{"id":401622,"date":"2026-01-09T08:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401622\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T08:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T08:53:10","slug":"wa-set-to-lead-the-country-in-population-growth-until-2066-government-figures-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/401622\/","title":{"rendered":"WA set to lead the country in population growth until 2066, Government figures reveal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Australia<\/a> is tipped to continue its nation-leading population growth for the next four decades, even as population slows across the country.<\/p>\n

The State\u2019s population grew by 64,000 people in 2024-25, or 2.2 per cent \u2014 the highest in the nation, according to figures in the 2025 Population Statement released on Friday.<\/p>\n

Most of that increase came from overseas migration, with 40,200 new arrivals, while more than 10,000 people moved to the State from elsewhere in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WA is expected to grow by another 54,000 people this financial year, with the majority of the growth occurring in the greater Perth region.<\/p>\n

Around the country in 2024-25 there were another 416,000 Australians \u2014 that\u2019s expected to decline to 362,000 this financial year, according to figures in the 2025 Population Statement released on Friday.<\/p>\n

The data also showed Melbourne and Sydney are both on track to hit populations of more than eight million by 2065. Perth is expected to reach nearly 4.2 million by the same time.<\/p>\n

Net international migration was still the main driver for population growth, with 311,100 more people coming to the country than leaving it in 2024-25. In comparison 105,400 people were added through natural increase, with births outpacing deaths.<\/p>\n

International migration is significantly down, from a net 428,700 increase the year prior. It\u2019s also well below the peak of 556,000 in the 12 months to September 2023.<\/p>\n

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said migration was expected to continue to fall over coming years after a post-pandemic peak, and take overall population growth with it.<\/p>\n

\u201c(This) confirms that net overseas migration has come in lower than previously forecast for 2024-25 and is close to half the post-COVID peak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Amid ongoing debate over migration levels and an apparent rise in support for anti-immigration policies and political parties, NSW Premier Chris Minns said newly arrived migrants were often the most proud of Australia.<\/p>\n

\"TreasurerCamera IconTreasurer Jim Chalmers said migration was expected to continue to fall over coming years after a post-pandemic peak, and take overall population growth with it. Credit: Martin Ollman NewsWire\/NCA NewsWire<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vast majority of people who come to this country, particularly new immigrants, are some of the most patriotic people that you can meet, precisely because they know how great this country is and they\u2019re desperate to be members of our community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to foster that, speak about it more, have a joint mission, have a joint understanding of what the project of Australia is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite overall growth in the population, Australia\u2019s fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.45 children per woman with WA even lower on 1.43.<\/p>\n

WA\u2019s rate is tipped to remain at the low this coming year, before climbing gradually over the next decade.<\/p>\n

At the other end of the scale, Tasmania is forecast to grow just 0.1 per cent, and have deaths outnumber births by 2028-29 \u2014 the first State or Territory to do so. South Australia is also forecast to follow by the 2060s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia is tipped to continue its nation-leading population growth for the next four decades, even as population…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44,84,7239,45],"class_list":["post-401622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-state-politics","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}