National, state and territory population, March 2022

Overseas migration drove most of the population growth in the March 2022 quarter

• Australia’s population grew by 234,000 people over the year to March 2022, an increase of 0.9 per cent. This was much higher than growth over the year to March 2021 of just 22,000 people (0.1 per cent).
• Population in the March 2022 quarter grew at the fastest rate since the beginning of the COVID‑19 pandemic, by 124,000 people or 0.5 per cent, driven mostly by the strong recovery in net overseas migration.
• The March 2022 quarter was the first full quarter of data to incorporate the easing of international travel restrictions in December 2021. As a result, a strong recovery in overseas arrivals saw the quarterly net inflow of migrants (96,000) increase to the highest level in the history of this series (see Chart 1).

• Overseas migration recovered to 110,000 in the year to March 2022, the largest annual inflow of overseas migrants since travel restrictions were introduced in March 2020 (see Chart 2).
  • This was the result of the March 2022 quarter experiencing a combination of the highest level of arrivals (150,000) compared to all other quarters since the start of the pandemic and a continued low level of departures (54,000).
• Natural increase continued to drive most of the population growth over the year to March 2022, with births outnumbering deaths by 130,000.
  • There were 309,000 births over the year to March 2022, an increase of 3.4 per cent from the previous year and the highest annual births figure since 2017. Deaths in the year to March 2022 experienced the fastest annual increase in the series history of 10.0 per cent, a period covering peaks in COVID-19 infections. This resulted in natural increase falling by 4.6 per cent over the year (also see analysis of the ABS Provisional Mortality Statistics).
    • The Australian Bureau of Statistics revises the most recent financial year of births from a registration basis to an occurrence basis in the March quarter release of National, state and territory population. This provides a clearer picture of how fertility was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, given birth registrations can be impacted by disruptions to registration behaviour and administrative processing.
    • The March 2022 population statistics included upwards revisions to birth numbers for 2020‑21 by 7,000. This included the highest quarterly births recorded in the series history in March 2021 of 80,000, a 12.6 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
• The number of interstate moves rose to a record high of 485,000 over the year to March 2022 (see Chart 3), up from 484,000 over the year to December 2021.
  • It is unlikely all these interstate moves were made in the year to March 2022. Interstate moves are estimated using change of address data captured through Medicare, which have seen an unprecedented increase because of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

All states and territories experienced population growth in the year to March 2022

• Annual population growth increased in all states and territories for the first time since the start of the pandemic due to a strong recovery in overseas migration (see Chart 4).

• Queensland and Western Australia continued to be the fastest growing jurisdictions in the year to March 2022. Northern Territory was the slowest growing jurisdictions due to the comparatively smaller share of net overseas migrants it receives (see Chart 5).
• Queensland maintained the largest net inflow of internal migrants over the year to March 2022, followed by Western Australia and South Australia. All other states and territories had net outflows.
• In the March 2022 quarter, lower interstate departures saw smaller net outflows of residents from New South Wales and Victoria to other jurisdictions. As a result, Queensland saw a decline in interstate arrivals.

Note: Components of growth will not match the total growth due to the intercensal difference, notably for the Northern Territory. For further information on the intercensal difference please see Rebasing of Australia’s population estimates using the 2021 Census, at population.gov.au.

* Includes other territories comprising Jervis Bay Territory, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island

NOTES

Further detail regarding the latest population data is available from the ABS in National, state and territory population, March 2022.