Western Australia has continued to lead the nation on population growth, with WA’s population increasing by 2.4 per cent in 2024.
Western Australia has continued to lead the nation on population growth, with WA’s population increasing by 2.4 per cent in 2024.
The state's population grew by 70,300 to a total just above 3 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
WA’s annual population growth in 2024 was down from the recent peak of 3.3 per cent in the year to September 2023 but well above the long-term average of 1.7 per cent.
By comparison, the national population grew by 1.7 per cent last year.
“Our population at 31 December 2024 was 27.4 million people, that's 445,900 more than the same time in 2023,” said Beidar Cho, ABS head of demography.
The national growth came mainly from net overseas migration (up 340,800) while natural increase (births minus deaths) added 105,200 people.
After WA, Victoria and Queensland were the fastest growing states, up by 1.9 per cent.
Tasmania saw the slowest growth over the 12-month period, with a 0.3 per cent rise in population.
WA’s population growth was more balanced than most states, with contributions from all three factors.
Natural increase added 12,576 people, net overseas migration added 45,124 and net interstate migration added 12,612.
Queensland was the only other state with growth from all three factors.
By contrast, NSW and Victoria attracted a lot of overseas migrants but are losing people via interstate migration.
In today's state budget, the Treasury has forecast WA's population growth rate will progressively ease from 1.9 per cent in 2024-25 to 1.6 per cent in 2028-29.
It said net overseas migration was expected to be constrained by federal government policies designed to limit the inflow of migrants to the country.
Treasury also expects net interstate migration to revert to long-run average levls around 2,200 per year.
