Humans have been living on the continent of Australia (name derived from "Terra Australis"; Latin for "the southern land") for approximately 65,000 years, however population growth was relatively slow until the nineteenth century. Europeans had made some contact with Australia as early as 1606, however there was no significant attempt at settlement until the late eighteenth century. By 1800, the population of Australia was approximately 350,000 people, and the majority of these were Indigenous Australians. As colonization progressed the number of ethnic Europeans increased while the Australian Aboriginal population was decimated through conflict, smallpox and other diseases, with some communities being exterminated completely, such as Aboriginal Tasmanians. Mass migration from Britain and China After the loss of its American colonies in the 1780s, the British Empire looked to other parts of the globe to expand its sphere of influence. In Australia, the first colonies were established in Sydney, Tasmania and Western Australia. Many of these were penal colonies which became home to approximately 164,000 British and Irish convicts who were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. As the decades progressed, expansion into the interior intensified, and the entire country was claimed by Britain in 1826. Inland colonization led to further conflict between European settlers and indigenous Australians, which cost the lives of thousands of natives. Inward expansion also saw the discovery of many natural resources, and most notably led to the gold rushes of the 1850s, which attracted substantial numbers of Chinese migrants to Australia. This mass migration from non-European countries eventually led to some restrictive policies being introduced, culminating with the White Australia Policy of 1901, which cemented ethnic-European dominance in Australian politics and society. These policies were not retracted until the second half of the 1900s. Independent Australia Australia changed its status to a British dominion in 1901, and eventually became independent in 1931. Despite this, Australia has remained a part of the British Commonwealth, and Australian forces (ANZAC) fought with the British and their Allies in both World Wars, and were instrumental in campaigns such as Gallipoli in WWI, and the South West Pacific Theater in WWII. The aftermath of both wars had a significant impact on the Australian population, with approximately 90 thousand deaths in both world wars combined, as well as 15 thousand deaths as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic following WWI, although Australia experienced a significant baby boom following the Second World War. In the past fifty years, Australia has promoted immigration from all over the world, and now has one of the strongest economies and highest living standards in the world, with a population that has grown to over 25 million people in 2020.

Migrants from the United Kingdom have long been Australia’s primary immigrant group and in 2023 there were roughly 960 thousand English-born people living in Australia. India and China held second and third place respectively with regard to Australia’s foreign-born population. The relative dominance of Asian countries in the list of top ten foreign-born residents of Australia represents a significant shift in Australia’s immigration patterns over the past few decades. Where European-born migrants had previously overshadowed other migrant groups, Australian migration figures are now showing greater migration numbers from neighboring countries in Asia and the Pacific. A history of migration Australia is often referred to as an ‘immigrant nation’, alongside the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Before the Second World War, migrants to Australia were almost exclusively from the UK, however after 1945, Australia’s immigration policy was broadened to attract economic migrants and temporary skilled migrants. These policy changes saw and increase in immigrants particularly from Greece and Italy. Today, Australia maintains its status as an ‘’Immigrant nation’’, with almost 30 percent of the population born overseas and around 50 percent of the population having both that were born overseas. Australian visas The Australian immigration program has two main categories of visa, permanent and temporary. The permanent visa category offers three primary pathways: skilled, family and humanitarian. The skilled visa category is by far the most common, with more than a million permanent migrants living in Australia on this visa category at the last Australian census in 2021. Of the temporary visa categories, the higher education visa is the most popular, exceeding 180 thousand arrivals in 2023.

Historical Migration Statistics brings together migration statistics from 1945 through to the present day.

In interpreting these statistics it should be noted that the classification of regions and country names has changed over time and that the way migration statistics are reported has also changed. From October 1945 to June 1959, migration statistics included permanent and long-term arrivals. Today, we have various components - the Migration Program, Humanitarian Program and Non-Program migration (mainly New Zealand citizens) reported as permanent additions to Australia's resident population.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Melbourne, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.

It is estimated that the Second World War was responsible for the deaths of approximately 3.76 percent of the world's population between 1939 and 1945. In 2022, where the world's population reached eight billion, this would be equal to the death of around 300 million people.

The region that experienced the largest loss of life relative to its population was the South Seas Mandate - these were former-German territories given to the Empire of Japan through the Treaty of Versailles following WWI, and they make up much of the present-day countries of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, the Northern Mariana Islands (U.S. territory), and Palau. Due to the location and strategic importance of these islands, they were used by the Japanese as launching pads for their attacks on Pearl Harbor and in the South Pacific, while they were also taken as part of the Allies' island-hopping strategy in their counteroffensive against Japan. This came at a heavy cost for the local populations, a large share of whom were Japanese settlers who had moved there in the 1920s and 1930s. Exact figures for both pre-war populations and wartime losses fluctuate by source, however civilian losses in these islands were extremely high as the Japanese defenses resorted to more extreme measures in the war's final phase.

Life expectancy in Australia was just below 35 in the year 1870, and over the course of the next 150 years, it is expected to have increased to 83.2 by the year 2020. Although life expectancy has generally increased throughout Australia's history, there were several times where the rate deviated from its previous trajectory. the most noticeable changes were between 1890 and 1920. This period included Australia's Independence movement, the implementation of the 'White Australia' policy, the First World War and Spanish Flu epidemic, all of which impacted the demographics of Australia.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Perth, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Ce tableau contient 13 séries, avec des données pour les années 1926 - 1960 (il n'y a pas nécessairement de données pour toutes les années pour l'ensemble des combinaisons), et sa dernière date de diffusion remonte au 2000-02-18. Ce tableau contient des données telles que décrites par les dimensions suivantes (les combinaisons ne sont pas toutes disponibles) : Géographie (13 éléments : Canada; Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; Nouvelle-Écosse; Île-du-Prince-Édouard ...).

Cette statistique présente l'évolution de la population mondiale de 1950 à 2024, ainsi que les prévisions de l'ONU jusqu'à 2100. La population mondiale s'élevait à environ 8,16 milliards de personnes en 2024. Comme présenté ci-dessus, le nombre total de personnes dans le monde a au moins doublé depuis les années 1950, et cette augmentation se poursuit. Un coup d’œil à l'évolution de la population mondiale depuis le début de l'ère commune permet de constater que cette augmentation est sans précédent. La première hausse importante de la population a eu lieu au 14ème siècle, après les périodes de peste qui entrainèrent la mort d'environ 25 millions de personnes dans le monde. Par la suite, la population mondiale a lentement mais régulièrement progressé pour finalement atteindre les valeurs records recensées entre 1950 et 2000. La majorité de la population mondiale vit sur le continent asiatique, comme le montre la statistique sur la population mondiale par continent. Dans environ cent ans, on estime que la population du continent africain devrait atteindre des niveaux similaires à ceux de l'Asie aujourd'hui. En prévision du développement de la population mondiale, on estime que les chiffres devraient atteindre les 10 milliards d'habitants au 22ème siècle. L'augmentation de la population présente un risque grandissant pour la planète, puisque cette montée en flèche correspond à une augmentation équivalente de consommation en nourriture et en ressources. Les scientifiques s'interrogent quant à raréfaction des ressources naturelles comme le pétrole et la nourriture, qui met en danger le genre humain et l'écosystème mondial. De nos jours, le nombre de personnes sous-alimentées/en situation de famine dans le monde est légèrement à la baisse, mais les prévisions annoncent un avenir plus sombre.