Australia’s population has grown 1.4% in the past year, and 7.9% in 5 years and now over 24 million people are living in Australia.
But where do they live and how have our cities grown?
The latest release from those smart demographers at iD The Population Experts dissects the ABS Regional Population Growth figures and they have listed the top 50 cities and towns.
Combined these 50 centres have a population of 19,411,452, or 82% of Australia’s population.
So less than 1 in 5 people lives outside these and 47% live in just the top two – Sydney and Melbourne.
It’s also worth mentioning that based on the numbers, Melbourne will overtake Sydney in only about 8 years – but this version of Sydney excludes the Central Coast, nominally a part of Greater Sydney.
| Significant urban area | Population June 2015 | 5 year growth | 5 year % growth | 1 year growth | 1 year % growth |
| Sydney | 4,526,479 | 343,008 | 8.2% | 77,565 | 1.7% |
| Melbourne | 4,353,514 | 399,575 | 10.1% | 86,796 | 2.0% |
| Brisbane | 2,209,453 | 190,379 | 9.4% | 33,702 | 1.5% |
| Perth | 1,958,912 | 235,694 | 13.7% | 26,163 | 1.4% |
| Adelaide | 1,288,681 | 63,013 | 5.1% | 11,970 | 0.9% |
| Gold Coast – Tweed Heads | 624,918 | 53,518 | 9.4% | 10,798 | 1.8% |
| Newcastle – Maitland | 434,454 | 23,938 | 5.8% | 3,964 | 0.9% |
| Canberra – Queanbeyan | 424,666 | 26,236 | 6.6% | 2,825 | 0.7% |
| Central Coast | 325,082 | 12,492 | 4.0% | 2,202 | 0.7% |
| Sunshine Coast | 302,122 | 24,918 | 9.0% | 4,864 | 1.6% |
| Wollongong | 292,388 | 13,058 | 4.7% | 3,333 | 1.2% |
| Hobart | 209,254 | 5,808 | 2.9% | 1,594 | 0.8% |
| Geelong | 187,417 | 12,206 | 7.0% | 3,236 | 1.8% |
| Townsville | 180,333 | 16,263 | 9.9% | 1,755 | 1.0% |
| Cairns | 147,993 | 10,842 | 7.9% | 1,359 | 0.9% |
| Darwin | 123,396 | 10,409 | 9.2% | 1,974 | 1.6% |
| Toowoomba | 114,622 | 5,926 | 5.5% | 1,044 | 0.9% |
| Ballarat | 99,841 | 8,206 | 9.0% | 1,332 | 1.4% |
| Bendigo | 92,888 | 6,910 | 8.0% | 1,122 | 1.2% |
| Albury – Wodonga | 88,949 | 5,704 | 6.9% | 1,153 | 1.3% |
| Launceston | 86,633 | 1,049 | 1.2% | 263 | 0.3% |
| Mackay | 85,455 | 7,425 | 9.5% | 448 | 0.5% |
| Rockhampton | 80,665 | 5,670 | 7.6% | 353 | 0.4% |
| Bunbury | 75,628 | 9,593 | 14.5% | 1,563 | 2.1% |
| Bundaberg | 70,588 | 1,879 | 2.7% | 76 | 0.1% |
| Coffs Harbour | 68,572 | 2,569 | 3.9% | 561 | 0.8% |
| Melton | 59,500 | 13,040 | 28.1% | 2,623 | 4.6% |
| Wagga Wagga | 55,820 | 1,929 | 3.6% | 489 | 0.9% |
| Hervey Bay | 52,288 | 3,043 | 6.2% | 466 | 0.9% |
| Mildura – Wentworth | 50,011 | 1,792 | 3.7% | 194 | 0.4% |
| Shepparton – Mooroopna | 49,371 | 2,303 | 4.9% | 309 | 0.6% |
| Gladstone – Tannum Sands | 49,248 | 7,226 | 17.2% | 1,232 | 2.6% |
| Port Macquarie | 45,341 | 2,629 | 6.2% | 493 | 1.1% |
| Tamworth | 42,255 | 2,626 | 6.6% | 471 | 1.1% |
| Traralgon – Morwell | 40,816 | 765 | 1.9% | 19 | 0.0% |
| Orange | 40,075 | 3,087 | 8.3% | 334 | 0.8% |
| Geraldton | 39,825 | 3,490 | 9.6% | 246 | 0.6% |
| Bowral – Mittagong | 37,897 | 1,901 | 5.3% | 425 | 1.1% |
| Dubbo | 36,941 | 1,885 | 5.4% | 342 | 0.9% |
| Busselton | 36,285 | 5,674 | 18.5% | 997 | 2.8% |
| Bathurst | 36,013 | 2,685 | 8.1% | 644 | 1.8% |
| Nowra – Bomaderry | 35,920 | 1,842 | 5.4% | 559 | 1.6% |
| Warrnambool | 33,979 | 1,288 | 3.9% | 133 | 0.4% |
| Albany | 33,970 | 2,491 | 7.9% | 356 | 1.1% |
| Warragul – Drouin | 33,386 | 4,155 | 14.2% | 700 | 2.1% |
| Kalgoorlie – Boulder | 32,797 | 1,307 | 4.2% | -139 | -0.4% |
| Devonport | 30,497 | 263 | 0.9% | 42 | 0.1% |
| Lismore | 29,413 | 205 | 0.7% | 43 | 0.1% |
| Mount Gambier | 28,929 | 737 | 2.6% | 114 | 0.4% |
| Alice Springs | 27,972 | – 425 | -1.5% | -291 | -1.0% |
Source: .id is a team of population experts, who have some great demographic resources at their site.
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