Australia Population Statistics 2026 | Demographics, Growth & Facts

Australia Population Statistics 2026

Australia’s population has entered 2026 at a genuine demographic crossroads. A country built almost entirely on immigration since European settlement now faces a birth rate sitting at its lowest level ever recorded, even as net overseas migration continues to push the national headcount upward at a pace few developed nations can match. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the government body responsible for tracking these figures every quarter, confirms that the country crossed 27.8 million residents by the end of 2025, a milestone that arrived faster than almost any projection made a decade ago.

What makes Australia’s population statistics for 2026 especially worth examining is the widening gap between two very different forces shaping the country’s growth. On one side sits a record-low fertility rate and a rapidly aging population structure that, left alone, would eventually shrink the nation. On the other sits a historically elevated intake of overseas migrants that continues to offset that decline and, in most years, drives roughly three-quarters of all population growth. This article lays out the most current, verified figures behind that story: total population and growth, births and deaths, state-by-state breakdowns, migration patterns, age structure, Indigenous population data, religious and cultural composition, and where the numbers are projected to head over the coming decades.

Australia Population Statistics 2026: Interesting Facts & Key Figures

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, state and territory population; Births, Australia; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Working through these Australia population 2026 statistics as a content writer, the figure that jumps out immediately is the 1.481 births per woman fertility rate — a number that sits 30% below the 2.1 replacement level a country needs just to hold its population steady without migration. That single statistic explains why nearly everything else in this dataset revolves around immigration: with 301,000 people added through net overseas migration against just 111,500 through natural increase (more births than deaths), roughly 73% of all Australian population growth in the year to December 2025 came from people moving to the country rather than being born in it.

The headline total of 27,801,023 people as of December 31, 2025 is the most recent confirmed figure released by the ABS, though it’s worth flagging that live population-clock estimators and projection services such as Worldometer and Statista, which extrapolate forward using assumed daily growth rates, put the mid-2026 population somewhere closer to 28.1–28.5 million — a gap that reflects the roughly six-month lag between when ABS data is collected and when it’s officially published, not a disagreement about the underlying trend. Both figures point the same direction: Australia added more than 400,000 residents in a single year, a pace of growth most comparable developed economies, including the UK, Germany, and Japan, cannot come close to matching.

Australia Population Growth Statistics 2026

AUSTRALIA POPULATION GROWTH RATE — QUARTERLY TREND (2023-2025)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Sep 2023 (peak)       ██████████████████████████  2.53%
Jun 2025              ██████████████████░░░░░░░░  1.54%
Sep 2025              █████████████████░░░░░░░░░  1.6%
Dec 2025              ████████████████░░░░░░░░░░  1.5%
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, state and territory population, December 2025

The population growth statistics for Australia in 2026 show a country whose explosive post-pandemic expansion has clearly cooled, without stopping. The 1.5% annual growth rate recorded for the year to December 2025 is meaningfully lower than the 2.53% peak hit in September 2023, when reopened borders and a backlog of delayed migration produced the fastest population growth Australia had seen in decades. That deceleration has continued gradually through 2025, slipping from 1.6% in the September quarter to 1.5% by year’s end, as successive rounds of visa policy tightening — particularly around international student numbers — worked their way through the migration pipeline.

Even at this more moderate pace, Australia’s growth composition remains structurally unusual among wealthy nations: roughly 73% of all population growth continues to come from net overseas migration rather than natural increase, a ratio that has held remarkably steady even as the total migration number itself has come down from its post-pandemic highs. The quarterly addition of 78,638 people in the final three months of 2025 represents a slower pace than the 111,090 people added in the September quarter, suggesting the deceleration trend is not yet finished, and further tightening of migration settings could push the annual growth rate below 1.5% during 2026.

Australia Birth Rate & Fertility Statistics 2026

AUSTRALIA TOTAL FERTILITY RATE — 10-YEAR DECLINE (2014-2024)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
2014    ████████████████████████░░░░  1.795
2019    ██████████████████████░░░░░░  1.66
2024    ████████████████████░░░░░░░░  1.481   (record low)
Replacement level: 2.1 ─────────────────────────────
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Births, Australia, 2024

The birth rate and fertility statistics for Australia in 2026 confirm a decline that has now stretched across a full decade. The 1.481 births per woman recorded in 2024 is the lowest total fertility rate since Australian records began in 1929, and it marks the second consecutive year below 1.5. That figure sits roughly 30% below the 2.1 replacement level, meaning that, absent immigration, Australia’s population would eventually begin to contract even with the modest uptick in raw birth numbers the country recorded in 2024. The 292,318 registered births that year were up 1.9% on 2023, but demographers attribute that increase largely to a slightly larger pool of women in peak childbearing years rather than any reversal in underlying fertility preferences.

