FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 Who is Perth? A Comparative Analysis of Greater Perth’s Population in the 1947 and 2016 Census Periods Gemma Davis and Alice Leggett Introduction Summary of Key Findings Since the end of the Second • Since the end of the Second World War, Greater Perth has World War, Greater Perth has transitioned from a small region of just under 300,000 people to a experienced dramatic growth major global metropolis with a population approaching 2 million. and considerable change and • The demographic make-up of Greater Perth has been strongly development. This transformation influenced by a number of distinctive development phases since is visible in Figure 1 and Figure 2 the late 1940s. These include the immigration and baby boom that on page 2. The two photographs occured immediately after the Second World War, the 1960s iron ore illustrate the substantial boom and the most recent early twenty-first century resource boom. development of the Central • Population growth rates surged during the 2000s resource boom, Business District (CBD) in the 70 largely on the back of immigration to Western Australia. Fertility years between 1947 and 2016. rates in the State remained steady at around 0.85% during this time. However, rates of overseas migration increased to 2.16% in 2012, Now home to almost 2 million which was 1.1% higher than the national average. They then dropped people, the population of the to 0.46% in 2016 – the third lowest rate among all States and Territories. Greater Perth region constitutes • In 2016, almost one in seven Greater Perth residents were over the 75% of the total population of age of 65. This was the result of the falling national fertility rates – Western Australia (WA). which peaked in the 1960s and then declined – combined with higher life expectancy and improved health care. The demographic make-up • The characteristics of the migrant population of Greater Perth have of Greater Perth1 continues to changed considerably since 1947. While persons from the United be shaped and moulded by Kingdom still formed the majority of the overseas-born population in 2016, countries like the Philippines, India, and China displayed the a combination of emerging highest rates of growth during this period. economic opportunities, shifting social values, policy regimes and • Female participation in the labour force tripled between 1947 and 2016. In 1947, only one in five women had been in the labour force, the region’s changing position compared to three in five women in 2016. within the global economy (ABS, • In 1947, 54% of Greater Perth residents were home owners, with 2013). This FACTBase Bulletin aims 77% owning outright and 22% owning with a mortgage. The average to provide a fresh set of insights weekly rent for a private home was equivalent to approximately into the demography of Greater $72.79 in 2016 prices. Perth through a longitudinal • By 2016, 43% of residents owned their house with a mortgage, and analysis. Rather than considering rates of outright home ownership declined to 28%. The median the past decade or two, the weekly rent was $360 for a private dwelling. • In 1947, less than 0.5% of Greater Perth’s population identified as 1 ‘Greater Perth’ is a Greater Capital non-religious, and less than 1% had belonged to a non-Christian City Statistical Area (GCCSA) that religion. In 2016, over 32% of Perth residents identified as non-religious, incorporates the Perth and Peel region. and a higher proportion belonged to non-Christian religions than While this GCCSA had not been used in ever before. the 1947 census data, steps have been taken to ensure comparability between the two census periods. FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 | 1 FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 Figure 1: Photograph taken from Kings Park of Mounts Bay Road and Perth Water, 1947 Source: Department of Industrial Development, 1947. Figure 2: Photograph taken from Kings Park of Perth skyline, 2016 Source: Isabel Ramsay, entrant in Passion for Perth Photographic Competition 2016. 2 | FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 Bulletin examines the population Greater Perth’s facilitated by shifting immigration of Greater Perth since the end of policies (Zubrzycki, 1995; the Second World War, capturing Population Hugo, 2002). key periods in the economic, Greater Perth had undergone social, and policy evolution In WA, population growth rates a significant demographic of the region. It demonstrates had rapidly increased from transformation between 1947 and how rapidly the region has 2.0% in 1947 to 4.7% in 1950 (ABS, 2016. It was once considered a transformed to become one of 1949). In 1947, population growth small and isolated urban centre, the major metropolitan regions of had primarily been driven by with a population of 299,924 in the Indian Ocean Rim. natural increase, and the gross 1947 (representing 59% of the fertility rate for Western Australia population of Western Australia). It This Bulletin is an input into the was 1.68%, scoring an increase had also been one of the smallest Committee for Perth’s major from 1.39% in 1943 (ABS, 1949). State capitals in Australia, behind project, Hashtag Perth, which The fertility rate peaked around Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane seeks to characterise the 1960 before declining afterwards. and Adelaide. 