Australians are flocking to live in Victoria in record numbers, with the latest official population forecasts showing Melbourne is on track to overtake Sydney as Australia's biggest city by 2056.

Victoria recorded its highest total migration of people from interstate in over 40 years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) demographic data showed.

Almost a third of the 9,300 people who moved to Victoria came from New South Wales, while around 2,100 were from South Australia.

"Victoria has experienced increasing population growth since 2011, with a net gain of 9,300 people from the rest of Australia in the last year alone," ABS spokeswoman Denise Carlton said.

A large number of people also moved from Western Australian and Queensland to Victoria.

The ABS figures did not reveal if Melbourne being named the world's most liveable city had anything to do with the influx of people.

By the middle of the century Melbourne's population is expected to hit between eight million and nine million people.

Planning Institute Australia's Kirsty Kelly said the latest population growth figures highlighted the need for better population policy.

"[Policy] around how this population is going to grow, where it's going to grow and where we need to direct it to, to align with the infrastructure investment that needs to be made."

The ABS data showed Western Australia recorded it first negative interstate migration rate since 2002.

Australia's total population reached 23.6 million by the end of 2014, an increase of 330,000 people.