According to a recent report by the Bureau of Statistics of Australia, due to overseas migration there has been 54% population growth in the past 12 months till March 2011. The figures show that immigration is the biggest factor contributing in the population growth in Australia rather than natural increase through birth that made up the remaining 46%.

However, though immigration plays a key role in driving population growth in the country, the Bureau of Statistics of Australia has figured it out that the overall growth of population in Australia has slowed down to 1.4%.

According to a statement by ABS, the population growth in Australia reached 22,546,300 on March ending, 2011, growing by 312,400 over this year.

It is going downward from the last year with population growth by 374,600, and lowest growth since March end, 2006 with an increasing number of 299,269.

The recent ABS figures also showed that the present population growth rate is slower than the past two years which is equivalent to the average growth of population in the country in last 30 years.

Moreover, there has been a declination in the number of Australia immigrants in recent time. According to the figures, overseas net immigration continued to decrease to March end, this year. The initial net overseas immigration estimation for this year March was 24% lesser than the period of March 2010.

According to experts, because of politics and the deliberate policies of government, declination in immigration can be seen. Bernard Salt, the KPMG demographer said that number of immigrants to the country would become stable over the next years at a higher level than the present rate.