The rising median age of parents — now 32.1 years for mothers and 33.9 years for fathers, both record highs — points to the structural drivers behind the decline: extended time in education, delayed career establishment, and increasingly unaffordable housing all push family formation later into adulthood, which in turn compresses the biological window available for having children. One notable exception to the national trend is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fertility rate of 2.17 births per woman, which remains comfortably above replacement level and reflects a younger, culturally distinct demographic profile within Indigenous communities that stands in sharp contrast to the broader national pattern of delayed and reduced childbearing.

Australia Death Rate & Life Expectancy Statistics 2026

LIFE EXPECTANCY GAP — AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY VS NORTHERN TERRITORY
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
ACT Males    ████████████████████████████████  82.0 years
NT Males     ██████████████████████████████░░  77.0 years
ACT Females  ████████████████████████████████  85.8 years
NT Females   ██████████████████████████████░░  80.7 years
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Life expectancy 2022–2024; Deaths, Australia

The death rate and life expectancy statistics for Australia in 2026 show a population living longer on average than nearly anywhere else in the world, even as the sheer number of deaths climbs steadily due to population aging. The 187,268 registered deaths in 2024 represented a rise of over 4,000 from the prior year, while the standardised death rate actually declined slightly to 5.078 per 1,000 population, meaning the increase in raw death counts is driven almost entirely by Australia having more elderly residents overall, not by any deterioration in health outcomes. Overall life expectancy of 83.1 years places Australia among a small group of nations, alongside Japan and Switzerland, at the very top of global rankings.

The regional gap in life expectancy remains one of the more striking patterns in the data: residents of the Australian Capital Territory can expect to live to 82.0 years (men) and 85.8 years (women), roughly five years longer than residents of the Northern Territory, where life expectancy sits at 77.0 years for men and 80.7 years for women. That gap has been narrowing slightly, with the Northern Territory recording the largest year-on-year improvements of any jurisdiction, but it continues to reflect deep and persistent disparities in healthcare access, remoteness, and socioeconomic conditions that shape health outcomes very differently depending on where in Australia someone happens to live.

Australia Population by State & Territory Statistics 2026

FASTEST-GROWING STATES/TERRITORIES BY ANNUAL GROWTH RATE
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Western Australia   ███████████████████████████  2.2-2.3%
Victoria            ████████████████████████░░░  1.8%
Queensland          ████████████████████████░░░  1.8%
Tasmania            ███░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  0.2%   (slowest)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, National, state and territory population, 2025

The state and territory population statistics for Australia in 2026 reveal a clear east-versus-west and coast-versus-interior growth pattern. New South Wales remains comfortably the most populous state at roughly 8.5 million residents, home to about 31% of the national population, but its 1.2% growth rate trails the national average, weighed down by the largest net interstate migration loss of any state as residents relocate toward Queensland and Western Australia. Victoria, having recently passed the 7 million mark, and Queensland both grew at 1.8%, driven overwhelmingly by overseas migration in Victoria’s case and by a rare combination of strong overseas and interstate migration in Queensland’s.

Western Australia stands out as the country’s fastest-growing state, posting growth north of 2.2% on the back of a resurgent resources sector, relatively affordable housing compared to the eastern capitals, and its recent milestone of surpassing 3 million residents. At the opposite end sits Tasmania, growing at a mere 0.2%, the slowest of any state or territory and a rate that has held below 0.3% for multiple consecutive years, reflecting weak interstate migration inflows and limited overseas migrant settlement compared to the mainland states.

