Australia’s population is almost 27 million – and growing at a 70-year high

The fastest population growth since 1952 has prompted new questions about the ability of the country’s property market to absorb a record surge in migrants amid signs the nation is rapidly greying.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday reported the country added 172,700 people in the September quarter of 2023, taking the total population to 26.82 million. Over the past year, the population has increased by a record 659,800 or 2.5 per cent, the fastest rate since Robert Menzies was prime minister.

The figures date to the end of September, suggesting Australia’s population has already surpassed 27 million.

Net overseas migration was 145,200 in the quarter, slightly down on government expectations but still the second-largest quarterly jump on record. Over the past year, net overseas migration has added 548,800 people to the country, with 766,000 migrants entering the country and 217,000 departing.

Every state and territory had an increase in population. Victoria added 192,700 people over the past year, of which 159,000 were net migrants, taking the state’s population to 6.87 million. NSW’s population has reached almost 8.4 million, up 186,100 over the past year with almost all of that growth due to net migrants.

While 766,000 migrants arrived in the country over the past year, 217,000 people left for a new home.Credit: Scott McNaughton

The fastest growth rate was in Western Australia, up by 3.3 per cent, with the state’s population increasing by 93,600 to 2.9 million while Queensland’s population rose by 144,000 to almost 5.5 million.

The four states accounted for 90 per cent of the nation’s total net overseas migrant intake.

The bureau noted that net overseas migration was up 60 per cent over the previous year, driven largely by an increase in the number of people coming into the country on temporary visas for work or study.

Opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the figures confirmed that the country’s housing crisis was worsening because the number of overseas arrivals was four times the rate of new home builds.

But Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who accused the Coalition of opposing almost all of the government’s programs to increase housing construction, said the most recent population figures pre-date a series of measures aimed at slowing the migrant intake.

Some of those, such as a genuine-student test for those coming into the country on student visas and the targeting of questionable education providers, start on Saturday.

“We’re taking action when it comes to net overseas migration, but we recognise that it is largely a story about students and the strength of our university sector,” Chalmers said.

AMP senior economist Diana Mousina said population growth was adding to demand in the economy, making policy settings for the Reserve Bank more difficult.

“Surging population growth is keeping housing demand too strong at a time that housing supply is constrained, putting upward pressure on rents and home prices and broader inflation in Australia,” she said.

The figures also highlighted the slowdown in birth rates and increase in death rates across the country.

Natural population growth – births minus deaths – added 111,025 people to the country in the 12 months to the end of September. This was a 3.9 per cent fall on the previous 12-month period and the lowest recorded level this century.

Deaths spiked in 2022 due to a surge in the number of COVID-related deaths, while the short-lived baby boom of late 2020 has come to an end.

Demographic director at KPMG, Terry Rawnsley, said the figures confirmed how quickly the overall population was ageing.

The proportion of people over the age of 65 has reached a record high of 17.1 per cent. The proportion of people 17 or younger, which in the late 1970s was around 31 per cent, has now fallen to 21.6 per cent.

Rawnsley said the proportion of working-age Australians was shrinking. Without the recent lift in net migration, and an uptick in people in their 60s increasing their share of part-time work, the situation would be much worse.

“People who were getting ready to prune their roses or warm up the golf clubs have instead turned their laptops back on,” he said.

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