The Tasmanian Government had a long-standing target to increase Tasmania’s population to 650,000 by 2050.
It is clear that our plan is working with the latest ABS figures (December 2021) indicating that Tasmania’s population sits at 569,827 – an increase of 56,146 (10.9 per cent) since March 2014.
A growing population is good news because we need more working age people to support the economy, deliver essential services and provide greater diversity across the community. This is key to supporting our vision of Tasmania being the best place in the country to live, work, invest and raise a family
The current strategy aimed to achieve just this and in fact we have already exceeded our initial 2020 target of 530,000 people early and it’s looking like we’ll achieve our 2030 population target of 570,000 as early as this year.
Growth of the scale we’ve experienced over the past five years tends to come with growing pains and that’s why we’re updating Tasmania’s Population Strategy to address the challenges and opportunities facing our State now and into the future.
We are asking Tasmanians to register their interest in being involved in the consultation process over the coming months, that will initially include the development of a Discussion Paper, by emailing consultation@stategrowth.tas.gov.au
The latest census data showed that all of our regions grew with the largest population increases seen in Hobart and the South-East, followed by Launceston and the North-East, and then the West and North-West of the State.
Importantly, in the five-year period since the last Census, we saw a significant increase of 25,000 people in the 25-39 age group. This age group, accounts for about 20 per cent of our state-wide population, up from around 17 per cent, and the increase can largely be attributed to a combination of domestic and international migration.
The median age in Tasmania remained at 42 years, which is 4 years older than the national average, while the average number of children per family (with children) was 1.8.
The number of people, their age, ethnic and cultural background along with their lived experience, needs and aspirations all influence our communities and the types of homes, infrastructure and services needed.
These figures show that Labor should be embarrassed about their claims that a “people recession” was occurring, as part of their relentless campaign to talk down Tasmania’s success.
We remain committed to working closely with the Tasmanian community to develop and implement a revised Population Strategy for our State – one that we can all own.