70 years on, in reputation of Greater Perth Migration was the key driver of 2016, the population of Greater through quantitative and population growth during the Perth increased to 1,943,858 qualitative research involving 1950s and 1960s as Australia and constituted over 75% of the local, national and international actively embarked on an population of Western Australia. stakeholders. By examining the immigration program to boost the Additionally, Greater Perth had demography of the region, it population (Simon-Davies, 2018). overtaken Adelaide to become aims to assist in contextualising the fourth largest State capital future Hashtag Perth research Population growth in Greater in Australia, behind Sydney, and to provide an evidence Perth and Western Australia Melbourne and Brisbane. base against which perceptions remained relatively stable and understandings of Greater from the 1970s to early 2000s. The 1947 census came at a time Perth can be tested. The Bulletin The growth did not increase of significant change in Western primarily relies on data collected significantly until the 2006-2012 Australia and around the globe as from the Australian Bureau of period when Western Australia’s populations were recovering from Statistics (and its predecessor population growth rates, which the social, economic and political organisations) for the 1947 and reached 3.16% in 2009, were effects of the Second World War. 2016 Censuses of Population higher than any other State in It was also the beginning of a and Housing. the country (ABS, 2019). Figure 3 defining period of net population illustrates population growth growth in Greater Perth, driven in Greater Perth and Western by increasing rates of fertility and Australia from 1947 to 2016. high rates of post-war migration Figure 3: Population time series, Perth and Western Australia, 1947-2016 Figure 3 3,000,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,000,000 500,000 0 Perth Western Australia Source: ABS (2019) FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 | 3 FACTBase Bulletin 66, September 2019 Figure 4: Population Growth Rates, Western Australia, 1996-2016 Figure 4 3.50% 3.00% 2.50% 2.00% 1.50% 1.00% 0.50% Population rates growth (%) 0.00% -0.50% -1.00% Total population growth rates Net overseas migration rate Natural increase rate Net interstate migration rate Source: ABS (2019) It is noted that Aboriginal and in Western Australia from 1996 Figure 5 in comparison to Figure Torres Strait Islander persons were to 2016. 6 also illustrates the lower life not counted in the Australian expectancies of people living in Census of Population and As depicted in the graph, after Greater Perth in 1947 compared Housing until 19662 (ABS, 2011). peaks in 2009 and 2012-2013, to people living in 2016. The This accounts for part of the rates of overseas migration in average life expectancy for WA significant population growth Western Australia dropped to in 1947 was 66 years for men and recorded in Greater Perth and 0.46% in 2016, the third lowest out just over 70 years for women, Western Australia from 1966 to of all States and Territories (ABS, while it increased in 2016 to 80 1971. However, the population 2019). This decrease was linked to years for men and 85 years for growth over this period was a downturn in the resource sector women (ABS, 1949; 2016a). largely driven by economic and to an associated reduction opportunities generated by the in economic and employment In the 1940-1950s, life expectancy 1960s iron ore boom, including opportunities (Committee for at birth was influenced by the associated expansion of the Perth, 2018). higher rates of degenerative iron ore industry in the Pilbara diseases and unhealthy lifestyle region and support industries in Population Age Structure habits such as heavy smoking Kwinana (Harford-Mills, 2018). In 1947, the median age of (ABS, 2001). Eventually, shifting Greater Perth’s population was attitudes, increasing public The most recent period of rapid 30 years old, significantly younger awareness about the causes of population growth in Greater than the median age of 36 diseases, and advancements Perth peaked in 2009 at the recorded in the 2016 census (ABS, in medical technology would height of Western Australia’s 1947; 2016a). This change in the result in a significant increase in resources boom. The population population age structure reflects life expectancy during the 1970s growth during this period was the declining fertility rates over (Kendig et al., 2016).