The population of Australia hit 24 million at 12.50am on February 16, 2016, according to official statistics.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics runs a population clock online that shows the estimated population updated according to complicated calculations.
The clock ticks off new Australians under the assumptions that:
- A baby is born in the country once in every 1 minute and 44 seconds
- Someone dies every 3 minutes and 24 seconds
- A migrant comes to the country every 2 minutes and 39 seconds
- The total population increases by one every 1 minute and 31 seconds
“Although we can project the population has passed that milestone figure, we do not know who the 24 millionth citizen is,” said ABS Director of Demography, Beidar Cho.
“We just do not have any way of tracking the information.”
How Australia reached the milestone
However, if you had a baby or entered the country at 12.50am on February 16, you may be the mystery person.
When Australia was recognised as a federation of states in 1901, the population was 3.7 million.
Official census statistics show that the number of people living in Australia swelled to 10 million in 1959, but from 1964, the population started to rise by a million people every four to five years.
The 20 million milestone was passed in 2003, while 23 million was hit in 2013.
The population split is roughly 19% are children, 66% are of working age and 16% are over 65 years old.
Comparing the data
“Since 2006, migration has given the population the largest boost,” said Cho. “This hit a high in 2009 when two thirds of the growth in population that year was based on migrants coming to the country.
“Recent data reveals this has dropped back to just over half the growth in population in 2015.”
Most of the people live in New South Wales, which has a population of more than 7.4 million, while two thirds of the state’s population live in Sydney.
Two cities have larger populations than Australia – Shanghai, China, which is home to 24 million and Tokyo, with a population of 37 million.
The island of Taiwan is smaller than the Australian island state of Tasmania, but has the same population as the entire country.
