Kevin Rudd was happy to predict an Australian population of 36 million by 2050, buoyed largely by immigration. But one of Prime Minister Gillard's first moves was to scrap the idea, saying Australia should not set targets when its environment and services may not be able to sustain such an amount.
Here are are some facts and figures.
The Australian Burea of Statistics estimates that there are around 22.7 million Australians.
According to the World Bank, Australia's population increased from 10,276,000 in 1960, to 21.875 in 2009.
The below chart compares that growth to some other countries around the world. (For the record, China is not included for reasons of dwarfing other nations on the chart: Its population increased from 667.07 million in 1960, to 1.331 billion in 2009).
Currently, there's a birth every minute and 46 seconds, and a death every three minutes and 40 seconds. Thanks to international migration, we gain one person every two minutes and 44 seconds: This all adds up to Australia gaining one person every one minute and 31 seconds.
THE STATES AND TERRITORIES
NSW has the highest population of the states, with 7.29 million at the end of the March quarter 2011.
The Northern Territory ended the same period with just 229,000 inhabitants.
The state which grew the fastest over the preceding year was Western Australia, which shot up by 2.2 per cent, compared to the ACT's 0.4 per cent growth rate.
Australia's population increased by 1.4 per cent.
Natural increase therefore led to 46 per cent of Australia's growth, with migration contributing to 54 per cent.
AGEING POPULATION
We're getting older: the median age of Australians has increased by 4.8 years in the last twenty years, hitting 36.9 years at on June 30th 2010.
Tasmania has the oldest population, with 39.9 the median age, compared to the N.T.'s 31.3 years median age. The ABS puts this Tasmanian increase down to young Tasmanians leaving the island.
The modal age for people in Australia is 25 years, with 340,000 of them (on June 30th, 2010).
Over the past twenty years, the number of 'elderly' people (over 85) has increased by 170.6 per cent, compared to overall population growth of 30.9 per cent – with almost twice as many females as males in this age group.
There were 3,700 people over 100 on June 30th, 2010, with three times as many females as males.
By 2025, there are set to be more people aged over 65 than those aged under 14, according to the ABS.
By way of comparison, while 18.9 per cent of Australia's population was aged 0-14 on June 30th 2010, the figure was 33.5 per cent for the Philippines, where life expectancy was 72.9, compared to Australia's 82 years.
PROJECTIONS
Australia's population is projected to increase to between 30.9 and 42.5 million people in 2056, to between 33.7 and 62.2 million in 2101, according to the ABS.
Australia's cities are likely to experience greater percentage growth than rural areas. In 2007, 64 per cent of Australians lived in its capital cities – set to hit 67 per cent by 2056.
Competing ABS projections alternatively see Sydney remain the biggest city in Australia with seven million people in 2056, as well as Melbourne overtaking Sydney in 2039. Click here for more.
The fastest growth of all capital cities looks set to occur in Perth.
URBAN LIVING
According to the World Resource's Institute (via The Guardian), 77 per cent of Australia's population was urban in 1950, up to 87.2 in 2000, with a relatively high prediction of 91.9 by 2030.
Compare that to Bangladesh's 4.2 per cent urban population in 1950, increasing to 39.9 per cent in 2030, and Brazil's 36.2 per cent in 1950, which shot up to 91.1 per cent in 2030.
