Indigenous population reaches more than one million

A third of the Indigenous population are children 14 and younger. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

The population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia has reached one million.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Wednesday projected the population of Indigenous people had increased by more than 50,000 since June 2021, when there were 983,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, based on census data.

Indigenous people make up 3.8 per cent of the total Australian population.

By 2031, the Indigenous population is expected to reach almost 1.2 million.

In June 2021 40.8 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in major cities, while 43.8 per cent lived in regional areas. 

About 15 per cent lived in remote or very remote regions. 

"We are projecting a higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in major cities, and a smaller proportion living in remote and very remote Australia," the bureau's head of demography statistics Beidar Cho said.

In June 2021, 40.8 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in major cities. (Dan Peled/AAP PHOTOS)

Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria are expected to see the fastest population growth among Indigenous people.

The rates of population across these jurisdictions are predicted to sit between two and 2.4 per cent.

The high rates of growth are due to relatively large cohorts of Indigenous people moving into peak child-bearing age, and assumed interstate migration, particularly to Queensland and Victoria.

Ms Cho said population growth will continue up to 2031 in most Indigenous regions, which are geographical areas based on historical boundaries. 

A higher proportion of Indigenous people will likely live in major cities and fewer remote areas. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

"Perth in Western Australia is projected to be the fasted growing Indigenous region (growing by between 2.7 and 2.8 per cent on average annually over the next 10 years) followed by Brisbane in Queensland (between 2.6 and 2.8 per cent)," she said.

​In 2021, the median age of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 24, compared to 38.9 for non-Indigenous Australians.  

A third of the Indigenous population are children 14 and younger, while people over 65 represent about five per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The proportion of people aged over 65 is expected to increase to about seven per cent by 2031. 

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