On a whole-of-government basis the WAPC provides population projections for all local governments in WA for the strategic planning of government services, market knowledge to assist private sector, and community information.

The current round of WAPC projections published in Western Australia Tomorrow use as their base 1996 estimated resident population (ERP), which arises from 1996 Census results.

Following the conduct of the 2001 Census and the final release of 2001 ERP by the ABS on 3 April 2003, the WAPC assessed the performance of its 2001 projection against the measured outcome. The results are summarised in this paper.