* 100 YEARS

WE’VE changed a lot in 100 years — we’re older on average, there’s more women than men and the population has increased five- fold.

We’re also much less religious and more likely to have been born somewhere else.

At Federation in 1901, the population was 3.7 million. In 2001, it was 18.9 million.

The median age has increased from 22 in 1901 to 35. The proportion of people aged 0-14 years decreased from 35 per cent to 20 per cent and the proportion aged 65 years and over has increased from 4 to 12 per cent.

A century ago, when there were only three classes of dwelling recorded — inhabited, uninhabited and being built — the total of 786,000 dwellings included tents. The number of dwellings has grown 10-fold to more than 7.8 million, twice the growth rate for the population.

A century ago, Australia was 95.9 per cent Christian, about 39 per cent of which adhered to the Church of England, while 22 per cent were Roman Catholic, with Methodists and Presbyterians making up much of the rest. Now only 68 per cent is nominally Christian, with Anglicans and Catholics accounting for only 46.5 per cent. A quarter say they have no religion or refuse to answer the question.

Ethnic origins, too, are far more diverse.

In 1901, about 95 per cent of the population was born either here or in Britain. This figure is now 77 per cent.

In the early days of Federation, there was considerable debate over the inclusion of the indigenous population in the Census. Aboriginal people have been included since 1971 and the last Census counted 410,000 people of indigenous origin, 2.2 per cent of the population.