Fertility rates in Melbourne - where are people having babies?

There's little doubt that Australia is currently experiencing rapid rates of population growth, but much of the focus has been on immigration.  However populations grow in two main ways - through net migration and natural increase ie the difference between births and deaths.  In recent years the number of births in Australia has exceeded 300,000 per annum, with the total fertility rate (TFR) remaining somewhat stable.  While these headline figures provide a national perspective, much of the devil is in the spatial details - so to speak.

Australia at 25 million - how did we get here?

Happy World Population Day!  On this day when we focus on all things population, why not have a look at the history of Australia's population since 1788.  There's no doubt that Australia is recording strong population growth in the current era, and the ABS estimates that Australia reach a population of 25 million in the coming weeks.  But how did we get here, and when did we reach other population milestones in the past?

Migration to Australia - the global context

There's little doubt that Australia's population growth is a hot topic in the media.  The latest data indicates an annual population growth rate of 1.6%, with around 62% of population growth attributable to net overseas migration.  In 2017, Australia's net migration intake was 240,300.  But how does this compare internationally?  The recent release of the International Migration Outlook by the OECD provides an opportunity to examine the most recent data for the 35 member countries.