The statistic shows the ten largest cities in Australia in 2021. In 2021, around 5.26 million people lived in Sydney and the surrounding area, making it the most populous city in Australia.

Australia Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 22.768 % in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 22.673 % for 2023. Australia Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 24.964 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27.701 % in 1971 and a record low of 22.181 % in 2013. Australia Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;Weighted average;

With 109.9 men per one hundred women in the city, the greater Darwin area in Australia has the highest sex ratio. This is in stark contrast to the demographics of the other major cities in Australia which have more women than men. This is consistent with the fact that more than two thirds of all women between 25 and 64 participating in the workforce.Despite this fact, there is still some disparity between men and women in high level position as women are multiple times more likely to be sexually assaulted while men are much more likely to be victims of murder.The perpetrators of crimes are also much more likely to be men as there are

Australia Population in Largest City data was reported at 5,315,600.000 Person in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 5,235,407.000 Person for 2023. Australia Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 3,709,165.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2024, with 65 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5,315,600.000 Person in 2024 and a record low of 2,134,673.000 Person in 1960. Australia Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.;United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.;;

The statistic shows the total population of Australia from 1980 to 2023, with projections up until 2030. In 2023, Australia had a total population of about 26.95 million people. Population of Australia Australia is among the ten largest countries in the world, in terms of area size, although its total population is low in relation to this. Much of Australia’s interior remains uninhabited, as the majority of Australians live in coastal metropolises and cities. Most of the population is of European descent (predominantly British), although there is a growing share of the population with Asian heritage; only a small percentage belongs to the indigenous Aboriginal population. Australia's year-on-year population growth is fairly high compared to most other economically and demographically advanced nations, due to comparatively high rates of natural increase and immigration. Living standards Standard of living is fairly high in Australia, which can be seen when looking at the Human Development Index, which ranks countries by their level of human development and living standards, such as their unemployment rate, literacy rate, or life expectancy at birth. Life expectancy of Australia’s population is quite high in international comparison, for example, Australia is also among the leading countries when it comes to this key factor. Economically speaking, Australia is also among the leading nations, with a steadily rising employment rate, an increasing gross domestic product (GDP) with a steady growth rate, and a relatively stable share in the global GDP.

Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)

Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) represent the Capital City regions of each state and territory in Australia.

They are designed to represent the functional area of each of the eight state and territory capital cities. This includes populations who regularly socialise, shop or work within the city, but may live either in the city or in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the city.

Within each state and territory, the area outside of a capital city is called the ‘Rest of State’ region. The ‘Rest of State’ region together with the capital city area builds the whole state or territory.

Using GCCSAs with Census data

Use GCCSAs if you would like to understand how a population interacts within and around a Capital City. Examples include but are not limited to, journey to work, cultural diversity, long-term health conditions, usual address and internal migration.

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Australian Bureau of Statistics (Jul2021-Jun2026), Data services and APIs, ABS Website, accessed 25 July 2023.

https://www.abs.gov.au/website-privacy-copyright-and-disclaimer#copyright-and-creative-commons

Significant Urban Areas (SUA)

Significant Urban Areas (SUA) are used to output a broad range of ABS social and demographic statistics. They represent towns and cities of 10,000 people or more.

SUAs are built of Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s). They are defined by Urban Centres from the Urban Centres and Localities (UCLs) geography i.e. a single SUA can represent either a single Urban Centre or a cluster of related Urban Centres.

Areas that are not in an SUA are combined to form a ‘Not in any significant urban area’ region for each state or territory.

Using SUAs with Census data

SUAs are useful to understand the characteristics of the built up area of cities and towns. A wider range of ABS data is also available for SUAs such as Estimated Resident Population which can be used for more detailed analysis.

