Western Australia has been named the fastest-growing state in the country following the release of new figures by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
In the last 24 hours, the state hit a population milestone of 3 million residents, with the growth driven largely by immigration.
Net overseas migration – arrivals, minus departures – made up for 64,902 people now calling the state home over the year to March, accounting for almost 75 per cent of the total amount.
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Sunny days and an outdoor lifestyle were the drawcard for David and Gemma Hanrahan, who moved with their daughter from the UK to Western Australia 10 weeks ago.
“The possibilities out here for her, as well as us, and what we’ve been able to enjoy out here are definitely worth the sacrifice,” Mrs Hanrahan told 9News.
“Back in the UK we lived in a town, not in a city, and we wanted to re-create that – somewhere that wasn’t as busy, so going somewhere like Sydney wouldn’t have given us a lifestyle that I think we wanted.”
The family now call Carramar, in Perth’s north-west, home.
“You have so much free outdoor space, free activities, you cater for families, it was the best place for us,” Mr Hanrahan said.
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The ABS population clock estimates that Western Australia grows by one person every six minutes and eight seconds.
And it’s not just immigration making WA busy – there’s also a birth every 16 minutes and 44 seconds.
Despite the population boom, WA’s birth rate is currently the lowest it’s been in two decades.
More than 25,000 babies were born last year, which is a 6 per cent drop from four years ago.
On the flip side of things, there’s one death every 29 minutes and 43 seconds in the state, while a resident leaves to live overseas every 14 minutes and 33 seconds.
But WA wasn’t always this busy.
The state’s population was first recorded in 1829 after a mining boom saw hundreds of gold-hungry hopefuls heading to the shores on the west of Australia.
“The next expansion was around about World War II,” Richard Offen tells 9News.
“And by about 1949, we were about 300,000 in Western Australia”.
The state’s come a long way since then, tipping the 2 million people mark in 2005.
Less than 20 years later, another million’s been added to the tally. In the last calculated 12-month period, the state’s population grew by 90,000.
That represents a 3.1 per cent growth rate, making it the fastest-growing state in Australia.
Victoria was the second fastest-growing state with a 2.7 per cent population increase in the past year, totalling 184,000 new residents.
Queensland followed with a 2.5 per cent increase and there was a 2 per cent hike in NSW.
The ACT had a 1.8 per cent rise, while South Australia and Tasmania followed with 1.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent population increases, respectively.
The biggest driver for all states was net overseas migration, other than in the Northern Territory, which registered a 0.8 per cent population lift due largely to births.
Overall, Australia’s total population is up by 2.3 per cent to more than 27 million.
Western Australia’s population boom has left many asking if the state’s infrastructure can handle the increase?
Premier Roger Cook says he’s hoping to mirror Queensland and to transform more regional towns into hubs and small cities to help cope with the influx.
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