More people left the NT last financial year than arrived, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show, with 17,390 people departing, compared to 14,120 who moved to the jurisdiction, which led to a net loss of 3,270 persons to other states and territories, raising doubts the population target of 300,000 will be reached by 2030.

While an uptick in overseas migration, and births offsetting deaths three to one pushed up the NT’s total population by 0.7 per cent for the 2022-23 fiscal year, the general downward trend in arrivals continues to be a big factor in the NT, with increasing crime rate anecdotally playing a factor in the inability to recruit more people.

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