Australian population to hit 21 million
By Stephen Spencer
Political Editor
Macquarie National News
Tuesday, 05 June 2007 | Updated: 12:55
Australia's population will top 21,000,000 later this month, as the baby boom and soaring immigration show no sign of easing off.
There were 265,900 babies born in Australia last year, the second highest on record.
With fewer than 134,000 deaths, the natural increase in our population was 132,000.
However, this was outstripped by immigration, with 148,000 more people settling here last year than left the country.
The combination of increasing births and high immigration is adding more than 280,000 people a year to the population, and the Bureau of Statistics is now predicting our population will top the 21,000,000 mark on June 29, this year.
