JIGSAWACTIVITY:HUMANCHARACTERISTICSTHATMAKE

AUSTRALIAUNIQUE

DescribeTHREEhumancharacteristicsthatmakeAustraliaunique.
HumanCharacteristics:
Human
Characteristics
Summary(min5points) Statistics

Gender

Over time, and with the longer life expectancy of

women, this figure changed. By 2001, for every 100
men in the country there were 101 women.
Age group is the over 85 category, where females
outnumber males significantly. This is due to the
longer life expectancy of females in Aus
In Australia the
population is
comprised of 50.7%
females and 49.3%
males.

Populationsize

Australiaspopulationhasgrownby20millionfrom
1901to2014.Thisisaresultofnaturalincrease
andimmigrationpolicies.
NSWisthemostpopulatedstateinAustraliawith
Victoriaaclosesecond.Thisisbecausethese
stateshavethemostpopulatedurbancities.

Australiasagingpopulationhasseenanincrease
inonepersonhouseholds.
Morepeopleareelectingnottohavechildren
Singleparenthouseholdsarealsoincreasing
3.8millionto23.6million
in2014

In200133%ofthe
populationlivesinNSW
andonly1%inthe
NorthernTerritory.
In2001only41%of
householdsweremade
upofcoupleswith
children.

Growthrates

Australiahasexperiencedunevengrowthsince
europeansettlement.DuringWorldWar2,
Australiaspopulationwashighatthetimeduetoa
combinationofhighnaturalincrease,peoples
positiveoutlookforthefutureandhighimmigration
rates.

~Australia'spopulation
grewby1.7%duringthe
yearended31March
2014.
`

At31March2013,theestimatedAustralianresident
populationwas23032700people,representingan
annualincreaseof397400peopleor1.8percent.

Australia'stotalpopulationincreasedby388,400
peopletoreach23.4millionbytheendofMarch
2014,withagrowthrateof1.7percent,a
continuationoftheaverageannualgrowthratefor
thepastthreeyears.

AgeStructure

Agestructureistheproportionofthepopulation(or
ofeachsex)asagelevel.Populationgeographers
typicallyconstructapopulationagestructure
diagrambyplottingthepercentagesofnumbersof
malesandfemalesinthetotalpopulationineachof
threeagecategories.

Canbedividedintoagegroupswhichare014
years,1564years,65yearsandover.Insome
countries,placeswithyoungpopulationareadvised
toinvestmoreinschooling,whitecountrieswith
olderpopulationneedtoinvestmoreinhavinga
healthylife.
014:18%(male
2,075,316/female
1,969,645)
1524years:13.3%
(male1,534,947/female
1,457,250)
2554years:41.8%
(male4,783,473/female
4,626,603)
5564years:11.8%
(male1,321,246/female
1,341,329)
65yearsandover:
15.1%(male
1,569,197/female
1,828,611)(2014est.)

Distribution

Distributionreferstothegrowingpopulationsize
andplacementofpeoplelivinginAustralia.Majority
ofthepopulationliveincoastalcitiesbecauserural
areascausemanyimplicationsforwaysofliving,
examplelackofhealthservices,education,
housing,etc.
Theoverallfigureofurbanisationhasremainedfairly
constantsince1976withafigure86%.Toworkout
thepopulationdensity,youdividethenumberof
peoplebytheareaofthecountry.Thepopulation
densityofAustraliaistwopeoplepersquare
kilometer.Sydneyisthemostpopulatedcity,
followedbyMelbourneandBrisbane.
Growthrateisaffectedbyurbanconsolidation
(urbanlandisusedmoreintensively)andurban
sprawl(cityspreadshorizontallyinthesurrounding
area).
Alossofpopulationinruralareaswillcausea
changeinspecificcitiesandsuburbspopulation
densityalthoughthepopulationdensitydoesnot
alterasawholebecausethereisstillthesame
amountofpeopletothearea.Thiswouldhappen
quiteregularlyaspeoplemoveapproximately13.2
timesinalifetime.
Themostpopulatedstate
inAustraliaisNew
SouthWaleswithatotal
populationof6.8million
withapproximatelyhalf
livinginthecityofSydney
(2004).

Betweentheyearsof
1996to2001,Sydneys
populationincreasedby
6.5%.(213000).

Ethnic
Composition

EthnicCompositionreferstotoculturalheritageof
thepopulationofAustralia.
SincethearrivaloftheEuropeansin1788,
Australiahascreatedandabidedbyastrict
immigrationpolicy.Aftertheabolishmentofthe
Whitepolicyin1973,Australiahasseenamore
diverseamountofculturesmigratetoAustralia.The
definitionofmigrationisthepermanentorsemi
permanentofpeoplefromonelocationtoanother.
Migrationisthemovementofpeopletoanother

countrywhereasemigrationisthemovementof
peopleoutofacountry.
Mostoftoday'sAustralianpopulationisbornin
Australia.

ThemostcommonnationalitiesinAustraliaarefrom
NewZealand,UnitedKingdom,China,SouthAfrica,
IndiaandFormerYugRep.

Thecountriesofthemajorityofbirthpeoplewho
havemigratedtoAustraliaaretheUKandIreland.

AftertheabolishmentoftheWhiteAustraliaPolicyin
1973,peoplefromasiancountriessuchasFormer
YugoslavRepublics,VietnamandPhilippines
begantomigratetoAustralia.

NewZealandhasremainedoneofthemost
significantcontributorstotheAustralianimmigration
program.

Today,around72%of
thepopulationof
Australiawerebornin
Australia.
Thesenationalitiesmake
up50%ofofthesource
ofimmigrationin
Australiaintheyear
19992000.
In1901,679200people
emigratedtoAustralia
fromtheUKandIreland,
andin2000,1164100
peopleemigratedto
AustraliafromtheUK
andIreland.
Therewereno
immigrantsfromthe
FormerYugoslav
Republics,Vietnamand
Philippinesin1901,
howeverin2000,210
000migratedfromthe
FormerYugoslav
Republics,174400from
Vietnamand123000
fromthePhilippines.
In1901,25800migrated
fromNZand374900in
2000.
In1947,migrationtoAustraliawasnotvery
common.

In1947,mostmigrantscamefromEnglishspeaking
countries.

In1947,theproportionof
thepopulationborn
overseaswas10%.
In1947,81%ofmigrants
camefromEnglish
speakingcountries.