ABSTRACT
Demography is fundamental to the practice of urban and regional planning. Planners and policy makers have to respond to shifts in the size, composition and distribution of populations at the national and regional level. At the local level, planning decisions, particularly with respect to housing, are a major factor determining population size and composition. Against this background, this chapter traces shifts in the demography of Australia during the first decade of the twenty-first century, and identifies key population patterns and processes in four region types: Capital Cities, Coastal Centers, Regional Australia, and Remote Australia. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of population change for planning and policy.
