CANBERRA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Queensland has overtaken Victoria as the most popular destination for people moving within Australia.
According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Thursday, Queensland recorded a net interstate migration gain of 24,000 people in the 12 months to March 2018 followed by Victoria with 15,100.
Net interstate migration is measured by subtracting the number of people who moved away from a state from the number of people who moved into that state.
"During the previous four years, Queensland came second to Victoria in terms of net interstate movement, so these states have swapped," Director of Demography at the ABS Anthony Grubb, said in a media release on Thursday.
"Before that, Queensland was the biggest gainer for 20 years, excepting a brief period in 2011 when Western Australia overtook it.
"The most common move between states was from New South Wales to Queensland with 52,000 people making the move north. The next most common move was in the opposite direction with 36,900 people moving from Queensland to New South Wales."
Queensland is Australia's third biggest state by population with 4.9 million people at the end of March compared to 7.9 million in New South Wales and 6.4 million in Victoria.
Australia's population grew by 380,700 in the 12 month period to 24.9 million with 62 percent of the growth attributed to net overseas migration.
Victoria was once again Australia's fastest-growing state, adding more people than Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania combined. Melbourne remains on track to overtake Sydney as the country's biggest city by the mid-2020s.
