This topographic dataset contains point features representing the centre of named towns and cities. This topographic dataset contains point features representing the centre of named towns and cities.

This data collection accompanies “Froese, J.G., Rees, M., Murray, J.V., Wilson, C. & Gentle, M. (2022). Modelling feral pig habitat suitability in Queensland to inform disease preparedness and response. Final report prepared for the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Brisbane: CSIRO.”

It contains a series of spatial data products describing ‘feral pig habitat suitability’, ‘potential feral pig density (carrying capacity)’ and ‘feral/domestic pig interaction risk’ across Queensland for 12 temporal scenarios. Scenarios were selected to represent variability in environmental conditions across Queensland along two axes – intra-annual seasonal cycles (summer, autumn, winter, spring) and inter-annual climate cycles (wet, moderate and dry). They were represented by the periods September 2010 – August 2011 (wet climate cycle), December 2012 – November 2013 (moderate climate cycle) and March 2018 – February 2019 (dry climate cycle). The data are provided in TIFF raster file format (coordinate reference system = EPSG 3577: GDA94 / Australian Albers; spatial resolution = 100m). Lineage: The methods to derive these spatial data products built on previously published research on spatially explicit, resource-based feral pig habitat models (Froese et al. 2017; Murray et al. 2015). ‘Habitat suitability’ for feral pig breeding was modelled in a Bayesian network framework dependent on four fundamental resource requirements: food, water, heat refuge and anthropogenic disturbance. Several improvements to increase the robustness and reproducibility of published research methods were implemented and applied to the 12 modelled scenarios.

Estimates of ‘potential feral pig density (carrying capacity)’ were derived for each of these 12 modelled scenarios. This was based on a hypothesized sigmoid relationship that took into account the modelled ‘habitat suitability index (HSI)’ in a particular season, cross-seasonal variability in the modelled HSI within a climate cycle (wet, moderate or dry) and pig densities in Queensland previously reported in the empirical literature.

The potential feral pig density estimates were combined with a ‘weighted domestic pig herd density’ layer that was derived from data on the location and biosecurity status of all registered domestic pigs in Queensland (held by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) to calculate ‘feral/domestic pig interaction risk’ (i.e., the relative risk that feral pig populations at a given landscape location may interact with a nearby domestic pig herd) for each of the 12 modelled scenarios.

Details on study objectives, methods and results are provided in the client report: “Froese, J.G., Rees, M., Murray, J.V., Wilson, C. & Gentle, M. (2022). Modelling feral pig habitat suitability in Queensland to inform disease preparedness and response. Final report prepared for the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. Brisbane: CSIRO.” (contact Matthew Gentle: Matthew.Gentle@daf.qld.gov.au)

In June 2022, it was estimated that around 7.3 percent of Australians were aged between 25 and 29, and the same applied to people aged between 30 and 34. All in all, about 55 percent of Australia’s population was aged 35 years or older as of June 2022. At the same time, the age distribution of the country also shows that the share of children under 14 years old was still higher than that of people over 65 years old. A breakdown of Australia’s population growth Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world, yet with a population of around 26 million inhabitants, it is only sparsely populated. Since the 1970s, the population growth of Australia has remained fairly constant. While there was a slight rise in the Australian death rate in 2022, the birth rate of the country decreased after a slight rise in the previous year. The fact that the birth rate is almost double the size of its death rate gives the country one of the highest natural population growth rates of any high-income country.
National distribution of the population Australia’s population is expected to surpass 28 million people by 2028. The majority of its inhabitants live in the major cities. The most populated states are New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. Together, they account for over 75 percent of the population in Australia.

As of December 2023, the proportion of the Australian population that lived in New South Wales amounted to 31.3 percent. The Northern Territory had the least number of residents in the country, with less than one percent of the population residing there.

Estimated resident population by statistical area level 1 (SA1), Australia

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.

In 2019, Queensland was the Australian state with the highest density of general practitioners with 125.4 GPs per 100,000 of the population. The Australian Capital Territory had the fewest number of GPs in relation to its population.

