Population Growth in Australia

This article discusses the population growth in Australia, its causes, and future implications. It highlights the impact on the environment, healthcare, and education. The article also explores potential solutions to manage the growth.

Running head: POPULATION GROWTH IN AUSTRALIA
Population Growth in Australia
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction
The population growth has become one of the biggest problems in several countries of
the world. It has been considered as a very problematic matter for the individual administrations
of the country to be aware of it for certain reasons. The Federal Government of Australia has
been very much concerned about the growth of the population in several cities like Melbourne
and Sydney (Krockenberger 2015). Certain measures should be taken in the consideration to
prevent such rampant rates of population growth in these countries. The information shared by
the Australian Bureau of Statistics is quite overwhelming and the government is quite worried
about this matter. The future implications of such population growth can be so much serious
indeed. The primary matter of concern is the fact that the Government will have to provide all
the facilities to the people but the economic status is not increasing as per the population growth.
The statistics say that the total population of Australia has almost reached at a number of 25
million. The Citizenship Minister has expressed his grave concern about this fact indeed.
The growth of Australian population
There are several reasons for the population growth in Australia. These reasons will have
to be taken into the proper consideration for the betterment of the situation. The impacts of such
rate of population growth can be immense as well (Krockenberger 2015). The growth of the
population and the impacts on the environment are quite closely related. The experts have
debated over this factor in many ways indeed. The role of immigration is huge in the growth of
population in Australia (Coale and Hoover 2015).
In the year 2009, it had been observed that the overall population of Australia had grown
about 2% and the main reason for this development was the migration of people from several

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countries. Thus it can be assumed that migration had indeed played a huge role in the population
growth of the country. The Net Overseas Migration has really been an important factor for
judging the growth of population in Australia in several ways (Hartwell 2017). Several people
are coming and shifting to Australia in the recent time for various reasons like setting up
businesses, educational facilities and many more. The kinds of immigrants who are arriving to
Australia are the overseas students, citizens from New Zealand, the residents of Australian
parliament or the people who are coming back to Australia after a long absence from the country
(Coale and Hoover 2015).
The Net Overseas Migration has revealed the fact that the most number of migrants are
the ones who are entering Australia for long-term visas particularly the overseas students and the
temporary skilled migrants (Hartwell 2017). It has to be remembered that the permanent
migration is not subject to planning levels set up by the Federal Government of Australia.
Besides that the Australian Government does not have the proper control over the citizens of
Australia and the permanent citizens who might be leaving or returning to Australia. The
implementation of the Migration Program should be strictly maintained in the country properly
as well (Thompson and Maginn 2012).
Present condition of the population growth
Some critics have also said that the population growth in Australia can be considered as
the highest growing indeed. However, the Citizenship Minister of Australia has said that this is
becoming a huge problem for the Australia on the long run. Particularly, the problem has been
rising in Sydney and Melbourne (Thompson and Maginn 2012). The political debates have been
rising in the recent times as well. This is why some of the politicians are urging the people to

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work in the regional towns of Australia so the excessive loads on the major cities like Melbourne
and Sydney can be decreased (Skeldon 2014).
It has to be mentioned that Australia has a very sophisticated migration policy already in
place. This is why it is indeed important to brush it up a bit and make sure that all the things can
be fulfilled by administrators of Australia to manage the growth of population. Some critics have
also opined that the migration policy of Australia is one of the most effective ones. The
migration policy of Australia has not specified any target population level and a proper target for
the population growth (Skeldon 2014). The population policy of Australia has always depended
on the numbers of births and deaths in the country on a regular basis. Apart from that, the net
overseas migration is also a very important factor in this discourse as well. The Howard
Government of Australia had implemented the current practice of the immigration program
(King 2015).
The impact of the population growth is felt on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the
country. The growth rate of population and the level of population ageing have also been very
important for determining the population growth within the country. The data has shown that
Australia has been largely successful in reducing the mortality rates within the country. Some
public health campaigns by the government regarding the road safety campaigns and the anti-
smoking campaigns have contributed to the betterment of the situation indeed. However, the
birth rates in Australia have also gone through a fluctuation over the last few years indeed. The
dying rates of men between age of 55 and 75 have fallen to a huge range over the last few
decades (Castles, Hugo and Vasta 2013).

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The effect of immigration on ageing has been much substantial indeed. The impact of
immigration on the overall development of Australia is huge. It is because the immigration
policies are much flexible so that it could support the short term and medium changes in the
demand for labor (Castles, Hugo and Vasta 2013). The need for skill Australia is much important
in the workplaces in the country. However, the Australian organizations seek for such skilled
experts who would engage in the work at low wages. The Australian people will never work at a
low wage as the people from different countries do. It has been assumed that the job possibilities
will surely grow in the coming years. This sum up the fact that the new jobs will surely make
new scopes for the immigration and population will grow as well. The growth of the population
has thus been one of the major concerns for the Citizenship ministry of the country. The minister
has ordered to probe into the matter and assume the implications that might be there in the future.
The cities that can be accounted for around 70% of the population growth of the country are
Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney (Ayres 2014).
Thus the Australian Bureau of Statistics has pointed out that the population growth of
these countries has been due to mainly three reasons (Lutz 2013). These reasons are overseas
migration, internal migration i.e. the flow of people from and to the other cities and states of
Australia and the natural increase of the people that means the more number of the births than
the deaths. Apart from Sydney the increase of the population of Sydney should also be
considered in this matter. It has been the fastest over the last few years and the main reason for
this growth is probably the overseas population of the country (Ayres 2014). This increase has
been recorded as much higher than that of Melbourne. The second most powerful driver of the
population growth in Sydney is definitely the natural increase. However, the fact of internal
migration is not that much significant in the case of Sydney. Some experts of demographics have

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pointed out that Sydney had been losing people to the other parts of Australia. They have pointed
out that the two regions that are gaining people from Sydney (Cleland 2013).
Future implications of the population growth
The main concern of the people lies in the fact how Australian Federal Government
would be able to cope up with this immense population growth in the country. If the Government
is not able to tackle this issue it might raise a huge problem in the next few decades. The
opposition parties have also exclaimed their concerns over this grim problem and they believe
that some immediate actions would have to be taken if the population growth explodes more than
their anticipation (Gerland et al. 2014). It has been assumed by the experts that the population of
Australia might raise to 36 million by the end of 2050. The Sustainable Australia Party has said
if the growth of the population continues to grow in this manner it would be almost impossible to
own the backyards of the house and the cars and houses. The people would almost be made
compelled to live in the high rising apartments instead of their houses. This would be much
problematic for the native people of the country (Buhaug and Urdal 2013).
The party has also opined that the individuals might be charged of taxes for
owning their cars if this kind of population growth continue. They have also exclaimed their fear
about the fact that the population growth of the country might go on to touch the 80 to 100
million mark by the end of the 21st century. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has said that the
total population of Australia could reach up to almost 70.1 million by 2101. The suburban
families and lifestyle would be left nowhere by this kind of population growth indeed. The
experts have also demanded the fact that this kind of population growth would surely lead to the
reduction of the lands (Buhaug and Urdal 2013). The facilities in education and healthcare

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systems would also be diminished indeed (Chaloupka and Musick, 2017). It would not be easy
to get the admission in the schools or hospitals. People would have to stand in the long queues to
get the hospitals or get enrolled in the schools. This rate of population growth will also heat up
the environment more with the increase of the greenhouse gases. Thus it can be said that the
growth of population might be harmful for the proper development of the country.
Conclusion
As per the above discussion the paper will have to be concluded in this section. It can be
said that the huge population growth in Australia has raised the concern of the Citizenship
Department of Australia. This growth of the people will damage the environment in a number of
ways and there would be problems in delivering the education and health facilities by the
government. The scarcity of lands might occur in the future due to this high growth of population
in cities like Melbourne and Sydney. The reasons for the population growth in these two cities
have been discussed properly as well.

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References
Ayres, R., 2014. Turning point: end of the growth paradigm. Routledge.
Buhaug, H. and Urdal, H., 2013. An urbanization bomb? Population growth and social disorder
in cities. Global Environmental Change, 23(1), pp.1-10.
Castles, S., Hugo, G. and Vasta, E., 2013. Rethinking migration and diversity in Australia:
introduction. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 34(2), pp.115-121.
Chaloupka, M.Y. and Musick, J.A., 2017. Age, growth, and population dynamics. In The Biology
of Sea Turtles, Volume I(pp. 247-290). CRC Press.
Cleland, J., 2013. World population growth; past, present and future. Environmental and
Resource Economics, 55(4), pp.543-554.
Coale, A.J. and Hoover, E.M., 2015. Population growth and economic development. Princeton
University Press.
Connell, J. and McManus, P., 2016. Rural revival?: Place marketing, tree change and regional
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Gerland, P., Raftery, A.E., Ševčíková, H., Li, N., Gu, D., Spoorenberg, T., Alkema, L., Fosdick,
B.K., Chunn, J., Lalic, N. and Bay, G., 2014. World population stabilization unlikely this
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Krockenberger, M., 2015. Population growth in Australia. Australia Institute.
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Skeldon, R., 2014. Migration and development: A global perspective. Routledge.
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