NOM and the states and territories

In 2008-09, NOM contributed the greatest number of people to the most populous states: New South Wales with a net of 89,500 persons, followed by Victoria (81,200) and Queensland (58,000). The Northern Territory had the lowest with a net of 1,900 persons.

Median age

For those contributing to NOM in 2008-09, the median ages varied between arrivals, departures and between each of the states and territories. Overall, travellers arriving in Australia were younger than those departing as was the case for each of the states and territories. The highest median ages for NOM arrivals were recorded from travellers migrating to the Northern Territory (29.5 years), Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory (27.0 years each). The lowest median age was recorded for NOM arrivals to Victoria (25.5 years). The median age for all NOM arrivals was 26.3 years.

In comparison, the highest median ages for NOM departures were for travellers from the Northern Territory (32.4 years), followed by Tasmania (29.6 years), New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (29.5 years each). The lowest median ages for NOM departures were from Victoria and Queensland (28.3 years each). This compares to an overall median age for NOM departures of 28.9 years, 2.6 years higher than arrivals.

Sex ratio

The sex ratio of travellers who contributed to NOM in 2008-09 also varied between arrivals, departures and between the states and territories. Overall, more males travel across Australia's border than females. The highest sex ratios recorded for NOM arrivals were from travellers migrating to the Northern Territory (125 males per 100 females) and Western Australia (110). The lowest sex ratios were recorded for NOM arrivals to Queensland and New South Wales (103 each), and the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania (104 each). The sex ratio for all NOM arrivals to Australia in 2008-09 was 106 males per 100 females.

Conversely, the highest sex ratios recorded for NOM departures were from the Northern Territory (159 males per 100 females) and Western Australia (113). In contrast, the lowest sex ratios for NOM departures were recorded in New South Wales (102) and Queensland (103). The sex ratio for all NOM departures from Australia in 2008-09 was 105 males per 100 females.

3.6 NOM, Selected characteristics - State & territory - 2008-09(a)
	NOM		NOM ARRIVALS			NOM DEPARTURES
			Overseas arrivals	Median age	Sex ratio(b)	Overseas Departures	Median age	Sex ratio(b)
State or territory	no.	%	no.	years	ratio	no.	years	ratio
NSW	89 474	29.9	174 781	26.5	103.4	85 307	29.5	102.5
Vic.	81 235	27.2	133 647	25.5	109.5	52 412	28.3	104.7
Qld	58 035	19.4	104 454	26.5	103.3	46 419	28.3	103.0
SA	17 327	5.8	27 382	26.1	105.8	10 055	28.5	104.0
WA	45 179	15.1	71 665	27.0	109.9	26 486	29.1	112.7
Tas.	2 144	0.7	4 249	26.9	104.4	2 105	29.6	104.2
NT	1 864	0.6	5 109	29.5	125.1	3 245	32.4	159.4
ACT	3 666	1.2	8 411	27.0	103.8	4 745	29.5	104.3
Australia(c)	298 924	100.0	529 700	26.3	106.1	230 776	28.9	105.0
(a) Estimates for 2008-09 are preliminary - see paragraphs 9-10 of the Explanatory Notes.
(b) Males per 100 females.
(c) Includes Other Territories.

Overseas flows

Much of the migration of travellers across Australia's border occurred within the more populated states as seen in Figure 3.7. New South Wales had the largest number of NOM arrivals (174,800 persons) and the largest number of NOM departures (85,300 persons). Conversely, Tasmania had the smallest flows with both the smallest number of arrivals (4,200 persons) and the smallest number of departures (2,100 persons).

The combined flows of overseas migration (arrivals and departures) show there were 760,500 people crossing Australia's border who impacted on NOM in 2008-09. Of these, there were 529,700 arrivals contributing to NOM (NOM arrivals) and 230,800 departures contributing to NOM (NOM departures).

However, the effect of these flows varies for each state and territory. In order to assess this effect, it is useful to consider the size of each flow as a proportion of a state or territory's population (Figure 3.8).

Western Australia experienced the greatest effect proportionally from NOM arrivals in 2008-09, with a 3.2% increase to its population, while the Northern Territory showed a 1.5% loss from NOM departures, the largest loss of all the states and territories. In contrast, the effect NOM arrivals and NOM departures had on Tasmania's population was small at 0.8% and 0.4% respectively.

Population turnover

In 2008-09, the population turnover due to overseas migration (gross overseas flows in relation to size of the population) was the highest in Western Australia at 4.4% (i.e. NOM arrivals and NOM departures combined). This was followed by the Australian Capital Territory (3.8%), and then New South Wales and the Northern Territory (3.7% each). Of the remaining states and territories, Queensland's and Victoria's population turnover from overseas migration was 3.5% each and South Australia 2.3%. Tasmania had the lowest population turnover due to NOM in 2008-09 at 1.3%.

NOM rates (quarterly)

Net overseas migration has a notable impact on the population of Australia's states and territories. The net overseas migration rate (NOM per 1,000 population) shows how the impact varies between the states and territories and over time.

Using data based on the improved methodology for NOM with the time series starting from December quarter 2003 (i.e. all quarterly NOM data currently available using the 12/16 month rule), the quarterly NOM rates for each state and territory are presented in Figures 3.9 to 3.11.

The three graphs (Figures 3.9 to 3.11), clearly show the seasonality of overseas migration with the March quarter providing the highest rates each year for the majority of the states and territories.

Figure 3.10 shows that the quarterly NOM rates for Western Australia displayed strong seasonality for the period between December quarter 2003 to June quarter 2009. During this time period the highest NOM rate was also recorded by Western Australia at 6.6 per 1,000 population in the March quarter 2009. In the same March quarter, the Australian Capital Territory had the next highest rate at 5.2 (Figure 3.10), whereas the national rate was 4.5. For Western Australia, the NOM rates over time were higher than the total Australian rate, whereas rates in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland were fairly consistent with that of Australia (Figure 3.9). The remaining states and territories were mainly below the national rate, with Tasmania and the Northern Territory (Figure 3.11) not displaying as strong seasonality as that shown by the other states and territories.

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