In 2022, the highest share of Australian craft beer drinkers were aged between 30 and 39 at around 31 percent. By comparison, only 13 percent of craft beer drinkers were younger consumers aged between 18 and 29.

The Australian craft beer drinker

According to the same survey, the largest concentrations of craft beer drinkers in Australia were located in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. This can be attributed in part to a higher population density in these areas, as well as a higher concentration of craft beer brewers and retail environments. The average craft beer consumer is also male; more than triple the share of respondents who said they had consumed craft beers were male rather than female.

Wider consumer profile

In contrast, the gender breakdown of adults who consume alcohol in Australia has remained at a similar level over the last few years; the share of male consumers has remained in the eighty percent range. For female consumers, the share has stayed around the high seventy percent mark.

A survey conducted in 2019 revealed that 12.8 of respondents consumed beer, wine, or other alcohol. Considering specific types of alcohol, 11.8 percent expressed a preference for wine, and 8.9 percent for beer.

Domestic coffee consumption in Australia reached around 2.1 million sixty-kilogram bags in the 2024 financial year. Between 2017 and 2019, domestic coffee consumption in the country had steadily increased followed by a slight decrease in 2020, where the national consumption rate reached 1.96 million sixty-kilogram bags before recovering in 2021. Individually, Australians had an average coffee consumption of 3.84 kilograms each during 2023. Australia’s deep-rooted love for coffee Coffee is a staple on café menus across Australia, with a strong coffee culture deeply ingrained in the daily lives of the population. From the flat white, whose origin is disputed between Australia and New Zealand, to cappuccinos and lattes, a wide variety of coffee beverages are consumed in the country. Cappuccinos emerged as the favorite among Australian consumers in a 2023 conducted survey. The coffee market in Australia has experienced substantial growth recently, with revenue reaching around 11 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, and forecasted to increase by a further approximately four billion U.S. dollars by 2028. The market’s revenue is primarily driven by roast coffee, with the instant coffee segment comparably smaller. Budding café scene: from international to domestic chains Australia’s extensive coffee shop landscape is reflective of the nation’s affinity for the hot beverage, with over 54 thousand café and restaurant establishments in operation across the country in the 2023 financial year. The majority of these establishments are concentrated in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland, with Melbourne dubbed the coffee capital of Australia due to its eclectic café and roastery scene. The prevalence of domestic coffee franchises such as The Coffee Club, which boasts over 100 locations in Queensland alone, alongside international chains, including McCafé, which holds the highest number of locations among popular coffee franchises in Australia, further evidences the country’s flourishing coffee industry. Nevertheless, consumption trends indicate that Australians are not only avid coffee consumers at cafés, but are also increasingly investing in coffee machines for homemade brews due to rising menu prices.

Australia's café and restaurant scene continues to thrive, with New South Wales leading the way with over 19,225 establishments in operation at the end of the 2024 financial year. The second-leading state in terms of the number of cafés and restaurants was Victoria. As Australia's two largest states in terms of population, the concentration of food service establishments in New South Wales and Victoria mirrors Australia's population distribution, reflecting the urban-centric nature of the country's café and restaurant landscape. Gastronomy: a key economic sector In recent years, the number of cafés and restaurants throughout the country has shown relatively consistent growth, exceeding 55,700 in the 2024 financial year, up from approximately 41,570 in 2017. Australia's cafés, restaurants, and takeaway food services turnover experienced steady annual increases for many years up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, since 2021, the industry's revenue has been on the recovery, hitting a record of over 65 billion Australian dollars in 2024. Additionally, food services represent a key source of gross value added to the tourism industry. An added boost from coffee Coffee plays an important role in the Australian food service sector, with the beverage topping the list of regularly consumed drinks among Australians in a 2024 survey. Several international chains like McCafé operate alongside popular domestic coffee franchises, including The Coffee Club, in the country. Alongside this, the country's annual domestic coffee consumption remains robust, consistently exceeding two million sixty-kilogram bags in recent years, underscoring the enduring nature of Australia's coffee culture. Nonetheless, recent cost-of-living pressures have led to a shift in consumer behavior, with more Australians opting to brew their coffee at home.