23 Million Australians and Counting

Australia's population will tick over the 23 million mark tonight, making us the fastest growing country in the developed world.

Thanks to some impressive data wrangling, the Australian Bureau of Statistics can pinpoint the moment we'll hit 23 million people - 9.57pm tonight, AEST, 29th May 2013 to be unncannily precise.

The ABS calculates that we're joined by a new Australian every 1 minute and 23 seconds, taking into account:

• one birth every 1 minute and 44 seconds
• one death every 3 minutes and 32 seconds 
• one overseas migrant every 2 minutes and 19 seconds

Growing at 1048 people per day (an annual growth rate of 1.25%) means we're currently outpacing the rest of the world, which is growing at 1.1%. We're even overtaking countries with traditionally high growth rates, like India on 1.4%.

According to the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University, Melbourne is leading the nation's growth, adding 70-75,000 people per year.

"By the standards of the world we are a relatively low-population country, but we have the 12th strongest economy in the world. Now that's an achievement," said Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

The world population is more than seven billion, with Australians representing 0.3% of all humans.

Migration is considered the main driver of growth, charged by the resources boom, jobs market and favourable economic conditions. 

The proportion of Australians over 65 years of age was 13.5% t in 2010 and is expected to be 15.3% in 2015. 

Population growth and availability of housing can have a significant impact on the property market.

Source: realestate.com.au