The current 23 million Australian population will soar to more than 46 million by 2075, according to recent projections released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Such increase in the next 60 years will be led by the populace surge in Victoria and New South Wales.

Although projections were based on "medium growth," Bjorn Jarvis, ABS' head of demography, said the country could breach the 46 million mark even as early as 2058.

Red Bull Formula One driver Mark Webber of Australia holds up the Australian flag during podium celebrations after the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo November 24, 2013. REUTERS/Paulo Whitaker

"Melbourne and Sydney should be neck-and-neck by 2053, with 7.9 million people each," Jarvis said in a statement.

Melbourne could overtake Sydney as Australia's most populous city within 40 years.

Salient points of the ABS statistics showed:

  • Perth will overtake Brisbane in 2028 as Australia's third-biggest city, with 3 million people.
  • 10 years later or by 2038, the Australian Capital Territory will overtake Tasmania.
  • By 2040, Western Australia's population will rise to 4.7 million from 2.4 million people in 2012.
  • Queensland's population will grow to 7.3 million from 4.6 million people.
  • Population in the Australian Capital Territory will jump to 586,000 from 375,000.
  • Population in the Northern Territory will grow 51 percent to 360,000.
  • Victoria's population will hit 8.4 million or about 50 percent.
  • Population in the New South Wales will climb 35 percent to 9.9 million.

Among Australian states, only Tasmania was projected to have a declining population. It will tip to level out by 2040, and then eventually fall down.

In an interview with ABC, Jarvis noted both state and central governments ought to prepare as early as now for the potential surge.

"It's really up to the population to plan for change but also to think about what this changing population means. So what size population does Australia want, what compositional characteristics would Australia like to have in a future population, and then start to plan around what the Australian population, what the Australian people, would like to see going into the future," he said.

"Under any scenario where you're talking about what the population in the future's going to be, there's going to be the need for additional planning and additional infrastructure. How effective government, or governments, across the board are in dealing with that change, that'll have to be seen," he added.