Population rise forecast for Murray River Council

By Nicole Thomson

Jun 8, 2022

Going up: Murray River Council population is expected to increase by more than 3000 people by 2041, according to population forecasting. Photo by Cath Grey

The resident count in Murray River Council is expected to increase by more than 3000 people by 2041, according to population forecasting.

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The council’s planning team has undertaken the forecasting with data experts REMPLAN to project how the population will change over the next 20 years, to inform housing, services and economic growth for the area.

This data is available for use by locals, with forecast projections available for each year up until 2041.

For Murray River Council, the population is expected to increase to 16,177 from the current 12,817.

This data also predicts a spike of almost 2000 extra households by 2041, with the biggest residential increase forecast for Moama.

The data also shows that the biggest household type will be couple families with no children, and the elderly age group of more than 80 years old will experience the biggest change, with a 146.67 per cent increase on the 2016 figures.

These population forecasts use estimated residential population as a starting point and assess what is driving population change in the area to forecast how the age structure and household types will change as result.

“We use population and housing forecasts to inform the planning of our services, programs, policies, and strategies,” environment and planning director Rod Croft said.

“It provides important information on how our community and municipality may change in the future and helps us predict how many people will live within our towns, how many jobs there will be and where these will be located.

“The current projections predict strong growth and paint a very positive picture for many of our towns.”

The projections are broken down into 11 regions and are available via the REMPLAN forecast module on council’s website.

These projections will be updated annually, with the first update set for November to include the latest Census data.

“Other organisations and individuals are encouraged to utilise these forecasts for planning, funding applications and projects,” Mr Croft said.

To view the population forecasts, head to council’s website at www.murrayriver.nsw.gov.au/Business/Economic-and-community-profiles or contact the planning team for further information.