More Australians are leaving the country permanently and heading mainly to New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The number of permanent departures from Australia increased by 18% between 2004 and 2010, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said earlier this week.
Nearly all of the increase occurred in 2010.
"This change may have been influenced by more affordable international travel, a more global labour market or simply the prominent travelling culture of Australians," the ABS said.
However, although 84,000 Australian residents who said they were departing Australia permanently in 2010, 67,000 of them (80%) returned within a year.
The survey also found the level of permanent departures continued to be much lower than permanent arrivals to Australia, with 78,000 permanent arrivals in 2010 compared with the net 17,000 people leaving the country.
More than half (53%) of all permanent departures in 2010 went to either New Zealand or the UK. They remained the two most popular destinations for Australians moving overseas since 2004.
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