Population

Regional Australia is the nation’s ‘destination of choice’ according to the latest Regional Movers Index (RMI) report, with data showing that while city dwellers are continuing to relocate out of metropolitan areas, regional Australians are increasingly staying put. Regional Australia Institute (RAI) CEO Liz Ritchie said data from the September 2024 quarter report shows city-to-regional relocations are now sitting at 19.8 per cent above the pre-Covid average... 

New research commissioned by the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) shows the number of city-dwellers looking to relocate to the regions has doubled over the past 18 months, demonstrating an urgent need for solutions to regional pressure points. The results of a nationwide survey shows 40 per cent of capital city residents are considering a move to regional Australia – up from 20 per cent in May 2023.

The Centre for Population has published two publications on Deaths of Despair and our submission to the Excess mortality inquiry. This short guide prepared by the Centre for Population compares deaths related to suicide, drug and alcohol induced deaths in Australia, the UK and the US.

This year, global grain production will be somewhere between 2.5 and 3.0 billion tonnes, of that around 500 million tonnes will be available for export ... Take your pick as to the impact of going organic, but on average, between a third and half the world starves. But what about just taking out paraquat and glyphosate—the foundation chemicals for no-till farming?

Urbanisation has a negative impact on the Ukrainian family and the renewal of the population of Ukraine. In the conditions of catastrophic population decline, Ukraine needs to renew the ancient family values ​​laid down by rural residents hundreds of years ago.

Joanna Tucker. Privately owned rural land on the outskirts of Wallaroo is in the process of being rezoned, with new housing and an industrial estate looking increasingly likely to be built there in coming years ... Wallaroo’s population has increased by more than a quarter in the past decade and continues to grow rapidly.

Every country town has at least one building that lies abandoned or underutilised which could be turned into a house or unit that could attract another worker or family to the community. We have old train stations and roads boards buildings, there are abandoned shops in the main street, empty pubs, unused halls, even farmhouses close to town left to deteriorate.

Don’t have a plumber, electrician, aircon mechanic, car mechanic, tyre shop, independent ag mechanic, hydraulic shop etc in your town? Then do something about it. The council or a group of farmers should get together to buy an industrial lot, build a lock up shed, offer it out for $1 a year then stand back and watch the rush.

National online removalist booking platform Muval has joined forces with one of Australia’s leading population geographers to create an Australian-first real-time migration model which provides an instant ranking for Australian areas based on how many people are moving in and out.

Local Buloke Shire Young Citizen of the year (2024), Blake Lee, and Birchip P-12 teacher, Marian Haddrick, have created an advertisement for the township of Birchip to encourage a swell in population to take up the available employment opportunities in the region.  

Imagine building half of Perth in three years because that's what's needed to accommodate the nearly one million people that are expected to arrive between 2022 and 2025 ... No doubt, some will trek inland to the smaller country towns but don't expect them to stay long as the Federal government has recently moved to introduce new visa rights making it easier for migrants who have taken one of the regional work visas to bail from the bush and retreat to the big cities, leaving the businesses that sponsored them in the lurch.

Serena Kirby. Private homes rented as holiday accommodation are not the cause of Denmark’s housing shortage. The finding was revealed in Denmark Futures’ research over the past 18 months and presented at a community forum last month.

This report projects an outlook for the economy and the Australian Government’s budget over the next 40 years. It examines the long-term sustainability of current policies and how demographic, technological and other structural trends may affect the economy and the budget.

A surge of millennials leaving Australia’s capital cities for country communities is helping drive a regional renaissance, new research from the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) has found ... The report shows Local Government Areas (LGAs) such as Dungog (NSW), Loddon (VIC), Blackall Tambo (QLD), Tumby Bay (SA) and Chapman Valley (WA) all saw significant net migration rates for the millennial cohort.

National online removalist booking platform Muval, which has the most up-to-date internal migration figures showing where Australians are moving right now, has crunched the May numbers to show the impact a year on from the start of interest rate rises.

Last week, Harmony celebrations all over Australia reminded us that everyone is different, everyone belongs and we all bring something unique to our communities.

The recently released Toowoomba Region Growth Plan shows Westbrook is anticipated to grow by more than 4,800 people by 2051, taking the total population to just over 9,200 ... The Toowoomba Region Growth Plan, presented to Toowoomba Regional Council last week, is intended to act as the long-term population and employment growth strategy for the Region to 2051.

Even with the current economic uncertainty, if you think the skilled worker shortage problem was all COVID-19 driven and will self-correct over time, then think again ... According to a recent study, 87 per cent of global employers admit that they are currently struggling with skills gaps issues, which is probably why your machinery dealer is telling you that the wait on new equipment is anything up to two years.

David Landini, Riverina State Group. The Victorian election, with the re-election of the Daniel Andrews’ Labor government, and the election of seven Greens Members of Parliament, ensures that the suppression of natural resource-based industries such as irrigated agriculture and timber harvesting will not only continue, but actually accelerate and expand. That these Members of Parliament are all urban-based, while the industries being suppressed are all in the country, demonstrates the cultural and economic division existing between the urban and country populations.