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Australian Bureau of Statistics (Jul2021-Jun2026), Data services and APIs, ABS Website, accessed 25 July 2023.

https://www.abs.gov.au/website-privacy-copyright-and-disclaimer#copyright-and-creative-commons

In 2023, approximately 988,943 people lived in Stockholm, making it not only the capital, but also the biggest city in Sweden. The second biggest city, Gothenburg (Göteborg) had about half as many inhabitants, with about 596,840 people. Move to the citySweden is a country with a very high urbanization rate, the likes of which is usually only seen in countries with large uninhabitable areas, such as Australia, or in nations with very little rural landscape and agrarian structures, like Cuba. So why do so few Swedes live in rural areas, even though based on total area, the country is one of the largest in Europe? The total population figures are the answer to this question, as Sweden has only about 10.3 million inhabitants as of 2018 – that’s only 25 inhabitants per square kilometer. Rural exodus or just par for the course?It is no mystery why most Swedes flock to the cities: Jobs, of course. Over 65 percent of Sweden’s gross domestic product is generated by the services sector, and agriculture only contributes about one percent to the GDP. Employment mirrors this, with 80 percent of the workforce being deployed in services, namely in foreign trade, telecommunications, and manufacturing, among other industries.

In June 2022, it was estimated that around 7.3 percent of Australians were aged between 25 and 29, and the same applied to people aged between 30 and 34. All in all, about 55 percent of Australia’s population was aged 35 years or older as of June 2022. At the same time, the age distribution of the country also shows that the share of children under 14 years old was still higher than that of people over 65 years old. A breakdown of Australia’s population growth Australia is the sixth-largest country in the world, yet with a population of around 26 million inhabitants, it is only sparsely populated. Since the 1970s, the population growth of Australia has remained fairly constant. While there was a slight rise in the Australian death rate in 2022, the birth rate of the country decreased after a slight rise in the previous year. The fact that the birth rate is almost double the size of its death rate gives the country one of the highest natural population growth rates of any high-income country.
National distribution of the population Australia’s population is expected to surpass 28 million people by 2028. The majority of its inhabitants live in the major cities. The most populated states are New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. Together, they account for over 75 percent of the population in Australia.

In 2021, the proportion of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people living in major cities in Australia amounted to 41.1 percent of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population. By comparison, 73.7 percent of the non-Indigenous population lived in major cities. Although the majority of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population lived in major cities and inner regional areas, almost one in ten lived in very remote communities.

Australia Population Density: People per Square Km data was reported at 3.382 Person/sq km in 2022. This records an increase from the previous number of 3.339 Person/sq km for 2021. Australia Population Density: People per Square Km data is updated yearly, averaging 2.263 Person/sq km from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2022, with 62 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3.382 Person/sq km in 2022 and a record low of 1.365 Person/sq km in 1961. Australia Population Density: People per Square Km data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Australia – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometers. Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship--except for refugees not permanently settled in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their country of origin. Land area is a country's total area, excluding area under inland water bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cases the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes.;Food and Agriculture Organization and World Bank population estimates.;Weighted average;

The monthly Building Approvals (BAPS) collection collects data relating to residential and non-residential building work above certain value limits that have been approved within the reference month. Data from this collection provides timely estimates of future building activity and is an important leading economic indicator. It also provides the sampling framework for the quarterly Building Activity Survey, which is a major contributor to the quarterly National Accounts estimates.

This dataset is the Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA) boundaries as defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011. For the original data and more information, refer to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Issue. The ABS encourages the use of the ASGS by other organisations to improve the comparability and usefulness of statistics generally, and in analysis and visualisation of statistical and other data. The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) brings together in one framework all of the regions which the ABS and many others organisations use to collect, release and analyse geographically classified statistics. The ASGS ensures that these statistics are comparable and geospatially integrated and provides users with an coherent set of standard regions so that they can access, visualise, analyse and understand statistics.

