A new report reveals Australia’s population will reach 22 million by the end of this year, 40 years earlier than was forecast a decade ago.

Author of the report, social demographer Mark McCrindle, says the annual growth rate of 1.9 percent is an unprecedented expansion, the likes of which has not been seen since the 1950s.

He says the flow-on effects of this rapid growth could help drive an economic recovery.

But Mark O’Connor, author of the recently published book Overloading Australia, says government policy has long ignored the role of population growth in exacerbating climate change and food and water shortages.

Former Australian of the Year, scientist Tim Flannery recently issued a warning, saying Australia’s natural resources are currently being overstrained by the nation’s population.

2ser’s Biwa Kwan reports.