One born every minute as Australia reaches 23 million

Today, 23 April 2013, Australia’s population reached 23 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

According to the Canberra Times, in 1918 the population was just 5 million. Each year the population grew at an average of 1.7%, with the state of Western Australia increasing greater than the national rate (at 3.4%). Making up the 1.7% growth, or 1,048 people per day, is one birth every one minute and 44 seconds and a new arrival from overseas every 2 minutes and 23 seconds, minus a death every 3 minutes and 32 seconds. That equates to a population increase of one person every minute and 23 seconds. This represents the fastest growth rate in the developed world. This compares to a growth rate of 0.9% in the United States, 0.6% in the United Kingdom, and 1.4% in India. Globally, the rate of growth is 1.1%.

Australia’s increase is largely made up of migrants, which were predominantly male in the early years. By 1979 there were more women than men arriving in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) maintains the growth rate is mainly due to migration rather than elevated birth rates. The net overseas migration accounted for 60% of Australia’s population increase in 2012. The upward trend in migration is due to the number of people on temporary visas (people on working holidays, visitors, or New Zealanders) who make up about half of the growth in net migration. Australia has no cap (ceiling) on the number of people that can take a working holiday—and most working holiday makers are from Ireland, Taiwan, and England. Even permanent arrivals (66% in 2012—which is 488,100 people) were on some kind of working visa, with 30% on family visas and 7% on humanitarian visas.

The proportion of births decreased from 46% to 40%, although the average number of children per women has remained relatively stable at about 1.9 children. Despite the downward trend, births still hit a record high in 2012, surpassing 300,000 for the first time. Last year Australia recorded twice as many births (303,600) than deaths (149,100).

From 5 million in 1918, the population reached 10 million in 1959, 15 million in 1982, and 20 million in 2003. The ABS predicts that by 2028 there will be more people aged over 60 years than those below 20 years. And in 30 years (by 2043) there will be almost 35 million people in Australia.

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/data-point/23million

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

The Beggars' Strike by Aminata Sow Fall: book review

The Beggar’sStrike (1979 in French and 1981 in English) is set in an unstated country in West Africa in a city known only as The Capital. Undoubtedly, Senegalese author Sow Fall writes of her own experiences. It was also encapsulated in the 2000 film, Battu , directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko from Mali. Mour Ndiaye is the Director of the Department of Public Health and Hygiene, with the opportunity of a distinguished and coveted promotion to Vice-President of the Republic. Tourism has declined and the government blames the local beggars in The Capital. Ndiaye must rid the streets of beggars, according to a decree from the Minister. Ndiaye instructs his department to carry out weekly raids. One of the raids leads to the death of lame beggar, Madiabel, who ran into an oncoming vehicle as he tried to escape, leaving two wives and eight children. Soon after, another raid resulted in the death of the old well-loved, comic beggar Papa Gorgui Diop. Enough is enou

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog