Garnaut Fitzgerald Review of Commonwealth-State Funding

CHAPTER 7: Other Federations
Populations in some Australian States have grown fast relative to others at some times
and slowly at others. For example, Victoria experienced net interstate emigration in the
early 1990s, but that pattern has reversed over the past few years. So far, no Australian
State has experienced a decline in population except over very short periods, although
Tasmania’s population stagnated between the 1996 and 2001 census. While
Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia – Australia’s sun belt – have
been growing faster than average, growth in most States is close to the national annual
average.
Australia has experienced significant population increases since World War II, with
international migration contributing much of the increase. In 1947 the proportion of
Australians born overseas was 10 per cent, increasing to 24 per cent by 2000 (ABS
2002a). In Canada, the proportion of population born overseas increased from
14.7 per cent in 1951 to 16.8 per cent by 1996. In the United States, the overseas born
proportion was lower – rising from 6.9 per cent of the total population in 1950 to
7.9 per cent in 1990 (2000 Census data unavailable).
Figure 7.3 charts the proportion of State populations born overseas for the most and
least populous States in Australia, Canada and the United States. It shows a more
widespread settlement of immigrants throughout Australia than in the other Federations.
FIGURE 7.3: Proportion of State population born overseas in the most and least
populous States in Australia, Canada and the United States
30
most populous
least populous
per cent
20
10
0
WA
Victoria
NSW
Ontario
British Columbia
California
Queensland
New York
Alberta
Florida
Quebec
Texas
ACT
South Australia
NT
Tasmania
Yukon Territory
District of Columbia
Northwest Territory
Alaska
Prince Edward Island
Vermont
Wyoming
Newfoundland
Sources: ABS 1996; Statistics Canada 1996; United States Census Bureau 1990
Examining foreign-born populations as a proportion of the four most and least populous
States in each Federation shows that international migration has played a major role in
driving growth in all Australian States. As expected, international migration has driven
growth in Australia’s largest States more than in Canada and the United States. The
populations of Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, similar to but more
than Ontario and California, have contained high proportions of immigrants. Less
populous States in the United States and Canada have had constrained population
growth and low levels of immigration, whereas in Australia all States have attracted
significant proportions of international migrants.
FINAL REPORT [96]