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Australia's population has shifted and continues to shift. Our population is moving to metropolitan high amenity environments - including 'sea change' areas. It is suggested that there have been three Australian dominant demographic 'cultures' since European settlement:
- The culture of the bush at the time of Federation;
- The culture of suburbia from Federation until the end of the twentieth century; and
- An emerging culture of the coast. While there are numerous reasons for the emerging population shift, including reduced work opportunities in rural and regional areas, aspirational and lifestyle factors are a strong influence.
Long-term demographic trends reveal that at the time of Federation, 15% of Australians lived in suburbia, compared to 58% by 2001. Similarly, people living in non-metropolitan coastal regions increased from 8% to 20% over the same period.
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Population |
%share |
| Sydney |
4,336,374 |
62.9 |
| Melbourne |
3,806,092 |
73.1 |
| Brisbane |
1,857,594 |
44.4 |
| Adelaide |
1,158,259 |
73.1 |
| Perth |
1,554,769 |
73.8 |
| Greater Hobart |
207,484 |
42.1 |
Capital city statistical division population and share of state population at 30 June 2007
Australia's coastal and marine environments are under increasing pressure from urban development, tourism, recreational activities and resource exploitation. In 1991, 86% of Australia's population resided in or near the coastal zone and, over the past 20 years, non-metropolitan coastal areas have experienced a striking 95% increase in population.
This trend is forecast to continue. Parallel with such growth is the loss of ecologically and aesthetically sensitive areas to a relentless and often haphazard urban sprawl with its problems of waste disposal, habitat degradation, erosion and visual pollution.
If all urban coastal communities are also included in these assessments, of Australia's recent total population count (about 20 million), 12.6 million resided in capital cities, and of the remaining 7.4 million, 75 per cent resided in coastal communities.
While recent population growth rates in coastal areas in actual numbers may not seem significant when compared to actual growth in the capital cities, the percentage growth rates experienced by coastal areas are significant when compared with their respective state and national averages, particularly as many of those coastal areas are already under many natural pressures, and are less resilient to local economic boom and bust cycles.
While many coastal regions are experiencing high rates of population growth, the relative share of population growth between coastal regions and other areas remains dominated by capital cities.
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