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There has been a small drop in the number of children born in Australia: the fertility rate sits at 1.8 children for each Australian woman.
There has been a small drop in the number of children born in Australia: the fertility rate sits at 1.8 children for each Australian woman. Photograph: April Fonti/AAP
There has been a small drop in the number of children born in Australia: the fertility rate sits at 1.8 children for each Australian woman. Photograph: April Fonti/AAP

Australia's population will reach 24 million in February

This article is more than 8 years old

Australian Bureau of Statistics says migration made up more than half the population increase in the year to July 2015, with birthrate dropping

In the early hours of Tuesday, Australia’s population clock will tick over to 24 million.

The milestone follows record overseas migration, which made up more than half Australia’s population increase in the year to July 2015, says the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

“Australia had record levels of migration about five to seven years ago,” a bureau forecaster, Andrew Howe, said. “That has slowed down a little bit in the past two or three years.”

There has also been a small decrease in the number of children born: the fertility rate sits at 1.8 children for each Australian woman.

“In terms of trends, that’s actually come down a little bit over the past few years, but compared to 10 to 20 years ago that’s actually higher,” Howe said.

Australia’s population increases by one person every one minute and 31 seconds after accounting for births, deaths and international migration.

There were nearly twice as many births (304,000) as deaths (155,000) last financial year.

Howe said Australia’s annual population growth rate was 1.4%, relatively high compared with the rest of the world.

New Zealand and the United States both have a growth rate of 0.7%, Britain 0.6% and China 0.5%.

Japan’s population decreased by an estimated 0.2% last year.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Birthrate in UK falls to record low as campaigners say ‘procreation a luxury’

  • Humans could face reproductive crisis as sperm count declines, study finds

  • Total fertility rate rises for first time in a decade in England and Wales

  • Air pollution may affect sperm quality, says study

  • Record numbers of women reach 30 child-free in England and Wales

  • ‘I’m scared I’ve left it too late to have kids’: the men haunted by their biological clocks

  • Women are still being blamed for society’s problems with fertility

  • Fall in fertility rates may be linked to fossil fuel pollution, finds study

  • Australia’s fertility rate falls to record low in 2020

  • Don’t blame women for our low birthrate – we need to fix our precarious society

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