INSIGHTS

Take a look at the national numbers that shape our lives and our businesses.

Australia’s population has reached 25 million. Australian Bureau of Statistics director of demography, Anthony Grubb, says “From our average age, to how long people live and where we live, Australia’s population has experienced major changes.

“Australia’s population has increased more than sixfold since 1901 when it was 3.8 million.

“By 1918 it had grown to 5 million, it had doubled to 10 million by 1959 and reached 20 million in October 2004. It has been just over 2.5 years since we reached 24 million in January 2016.”

The population growth equates to an additional person every one minute and 23 seconds.

Looking more deeply into this figure there is:

• one birth every 1 minute and 42 seconds;

• one death every 3 minutes and 16 seconds;

• one person arriving to live in Australia every 1 minute and 1 second; and

• one Australian resident leaving to live overseas every 1 minute and 51 seconds.

WHERE DO WE LIVE?

At the beginning of last century just over one third (36 per cent) of Australians called capital cities home and 64 per cent lived in other urban and rural areas. In 2017, this figure has flipped: 67 per cent of us inhabit capital cities and just 33 per cent are resident outside these major conurbations.

WHAT DOES 25 MILLION LOOK LIKE?

The structure of Australia’s population has changed significantly since the turn of the 20th century.

According to the ABS, the median age in 2017 was 37. Back in 1901 that figure was 15 years younger: 22.5 years. Australians are also living longer, with almost 4000 centenarians in 2017.

There’s a shift in the gender make up of the population too: males dropped to 98.5 for every 100 females; that’s a change from 110 males to every 100 females in 1901.

In 2016 the census showed the median age of Australians was 38. The over 65s accounted for 15 p er cent, while the Millennials (20s to mid 30s) were about 20 per cent of the population.