What is demography?

The study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which illustrate the changing structure of human populations

In what year did the Australian population reach 20 million? How quickly is the population growing?

The Australian population reached 20million on the 4th of December 2003. AUSTRALIA is poised to be the world's fastest growing industrialised nation over the next four decades, with a rate of population growth higher even than India. Australia is projected to grow at a rate of 65 per cent, well above the global average.

How many Aboriginal people are estimated to have lived in Australia before Europeans arrived?

Before Europeans arrived in Australia in the 1700s, Indigenous people had lived on the continent over thousands of years. The Indigenous population at the time of European settlement is estimated to have been at least 315 000. Their lives were changed irrevocably after the British claimed Australia in 1788. In the years that followed, the Indigenous population declined significantly, and by the 1930s the total Australian Indigenous population was estimated to be only 20 per cent of its original size. Today, a little more than two per cent of Australians identify as Indigenous. In the 2006 census this amounted to more than 450 000 people. Between the 2001 and 2006 censuses, the Indigenous population increased by 11 per cent, or 45 000 persons.

What the two main ways the population can grow? What percentage of the population growth in 2010 can be attributed to each way?

Increased food resources and increased living area

What is the total fertility rate for 2010?

1.9 Births per woman

What was the total fertility rate for Australia in 1935? How does this compare to other years? Why do you think that it compares this way?

 77.2 per 100,000 women. This compares very badly because back at that time Australia probably didn't have the same resources and hospitals that we have today. Also the Australian had just come out of the great depression.

What is the trend in the fertility rate for Australia since 1950?

The trend seems to be not having many children. At 1950, there is a sudden drop in the amount of children to around 2.

What is the average size of a family in Australia? How does that compare to the US?

The average size of a family in Australia is 2.5 people. The average family size in the US is 3.14 people. This shows that there is a higher average in the US, which would explain why there is a much higher population.