Dr Luke Buckmaster, Social Policy Section and Joanne Simon-
Davies, Statistics and Mapping Section How ‘big’ is Australia’s
population likely to become by 2050? Recently, the question of
whether Australia’s future population should be ‘big’, ‘small’
or ‘sustainable’ has emerged as a political issue. Discussion of
this issue has been stimulated, in part, by projections that
Australia’s population may reach 35.9 million by 2050. However,
there has been some confusion in public debates about the
precise status of these projections—are they based on formal
population targets? How are population projections calculated?
Is a population of 35.9 million by 2050 inevitable? Australia
does not have a formal population policy that commits the
country to a particular population target. In April 2010, the
Government established the new office of Minister for Population
(later renamed Sustainable Population). The Minister’s main role
will be to develop a sustainable population strategy through
consideration of the likely si