WA’s population is booming, but it’s not thanks to our birth rate

Western Australia may have grown by 89,000 residents over the past year – but without immigration, population growth would be at a crawl. And bringing in workers from overseas to fill roles in traditionally male-dominated industries such as construction and mining may be behind a widening gender gap, with there currently about 12,434 more men than women in WA. Australia’s population grew by 2.

3 per cent to surpass 27 million people in March 2024, according to the latest figures released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. WA’s population increase topped all other states – up 3.1 per cent to 2,951,600 – followed by Victoria which grew by 2.



7 per cent, and Queensland, which grew by 2.5 per cent. But WA’s population increase is strongly attributed to immigration, with statistics showing a severe decline in our “natural” growth.

Natural growth – the number of babies born less the numbers of deaths – saw the state population increase by 14,084 in 2023-24. Interstate immigration contributed 10,039 people and overseas immigration 64,902. Ten years ago, natural growth increased the population by 21,452, but by 2017-18 that number dropped to 19,851.

The sharpest decline came between 2021-22 and 2022-23, when natural growth dropped by 3763 to 14,113..