Australia's Population

Australia's Population

1. Australia's Population is growing

   • Before 1788, population (entirely Indigenous) 300,000 - 750,000
     • 2009, 2.2 million
       • 2020, 2.4 million?
   • Decline
     • Births
     • Deaths
     • Immigration
     • Emmigration
   • Natural rate of increase = births-deaths
   • Rate of overseas migration = immigration - emmigration
   • Aging population with declining fertility rates
   • Census
     • helps government
       • predict future trends
       • determine where buildings are needed
       • asses where increased housing and transport are needed
   • Future Challenges?
     • supporting elderly, sustain demographically diverse population, protecting the environment

2. Age Strucuture

   • declining fertility rate with increasing life expectancy
   • caused by increased gov policies adn investment in: health, education and infrastrucutre
   • 1.93 children per women (2008)
     • below average replacement rate (2.1)
     • if trend continues, declining population
   • declining fertility rate caused by economic, biological and social changes.

3. Aging population

   • 5th highest life expectancy in the world
     • 83 for men
     • 86 for women
   • increase in life expectancy and fall in fertility rates, means aging population

4. Population pyramids

   • show past and current population trends
   • used to estimate future population and age distribution
   • GOV analyse to guide policies
   • spatial distribution of population age structure helps determine where to spend money

5. Migration Policies

   • large factor of population growth (56% in 2009)
   • population trends suggest reduction of people in working age group (15-64)
   • high levels of migration, is ecologically unstable (contributing to ecological footprint)
     • though migration is vital to sustain current economic standards
   • Skilled
     • 158 800 places a year
   • Humanitarian
     • 13 000 places a year
     • obliged to provide asylum for refugees (UN convention, status of Refgugees (1951)
     • refugee program, provides resettlement for people subjected to persecution in their home country
     • special humanitarian program
       • assists people who have suffered discrimination presenting violation in HR
         • must be sponsored by Australian: citizen, organisation or resident
   • Asylum seekers
     • temporary residence in detention centres until papers are processed
   • Spatial distribution
     • shaped by where migrants live (factors, job location, migrant network, settlement areas)
   • most migrants from UK (17%)

6. Spatial Distribution

   • sparsely populated country
   • population density of 2.84 people per square kilometer
   • center reflects concentration of population
   • average latitude and longitude of population distribution

7. Population movements

   • 66% of pop growth, in capital cities
   • projected growth, comprise of interstate migration, smaller from natural increase and net overseas migration
   • internal migration (change of residence)
     • interstate (between states)
     • rural-urban migration
       • jobs, specialist services, lifesytle
     • urban-rural migration
       • housing, traffic, air quality
     • intra-city migration (within city)

8. movement and urban planning

   • population in urban areas is expected to grow by 4 million in the next 25 years
     • putting pressure on transport, energy, air and water systems
   • high urban growth has made it difficult for govs to supply adequate infrastructure
     • resulting in large economical urban footprint, soil erosion, water and air pollution and large accumlation of waste
       • socio-economic exclus