CANBERRA, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The return of international migration has driven Australia's population growth to its highest level in two years.

According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday, Australia's population was 25,912,614 people as of the end of March 2022.

It represents an increase of about 239,800 people -- or 0.9 percent -- from March 2021. That figure marks Australia's highest population growth over a 12-month period since September 2020.

By comparison, in the 12 months to March 2021, the population grew by 0.15 percent amid strict COVID-19 border restrictions.

Of the 239,800 people added to the population, net overseas migration (NOM) accounted for 109,600 -- or 45.7 percent.

"After two years of mostly low or no population growth, overseas migration is again a significant contributor to Australia's population increase, accounting for almost half of the growth in the year to March 2022," Beidar Cho, Demography Director at the ABS, said in a media release.

The number of migrant arrivals to Australia increased 183 percent from the previous year to 320,000, driving a strong turnaround in NOM.

However, the net migrant intake remained lower than pre-pandemic levels, which ranged from 238,000 to 260,000.

There were 309,300 births and 179,100 deaths in Australia in the year to March 2022.

The number of deaths was 10 percent higher than in 2020-21.

Separate data from the national census also released by the ABS on Wednesday revealed Australia's Indigenous population has hit almost one million.

As of June 2021, the country's Indigenous population was 984,000 -- up 23.2 percent in over five years. Enditem

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