Strong growth in interstate and overseas migration helped lift Western Australia’s population by 2.1 per cent to 2,094,549 in the year to March 2007, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Net overseas migration was the biggest contributor to population growth in WA, up 16 per cent on last year.
Net interstate migration also rose, up 49 per cent on the previous year, with WA recording the largest increase out of all the states.
With the exception of Tasmania and the Northern Territory, which changed from positive to negative net interstate migration, South Australia and New South Wales experienced the largest loss from net interstate migration, followed by Victoria.
WA also recorded the largest increase in birth registrations, up 6 per cent on last year, with only the Northern Territory and Tasmania recording decreases.
The South West statistical division experienced the biggest growth, up 4 per cent on last year, with Perth experiencing the second biggest growth, up 2 per cent.
The Midlands region of the state was the only statistical division to record a fall in population, down 0.4 per cent on last year.
Of the total national population, about 49.8 per cent are males and 50.2 per cent are females.
Of the WA total population, 3 per cent are indigenous persons, compared with 2.3 per cent indigenous persons in Australia.
First release data from the 2006 Census of Population and Housing was release in June, showing personal, family and dwelling characteristics of WA residents.
According to the census, 27 per cent of respondents were born overseas, compared with the national figure of 22 per cent.
The median age of Western Australians is 36, compared with 37 nationally.
Midland had the highest median age 40.4 years, while the Kimberley had the lowest median age of 29.9 years.
The median individual income was $500 per week, slightly higher than the $466 recorded nationally.
The median weekly household income was $1,066, compared with $1,027 nationally.
English was stated as the only language spoken at home by 81.8 per cent of the population.
The most common languages other than English spoken at home were Italian 1.7 per cent, Mandarin 0.8 per cent, Cantonese 0.8 per cent, Vietnamese 0.7 per cent and Arabic 0.4 per cent.
