3101.0 - Australian Demographic Statistics, Jun 2018 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 20/12/2018   
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MEDIA RELEASE
20 December 2018
Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)

Proportion of older Australians continues to rise

The proportion of Australia's population aged 65 years and over continued to increase in 2018, with Tasmania home to the country's oldest population, according to the latest figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

ABS Demography Director Anthony Grubb said a range of factors had contributed to the ageing trend.

"Over the 20 year period to 2018, the proportion of Australia's working age population remained fairly stable at around two-thirds of the total population, while the proportion of people aged 65 years and over increased from 12.2 per cent to 15.7 per cent," Mr Grubb said. "Conversely, the proportion of people aged under 15 years decreased from 21.0 per cent to 18.8 per cent during this same period".

"There are several drivers for Australia's ageing population - more of the large baby boomer cohort is reaching 65 and there has been an increase in life expectancy. This has occurred alongside low fertility rates which have resulted in fewer children.

"Tasmania continues to have our oldest population, with a median age of 42 years, while the Northern Territory is still the youngest with a median age of 33 years" Mr Grubb added.

Overall, Australia's population grew by 390,500 people in the year ending 30 June 2018, to reach 24.9 million. New South Wales had the largest population of any state or territory at just under 7.99 million while Victoria was the fastest growing, increasing 2.2 per cent to almost 6.46 million.

Net overseas migration added 236,700 people to the population and accounted for 61 per cent of Australia's total population growth.

Natural increase contributed 153,800 additional people to Australia's population, was the result of 314,800 births and 161,000 deaths.

Further information is available in Australian Demographic Statistics, June Quarter 2018 (cat. no. 3101.0).

This issue of Australian Demographic Statistics, June Quarter 2018 contains an additional feature article explaining how net overseas migration is calculated and exploring the data in detail.

For population estimates at the regional level, see Regional Population Growth, Australia (cat. no. 3218.0), available for free download from https://www.abs.gov.au/.



PRELIMINARY DATA
Population at
end June Qtr 2018
'000
Change over
previous year
'000
Change over
previous year 

New South Wales 
7 987.3
119.3
1.5
Victoria 
6 459.8
138.2
2.2
Queensland 
5 012.2
84.5
1.7
South Australia 
1 736.4
12.5
0.7
Western Australia 
2 595.9
21.7
0.8
Tasmania 
528.1
5.7
1.1
Northern Territory 
247.3
-0.2
-0.1
Australian Capital Territory 
420.9
8.9
2.2
Australia 
24 992.4
390.5
1.6



Proportion (%)

Median age
0 to 14
15 to 64
65 plus
1998
2018
1998
2018
1998
2018
1998
2018

          New South Wales
35.2
37.5
20.9
18.7
66.3
65.2
12.8
16.1
          Victoria
35.0
36.7
20.5
18.4
66.8
66.3
12.7
15.3
          Queensland
34.1
37.2
21.7
19.6
67.0
65.1
11.3
15.4
          South Australia
36.4
40.0
20.0
17.7
65.8
63.9
14.3
18.4
          Western Australia
33.9
36.9
21.8
19.5
67.6
66.0
10.6
14.4
          Tasmania
35.7
42.3
21.7
17.7
65.2
62.2
13.1
19.7
          Northern Territory
28.4
32.9
26.5
21.6
70.2
70.8
3.3
7.6
          Australian Capital Territory
32.3
35.1
21.4
19.1
70.8
68.2
7.8
12.7
          Australia 
34.8
37.3
21.0
18.8
66.7
65.5
12.2
15.7


Media notes:
  • When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
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