Immigration has been a key factor in population growth in Australia resulting in an increase in population from 8 million in 1949 to 13 million by 1972. Consequently, Australia is both ethnically and culturally diverse, and it can be said that the current collective wisdom of the Australian people comes in part from the interaction of different cultures. Just under one in four Australians are immigrants born overseas. Approximately one third of these are of British or Irish descent. There has been a decline in the proportion of other European immigrants in the last 6 years. The Asian-born population has rapidly increased and now represents 22% of Australians born overseas.
| Population (1994) | |
| Sydney | 3,738,500 |
| Melbourne | 3,198,200 |
| Brisbane | 1,454,800 |
| Adelaide | 1,076,400 |
| Perth | 1,239,400 |
| Canberra | 300,500 |
| Hobart | 194,200 |
| Darwin | 78,100 |
| Basic demographics (1996) | |
| Australian population | 18,426,900 people |
| Annual population growth | 1.32% |
| Total fertility rate | 1.82% |
| Crude birth rate | 13.7 per 1,000 people |
| Crude death rate | 7.0 per 1,000 people |
| Male life expectancy (1994) | 75.0 years |
| Female life expectancy (1994) | 80.9 years |
| Infant mortality rate | 5.7 per 1,000 live births |
| Maternal mortality rate (1995) | 9.4 per 100,000 live births |
| Probability of dying before age of 5 (1995) | |
| Males | 8.6 per 100,000 live births |
| Females | 6.7 per 100,000 live births |
| Leading causes of death, number and per cent of total deaths (1995) | ||
| Diseases of the circulatory system | 53,402 | (42.7%) |
| Malignant neoplasms | 33,805 | (27.0%) |
| Other | 23,626 | (18.9%) |
| Accidents and adverse effects | 4,580 | (3.7%)* |
| Diabetes mellitus | 2,708 | (2.2%) |
| Respiratory conditions | 2,559 | (2.0%) |
| Suicide | 2,367 | (1.9%) |
| Infectious and parasitic infections | 1,069 | (0.8%) |
| Perinatal conditions | 675 | (0.5%) |
| Homicide | 333 | (0.3%) |
| Total deaths in 1995 | 125,124 | (100%) |
| * (motor vehicles accidents = 2,029) | ||
| Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Canberra: Deaths, 1996. Cat. No. 3302.0 Causes of Death, Australia. 1995. Cat. No. 3303.0 Census Edition, 1996. Cat. No. 3101.0 |
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Australia is a federation of six states: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and two Territories; the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). The city of Canberra in the ACT is the seat of the Australian Government . The geographical sizes of the individual States and Territories are widely divergent. About 65% of the total population lives in the eight capitals. The population density excluding the capital cities of Australia is less than one person per square kilometre, in contrast to, for example, Korea which has 445 people or Japan which has 327 people per square kilometre.