Australia's population lifts to 27.2 million despite soft migration rates

Australia's population has jumped by about 500,000 people in the past 12 months, the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows.

The ABS revealed the population of Australia has lifted by 2.1 per cent, a net increase of  552,000 people, to hit 27.2 million as of June 30, 2024.

It follows the country hitting the milestone 27 million population mark in 2023 after a post-pandemic spike in migration.

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The modest population growth can be attributed to 666,800 overseas migration arrivals in Australia.

However, net overseas arrivals still dropped by a whopping 89,900 compared to the previous year.

This was a decrease of 16.9 per cent compared to the 12 months to June 30, 2023.

There were 289,100 births and 182,700 deaths for the period, resulting in the natural increase sitting at 106,400.

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This was up 3.4 per cent from the previous year.

A state-by-state breakdown shows Western Australia had the fastest rise in population followed by Victoria, Queensland and NSW.

Tasmania saw the least population growth in the 12 months to June 2024.