Former NSW Premier and Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has called for Australia to consider reducing its immigration intake by up to one-half before growing population density on the eastern coast changes the Australian style of living.

"I think the Australian people, if asked, would want immigration slowed," Mr Carr said at a press conference in Sydney on Tuesday. "We've got a third-world style population growth rate.

"If you bring 100,000 people into the Sydney basin every year, the price of housing goes up [...] people wonder why their youngsters can't get houses in the big cities... the answer is we are going for breakneck population growth."

Australia's population was officially declared to have hit 24 million people shortly after midnight on Tuesday, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.