Aussie population to grow quicker

CANBERRA, Australia, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- More babies and more immigrants will fuel a larger-than-expected increase in Australia's population, officials said Thursday.

A report by the Treasury Department predicted the country will have 35 million residents by the year 2049, The Australian reported. That's about 7 million more than the previous estimate two years ago and 13 million more than the estimated 2009 population of 21.85 million.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said increased fertility and immigration mean the population is expected to grow 62 percent over the next 40 years instead of 35 percent.

The population is also expected to age less rapidly than had been forecast, Swan said. But the percentage of people older than 65 is still expected to be significantly larger, 22 percent in 2049 compared with 13 percent now. The 2007 report predicted more than one-quarter of the population would be older than 65 in four decades.

Australia's longest period of high growth was in the 1950s and 1960s when the government encouraged immigration and birth rates were high. While the fertility rate has increased from 1.72 to 1.93 children per woman, it is still far lower than the 3.5 children of the Baby Boom years, Swan said.