KEY POINTS:
Australia's population has cracked the 21-million mark, official figures show.
And the country's fertility rate is flourishing, with more babies born in the year to June than ever before, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
The estimated population as at June 20 was 21,017,200.
An extra 315,700 people in the three months to June 30 pushed Australia's population growth rate to 1.5 per cent.
Immigration accounted for 56 per cent of Australia's growth, while 272,900 births minus 134,800 deaths made up 44 per cent of the increase.
Western Australia was the fastest expanding of the states and territories, recording a 2.3 per cent growth rate.
Queensland grew at 2.2 per cent, the Northern Territory 2 per cent, ACT 1.7 per cent, Victoria 1.5 per cent, NSW 1.1 per cent, South Australia 1 per cent and Tasmania, 0.7 per cent.
Australia's fertility rate is on the rise, with 272,900 babies born in the year to June - the highest-ever annual number of births.
The fertility rate climbed to 1.85 births per woman, the highest rate in 14 years.
- AAP
