Estimate Resident Population

The Pilbara Estimate Resident Population (ERP) levels have generally fluctuated over time, although a steady increase has been seen in population levels from a low point in 2001 to be almost 15% in 2008. This can in part be contributed to the increasing resource sector developments in the Pilbara.

When looking at the population levels for each local government area within the Pilbara, Roebourne(S) stands out as the area experiencing almost all of the residential population growth, expanding by 31.9 percent over the ten year period to 2008.  East Pilbara(S) has seen strong growth since 2003.

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Household structures over time

In Ashburton(S) and East Pilbara(S), the number of total households has followed a similar pattern. Between 1996 and 2001 the number of households dropped, but recovered slightly between 2001 and 2006. These variations have mainly been caused by changes in the number of family households (in particular, couple families with children). In Port Hedland(T), the total number of households increased between each Census, despite the number of family households dropping (particularly couple families with children).

Note: The term ‘Other Households’ refers to unoccupied private dwellings, non-private dwellings and households where all occupants are ‘visitors’ (do not usually reside in that household). The term ‘Family Households’ refers to the sum of the Census categories ‘Couple family with children,’ ‘Couple family with no children,’ ‘One parent family’ and ‘Other family’ (Other family is defined as a group of related individuals residing in the same household who do not belong to a couple or one parent household).

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Family structures over time

The “Family” consists of ‘couples with no children’, ‘couples with children’, ‘one parent families’ and ‘other family’ categories.

The number of families in the Pilbara have decreased by 4.2% between 1996 and 2006. Roebourne(S) has shown strong population growth and a steady increase in the number of family households since 1996. All other LGAs in the Pilbara showed a decrease in the number of family households across the same time period, particularly Port Hedland(T) and Ashburton(S).

The breakdown of each family structure show the Pilbara has a large decrease of 13% in couple families with children between 1996 and 2006. Couple families with no children have increased by 13% while one parent families and other family structures have been steady over the same period.

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