australia showed there were 331,400 interstate movements for the year ended 30 June 2010.




1 United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision. Accessed 17 May 2011. <back

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