The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) latest data suggest that by 2029, 30 million people will be calling Australia home.
And by 2066, Australia's population could be as high as 49 million.
It also shows a nation getting older: low fertility rates and increased life expectancy equates to an ever-ageing population.
By 2042 more than one million Australians could be aged over 85 - that’d be 3 per cent of the population.
Fast-forward to 2066, and the ABS' Denise Carlton says there could be more like 2 million Australians aged over 85.
“And we may see a future in, say, 2066 - 50 years away - when more than half the population is aged over 40. So the reason we've released these projections is to show a range of possibilities to allow people to start to think about and plan Australia's future,” Ms Carlton says.
While an ageing population can be a sign of a healthy nation, it poses challenges to policymakers.
Demographer Simon Kuestenmacher says the country has not invested enough in infrastructure.
“The largest challenge with this population growth will be to manage traffic and it will be to manage the healthy retirement of many, many elderly people over the next coming decades. That means population growth is actually not a migration issue but an infrastructure and planning issue,” said he.
The population data will also provide food for thought for state governments.
It reveals New South Wales will remain the biggest state, with a population estimated to tip 9 million within 9 years. Victoria is likely to show the fastest growth in population, with more than 7 and a half million residents by 2027.
The Federal Government says migration is driving Melbourne and Sydney's growth rate and the population boom might force it to reduce the number of migrants Australia takes in.
But Mr Kuestenmacher says it's a political ploy.
“I would be surprised if we see a permanent slowdown of migration in Australia since industry relies heavily on enough skilled migrants to come into Australia and I think this is probably more of a sleight-of-hand by the government just in front of the Victorian election, to gain a bit of support and to show that a strong politician drives a strong anti-immigration agenda,” he added.
The government will discuss migration with the states and territories at a Council of Australian Governments meeting next month.
Overall, says statistician Denise Carlton, Australia will soon enough be entering uncharted territory.
“Well, certainly Australia's population will continue to grow and continue to age. We'll see much larger proportions of people in older age groups. We will see a continuing trend towards people living in our capital cities and many of the trends that we've seen in recent years will continue to play out using the assumptions that we've put into those projections,” added Ms Carlton.
