'Queensland Characteristics', a publication released by Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser, paints an up-to-date picture of the modern Queensland, based on the findings of the most recent Census.The study shows that Queensland’s overall population has continued to swell at historic rates of more than 60,000 a year thanks to interstate and overseas migration.
The findings also show that Cantonese and Mandarin are now South East Queensland’s second languages as the most commonly spoken languages after English.
Other findings were:
Almost half of Queensland’s entire population - or 45.2 per cent - reside in Brisbane.
South East Queensland has a lower proportion of family households and a higher number of lone person households than the rest of the state.
The north west area has the highest median individual and family weekly income while Wide Bay has the lowest.
More than one in five people in the north west identify themselves as Indigenous.
The median weekly rent in Brisbane was more than three times that of the Central West.
One in four people on the Gold Coast were born overseas while, in contrast, only one in 25 people in the South West were born outside of Australia.
About 30 per cent of Queenslanders own their own homes while 30 per cent rent and the remainder are in the process of purchasing.
The highest percentage of home ownership - 41 per cent - is in the Wide Bay Burnett region.
The largest number of foreign migrants are from the United Kingdom, followed by New Zealand, South Africa, Germany and China.
Our oldest residents reside in the Wide Bay region but, interestingly, our youngest population is located in the state’s north-west where these findings also show 43.5 per cent of them are renting their homes.
