Australia's population to hit 28 million by 2031: report

As Australia's current population is 22.5 million, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday projected that there will be an extra 3.8 million households across Australia over the next 20 years.

Melbourne is expected to have the largest increase in the number of households, followed by Sydney.

Perth is expected to have the fastest annual growth rate of 2.2 percent, followed by Brisbane with 2.1 percent.

ABS said the scale of the projected growth is likely to present significant public policy challenges for planning and the provision of services, Australia Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the figure showed more babies have been born in Australia in the past five years than during any like period in the nation's history. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com for full version