Australia's population will reach the 25 million mark tonight, according to (ABS), the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Australia has reached this milestone in a record short period of time as net immigration continues to overtake births.
The ABS demographic clock estimates Australia's population will increase by one person every 83 seconds, while new population records may appear around 11:00 in the evening.
Although we are not sure who the 25 million people are, writer and political commentator George Megalogenis said that he/she is likely to be a young Chinese female student or technical worker.
"since the beginning of the 21st century, the two largest immigrant groups in Australia have been Chinese and Indian," he told Guangzhou. "so we have got a lot of Chinese and Indians from the two rising countries.
"since around 2005, we have received more overseas people than the natural growth population, so there are more immigrants than newborns."
"the most important story in Australia in the 21st century is the story of immigration."
Net overseas immigration-arrivals minus departures-now accounts for 62% of Australia's population growth. Natural growth accounted for 38 percent.
"the last time this happened was the gold rush of the 1850s." Said Mega Rogenis.
Fresh air, blue sky, gourmet food.
If you look at the number of people arriving in Australia rather than net emigration, you will find that Chinese-born people are the largest group of immigrants, accounting for 15.8 percent of the total number of immigrants.
International students are the largest entrants by visa category, while China is the most common country of birth for Australian international students.
, Jinghua Liang), a 20-year-old student at the University of Melbourne, said she was attracted to Australia's multicultural society and lifestyle.
"I think when I think about schools in Australia, the first thing I think about is fresh air, blue sky and food-my mom told me about emus and kangaroos, which is very attractive." Liang said.
Here, people enjoy life rather than just earn a living. They enjoy weekends and holidays. I think [Australians] live at a slow pace. "
The journalism student said she was surprised to hear that the 25m Australians might be a Chinese woman.
"I have a lot of friends who have good English and a very good Australian accent, but a lot of people don't want to stay here," she said, adding that many students have cultural reasons for choosing to return home.
"but I would rather stay. I think it's a very multicultural environment, and I think it's better to be a writer or journalist because I'm freer here and I have more good stories to write. "
Transnational marriage is an achievement in Australia
If Liang stays, she will join a growing number of single, well-educated Chinese women who decide to stay permanently in Australia.
"every time I read the data, I was surprised to open my mouth-in Australia, the vast majority of Chinese-born people are women, and in fact, the gender difference is the most significant among all immigrant groups," Megalogannis said.
"given that they are a young and well-educated group, the question is, where will they come from?"
Magarogannis predicts that marriage between Chinese-born people and Indian-born immigrants will become more common in the coming decades and will continue to show a long-term trend in Australian history.
"one of Australia's greatest achievements in the 19th century was the containment of sectarianism," he said. "there were a lot of interracial marriages in the 19th century."
"I tend to think that in the next 20 or 30 years, the marriage between Chinese women and Indian men will be the next version of this great ability that I think we must unite with different peoples."
Australia must have large-scale immigrants
Concerns about transport infrastructure and property prices in Sydney and Melbourne have made population growth a political issue in both cities.
Instead of whistling on immigration policy, politicians should try to ensure that migrants' benefits are more evenly shared, she said.
"if you are implementing a massive migration program-and you know you have to, or the population will age too fast-why not discuss it and spread the benefits to the rest of Australia?" He said。
