Abstract

More than half of Australians want the country’s population to stay at or go below current levels according to the seventh ANU Poll.

The poll,  Public opinion towards population growth in Australia, took a wide-ranging snapshot of Australian attitudes towards population policy, environment and infrastructure, immigration and fertility and the ageing population. The results show diverse attitudes towards population levels, and public concerns about the environment, the economy and current and future levels of immigration.

Additionally, findings from the poll show that Australians are concerned about the government’s ability to tackle the challenges of an ageing population.

Key findings from the poll include:

• 44 per cent of Australians favour population growth, while 52 per cent want the population to remain at or below current levels.
• Opposition to population increase is broadly-based, with concerns about the effect on the economy and the environment.
• A majority of Australians think the world’s population is too large and is causing environmental damage.
• Half of the country say people should consider limiting the sizes of their families in order to minimise the impact of population growth.
• 16 per cent of Australians would want to see population increase through more immigration rather than through increased fertility.
• Two thirds of Australians say the ageing population will cause real problems — a majority are concerned about the government’s ability to tackle the problem and reject increased taxes as a solution.

This is the seventh ANU Poll. ANU Poll is a survey of Australian public opinion of matters on matters of national importance. ANU Poll differs from other opinion polls by benchmarking Australia against international opinion. The poll was conducted by Professor Ian McAllister, Dr Juliet Pietsch and Mr Aaron Martin of the School of Political and International Relations at ANU.

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