WA population past two million

WESTERN Australia’s population has officially hit the two million mark, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the three months ending March 31.At the end of the March quarter, WA had 2,003,800 people, according to the ABS, a rise of 31,400, or 1.6 per cent, from the previous corresponding period. The state has 9.9 per cent of the nation’s 20.3 million residents, with the national figure up 230,000, or 1.1 per cent, when compared with the March quarter in 2004. In terms of interstate migration, WA is only slightly positive, tending towards neutral, as the main internal movement of people remains from NSW to Queensland. The ABS figures show Perth had 1,457,639 residents as at June 30 2004. Western Australia also has three towns ranked in the top 35 statistical districts, which excludes the capital cities. Mandurah is the biggest of these, with a population of 70,418 at June 30 2004, up from 55,380 in 1999. Bunbury has also grown swiftly in the same period to 53,614 people from 46,542. Kalgoorlie-Boulder is 35th among these districts with 29,197 people at June 30 2004, a reduction from 30,078 in 1999.