This dataset is about countries in Australia. It has 1 row. It features 5 columns: currency, capital city, continent, and land area.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Perth, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.

cities in Australian Capital Territory. name, office head of government, Mayor, image, Area, date founded, Elevation, Country, administrative division, continent, latitude, waterbody, longitude, Website, population, Demonym

The Population Health Area (PHA) data include totals for the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas/ Rest of States/NT, States/ Territories and Australia; and for the Statistical Areas Level 3 and …Show full descriptionThe Population Health Area (PHA) data include totals for the Greater Capital City Statistical Areas/ Rest of States/NT, States/ Territories and Australia; and for the Statistical Areas Level 3 and Level 4. Attribution: Torrens University Australia

The workforce dataset contains monthly workforce sizes from July 2005 to June 2018 in the eight Australian capital cities with estimated stratification by indoor and outdoor workers. It is included in both csv and rda format. It includes variables for:

Year Month GCCSA (Greater Capital City Statistical Area, which is used to define capital cities) Date (using the first day of the month) fulltime: Fulltime workers parttime: Parttime workers n. Overall workers outorin. Estimated indoor or outdoor status

This data are derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, LM1 dataset: LM1 - Labour force status by age, greater capital city and rest of state (ASGS), marital status and sex, February 1978 onwards (pivot table). Occupational data from the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Census of Population and Housing (ABS Census TableBuilder Basic data) were used to stratify this dataset into indoor and outdoor classifications as per the "Indooroutdoor classification.xlsx" file. For the Census data, GCCSA for the place of work was used, not the place of usual residence.

Occupations were defined by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO). Each 6-digit ANZSCO occupation (the lowest level classification) was manually cross-matched with their corresponding occupation(s) from the Canadian National Occupation System (NOC). ANZSCO and NOC share a similar structure, because they are both derived from the International Standard Classification of Occupations. NOC occupations listed with an “L3 location” (include main duties with outdoor work for at least part of the working day) were classified as outdoors, including occupations with multiple locations. Occupations without a listing of "L3 location" were classified as indoors (no outdoor work). 6-digit ANZSCO occupations were then aggregated to 4-digit unit groups to match the ABS Census TableBuilder Basic data. These data were further aggregated into indoor and outdoor workers. The 4-digit ANZSCO unit groups’ indoor and outdoor classifications are listed in "Indooroutdoor classification.xlsx."

ANZSCO occupations associated with both indoor and outdoor listings were classified based on the more common listing, with indoors being selected in the event of a tie. The cross-matching of ANZSCO and NOC occupation was checked against two previous cross-matches used in published Australian studies utilising older ANZSCO and NOC versions. One of these cross-matches, the original cross-match, was validated with a strong correlation between ANZSCO and NOC for outdoor work (Smith, Peter M. Comparing Imputed Occupational Exposure Classifications With Self-reported Occupational Hazards Among Australian Workers. 2013).

To stratify the ABS Labour Force detailed data by indoors or outdoors, workers from the ABS Census 2006, 2011 and 2016 data were first classified as indoors or outdoors. To extend the indoor and outdoor classification proportions from 2005 to 2018, the population counts were (1) stratified by workplace GCCSA (standardised to the 2016 metrics), (2) logit-transformed and then interpolated using cubic splines and extrapolated linearly for each month, and (3) back-transformed to the normal population scale. For the 2006 Census, workplace location was reported by Statistical Local Area and then converted to GCCSA. This interpolation method was also used to estimate the 1-monthly worker count for Darwin relative to the rest of Northern Territory (ABS worker 1-monthly counts are reported only for Northern Territory collectively).

ABS data are owned by the Commonwealth Government under a CC BY 4.0 license. The attached datasets are derived and aggregated from ABS data.

Please note this dataset is the most recent version of the Administrative Boundaries (AB). For previous versions of the AB please go to this url: https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b4ad5702-ea2b-4f04-833c-d0229bfd689e/details?q=previous

Geoscape Administrative Boundaries is Australia’s most comprehensive national collection of boundaries, including government, statistical and electoral boundaries. It is built and maintained by Geoscape Australia using authoritative government data. Further information about contributors to Administrative Boundaries is available here.