Australia Immigration & Overseas-Born Population Statistics 2026

NET OVERSEAS MIGRATION — RECENT TREND
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Sep 2023 (peak)   ██████████████████████████████  556,000
Mar 2025          ████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░  315,900
Dec 2025          ██████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░  301,000
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Overseas migration; Australia’s population by country of birth

The immigration and overseas-born population statistics for Australia in 2026 confirm the country’s status as one of the world’s most migration-dependent developed economies. The 8.8 million overseas-born residents recorded as of June 2025 push the overseas-born share of the population to 32.0%, the highest proportion since 1892, a period when post-gold-rush immigration last drove comparable levels of foreign-born residency. As our detailed Australia Population Demographics coverage explores further, this figure has climbed from just 23.8% in 2004, an eight-percentage-point rise over two decades that reflects a fundamental and ongoing reshaping of who calls Australia home.

The composition of that overseas-born population is shifting as decisively as its size. India-born residents, now numbering somewhere between 845,800 and 916,330 depending on the reference period used, recorded the largest increase of any country of birth and are on track to overtake England as Australia’s single largest migrant source country within the next few years — a milestone that would mark a genuine historical turning point after more than a century of English-born residents holding that position. Net overseas migration itself has cooled substantially from its 556,000 peak in September 2023 to 301,000 by the end of 2025, a normalization driven by tightened international student visa settings and permanent migration caps, though the current level remains comfortably above pre-pandemic norms.

Australia Age Structure & Aging Population Statistics 2026

AUSTRALIA MEDIAN AGE — 1994 VS 2024 VS 2062-63 PROJECTION
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
1994          ███████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  33.4 years
2024          ██████████████████████░░░░░░░░░░░  38.3 years
2062-63       █████████████████████████░░░░░░░░  43.1 years (projected)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Regional population by age and sex; Population projections, 2022–2071

The age structure statistics for Australia in 2026 map out a population undergoing a significant, long-term shift toward older age brackets. The national median age of 38.3 years has climbed nearly five full years since 1994, and government projections put it at 43.1 years by 2062–63, a trajectory driven by the same low-fertility, high-longevity combination reshaping most developed economies. The 65-and-over population, now 17.1% of all Australians, has grown from just 12% in 1994, while the 85-and-over cohort — the fastest-growing age segment in the country — is projected to more than double its current 2.1% share by 2071.

The practical consequence of this shift shows up most clearly in the old-age dependency ratio, currently around 28% and rising, which measures how many retirement-age Australians exist for every working-age adult and directly affects pension sustainability, aged care capacity, and healthcare system demand. The working-age population (15–64 years), still a comfortable 64.3% of the total today, is projected to fall to somewhere between 59% and 60% by 2071, meaning a shrinking share of Australians will need to economically support a growing share of retirees — a dynamic that only reinforces why sustained immigration, which skews heavily toward workers under 40, has become such a structurally important lever for Australian population policy.

Australia Capital City Population Statistics 2026

FASTEST-GROWING CAPITAL CITIES BY RATE — 2023-24
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Perth        ████████████████████████████  3.1%
Melbourne    █████████████████████████░░░  2.7%
Brisbane     █████████████████████████░░░  2.7%
Hobart        ████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  0.4%   (slowest)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Regional population, 2023–24 financial year

The capital city population statistics for Australia in 2026, explored in far greater depth in our dedicated Populated City in Australia report, show Melbourne closing the gap on Sydney at a pace few demographers expected a decade ago. Melbourne’s 142,600-person increase in 2023–24 — the largest absolute gain of any Australian city — has narrowed the population difference between the two cities to roughly 206,000 people, and current trajectories suggest Melbourne could overtake Sydney as Australia’s largest city sometime between 2031 and 2035, ending more than a century of Sydney’s uncontested dominance.

Perth’s 3.1% growth rate made it the fastest-growing capital by proportion in 2023–24, propelled by Western Australia’s resurgent resources sector and comparatively affordable housing, while Hobart’s 0.4% growth — the slowest of any capital — reflects a persistent pattern of residents leaving Tasmania for mainland opportunities faster than overseas migration and natural increase can replace them. Collectively, Australia’s eight capital cities absorbed 79% of all national population growth in 2023–24, reinforcing a decades-long trend in which coastal metropolitan centres, rather than the vast interior, continue to capture the overwhelming majority of the country’s demographic expansion.