This dataset comprises seven Geoscape products:

• Localities
• Local Government Areas (LGAs)
• Wards
• Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Boundaries
• Electoral Boundaries
• State Boundaries and
• Town Points

Updated versions of Administrative Boundaries are published on a quarterly basis.

Users have the option to download datasets with feature coordinates referencing either GDA94 or GDA2020 datums.

Notable changes in the May 2025 release

• Victorian Wards have seen almost half of the dataset change now reflecting the boundaries from the 2024 subdivision review. https://www.vec.vic.gov.au/electoral-boundaries/council-reviews/ subdivision-reviews.

  • There have been spatial changes (area) greater than 1 km2 to 66 wards in Victoria.

• One new locality ‘Kenwick Island’ has been added to the local Government area ‘Mackay Regional’ in Queensland.

  • There have been spatial changes(area) greater than 1 km2 to the local government areas 'Burke Shire' and 'Mount Isa City' in Queensland.

• There have been spatial changes(area) greater than 1 km2 to the localities ‘Nicholson’, ‘Lawn Hill’ and ‘Coral Sea’ in Queensland and ‘Calguna’, ‘Israelite Bay’ and ‘Balladonia’ in Western Australia.

• An update to the NT Commonwealth Electoral Boundaries has been applied to reflect the redistribution of the boundaries gazetted on 4 March 2025.

• Geoscape has become aware that the DATE_CREATED and DATE_RETIRED attributes in the commonwealth_electoral_polygon MapInfo TAB tables were incorrectly ordered and did not match the product data model. These attributes have been re-ordered to match the data model for the May 2025 release.

IMPORTANT NOTE: correction of issues with the 22 November 2022 release

• On 28 November 2022, the Administrative Boundaries dataset originally released on 22 November 2022 was amended and re-uploaded after Geoscape identified some issues with the original data for 'Electoral Boundaries'.
• As a result of the error, some shapefiles were published in 3D rather than 2D, which may affect some users when importing data into GIS applications.
• The error affected the Electoral Boundaries dataset, specifically the Commonwealth boundary data for Victoria and Western Australia, including 'All States'.
• Only the ESRI Shapefile formats were affected (both GDA94 and GDA2020). The MapInfo TAB format was not affected.
• Because the datasets are zipped into a single file, once the error was fixed by Geoscape all of Administrative Boundaries shapefiles had to be re-uploaded, rather than only the affected files.
• If you downloaded either of the two Administrative Boundary ESRI Shapefiles between 22 November and 28 November 2022 and plan to use the Electoral Boundary component, you are advised to download the revised version dated 28 November 2022. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Further information on Administrative Boundaries, including FAQs on the data, is available here or through Geoscape Australia’s network of partners. They provide a range of commercial products based on Administrative Boundaries, including software solutions, consultancy and support.

Note: On 1 October 2020, PSMA Australia Limited began trading as Geoscape Australia.

The Australian Government has negotiated the release of Administrative Boundaries to the whole economy under an open CCBY 4.0 licence.

Users must only use the data in ways that are consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles issued under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

Users must also note the following attribution requirements:

Preferred attribution for the Licensed Material:

Administrative Boundaries © Geoscape Australia licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).

Preferred attribution for Adapted Material:

Incorporates or developed using Administrative Boundaries © Geoscape Australia licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).

What to Expect When You Download Administrative Boundaries

Administrative Boundaries is large dataset (around 1.5GB unpacked), made up of seven themes each containing multiple layers.

Users are advised to read the technical documentation including the product change notices and the individual product descriptions before downloading and using the product.

Please note this dataset is the most recent version of the Administrative Boundaries (AB). For previous versions of the AB please go to this url: https://data.gov.au/dataset/ds-dga-b4ad5702-ea2b-4f04-833c-d0229bfd689e/details?q=previous

License Information

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Brisbane, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.