Australia Indigenous Population Statistics 2026

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: MEDIAN AGE VS NATIONAL MEDIAN AGE
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Indigenous median age    ████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  24.0 years
National median age      ████████████████████░░░░░░░░  38.3 years
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 2021 Census

The Indigenous population statistics for Australia in 2026 describe a community growing significantly faster than the national average and skewing dramatically younger. The 983,700 people who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander at the 2021 Census represented a 25.2% increase from 2016 — more than 163,000 additional people in just five years — with over three-quarters of that growth concentrated in the 0–19 age bracket, driven by a combination of higher birth rates, improved census participation, and growing willingness to identify Indigenous heritage on official forms.

The median age of 24.0 years, more than fourteen years younger than the national median of 38.3, reflects both the higher Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fertility rate documented earlier in this report and a historically lower life expectancy that continues to compress the population pyramid toward younger age groups. Government projections suggest the Indigenous population will reach between 1.17 and 1.19 million people by 2031, growing at 1.8% to 2.0% annually — comfortably outpacing the national growth rate — with almost three-quarters of Indigenous Australians continuing to live across New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia, the three states with the largest historical and contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Australia Religion Statistics 2026

AUSTRALIA RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION SHIFT — 2016 VS 2021
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Christianity  2016 ████████████████████████████  52.1%
Christianity  2021 ██████████████████████░░░░░░  43.9%
No Religion   2016 ███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░  30.1%
No Religion   2021 ███████████████████░░░░░░░░░  38.9%
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Religious Affiliation in Australia, 2021 Census

The religion and cultural diversity statistics for Australia in 2026, drawn from the most recent 2021 Census and set out in full in our Religion in Australia coverage, capture one of the most rapid shifts in religious identity anywhere in the developed world. Christianity fell from 52.1% to 43.9% of the population in a single five-year census cycle, a loss of more than 1 million adherents, while the share of Australians reporting no religion climbed to 38.9% — nearly 10 million people — making secular identification the fastest-growing worldview category in the country. Among 15-to-24-year-olds, that figure already exceeds 48%, suggesting Christianity’s decline is set to continue as older, more religious generations are gradually replaced by younger, largely secular ones.

At the same time, migration-driven religious diversity has expanded rapidly: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism together now account for more than 2.6 million Australians, a combined increase of 31% since 2016, with Hinduism’s growth of 55.3% standing out as the largest percentage increase among established faiths, driven almost entirely by migration from India and Nepal. Tasmania has emerged as the country’s most secular jurisdiction, with exactly half its population now reporting no religious affiliation, while capital cities and states with the largest recent migrant intakes — Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia — show the most pronounced growth in non-Christian faiths, underscoring how closely Australia’s religious composition now tracks its migration patterns.

Australia Population Projections Statistics 2026

AUSTRALIA POPULATION PROJECTIONS — 2026 TO 2071 (MEDIUM SERIES)
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
2026 (current)  ███████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  ~27.8-28.1M
2032 (proj.)    █████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░  29.2-30.8M
2071 (proj.)    ████████████████████████████████  34.3-45.9M
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Population projections, Australia, 2022 (base) to 2071

Long-range population projection statistics for Australia illustrate just how sensitive the country’s demographic future is to migration policy rather than fertility trends. The ABS’s medium-series projection puts Australia’s population somewhere between 34.3 and 45.9 million people by 2071, an extraordinarily wide range that exists precisely because the outcome depends almost entirely on assumed net overseas migration levels of between 175,000 and 275,000 people annually over the coming half-century — a level Australia has already exceeded in most years since 2022. By contrast, the fertility and mortality assumptions built into these projections vary only modestly across scenarios, confirming that migration, not births, will determine which end of that 11-million-person range Australia actually lands on.

Nearer-term, the 2032 projection of 29.2 to 30.8 million people implies Australia will add somewhere between 1.4 and 3 million residents over the next six to seven years even under a continued moderation of migration intake. That growth will keep reshaping household formation too: the 10.0 million households counted at the 2021 Census are projected to climb to between 13.3 and 13.9 million by 2046, a housing demand trajectory that already sits at the center of Australia’s ongoing affordability debate, and one that policymakers will need to weigh directly against whatever migration settings they choose to sustain the population growth this entire report has documented.

Disclaimer: This research report is compiled from publicly available sources. While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is given as to the completeness or reliability of the information. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions, losses, or damages of any kind arising from the use of this report.

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