The world's most accurate population datasets. Seven maps/datasets for the distribution of various populations in Australia: (1) Overall population density (2) Women (3) Men (4) Children (ages 0-5) (5) Youth (ages 15-24) (6) Elderly (ages 60+) (7) Women of reproductive age (ages 15-49).

Changelog Version 1.0.0 (2025-07-05)

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Census data reveals that population density varies noticeably from area to area. Small area census data do a better job depicting where the crowded neighborhoods are. In this map, the yellow areas of highest density range from 30,000 to 150,000 persons per square kilometer. In those areas, if the people were spread out evenly across the area, there would be just 4 to 9 meters between them. Very high density areas exceed 7,000 persons per square kilometer. High density areas exceed 5,200 persons per square kilometer. The last categories break at 3,330 persons per square kilometer, and 1,500 persons per square kilometer.This dataset is comprised of multiple sources. All of the demographic data are from Michael Bauer Research with the exception of the following countries:Australia: Esri Australia and MapData ServicesCanada: Esri Canada and EnvironicsFrance: Esri FranceGermany: Esri Germany and NexigaIndia: Esri India and IndicusJapan: Esri JapanSouth Korea: Esri Korea and OPENmateSpain: Esri España and AISUnited States: Esri Demographics

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.

Population density metrics for 2011 Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2) within 2011 Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA), including SA2 Population-weighted density (PWD) for 2011 and 2014, PWD change 2011-2014, and ERP population counts by density classes. Selected Density Classes were based on the Australian Population Density Grid published by the ABS, December 2014 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.007). Corresponding population metrics for 2011 GCCSAs. PWD using standardised 1km grid cells provides a more comparable measure of the density in larger regions. It does this by weighting the density using the proportion of population living at that density. In this way the density measure reflects the density at which people actually live. This removes the effect of large unpopulated areas that may be within the regions being compared. In this way comparisons between regions are more valid.

The map service can be viewed at http://soe.terria.io/#share=s-AgXEN0N0Q95icRW7M9JIC9IYBdE

Downloadable spatial data also available below.

Map prepared by the ABS and presented as Figure BLT3 in Built environment theme of the 2016 State of the Environment Report, available at http://www.soe.environment.gov.au.

It should be noted that this data is now somwhat dated!

Human population density is a surrogate indicator of the extent of human pressures on the surrounding landscapes.

Areas with high population density are associated with higher levels of stream pollution and water diversion through sewers and drains. City and urban environments are substantially changed from their pre-European condition but a changed condition is not of itself necessarily poor by societal standards. It is the impacts such as polluted run-off to waterways, air pollution, sewage disposal, household water use and predation of wildlife by pets that confer impacts on catchment condition. Human population centres have an impact well beyond the built environment.

The impact of major population centres is well expressed in the AWRC map, but is best displayed in the 500 map. The main areas of impact are the major coastal and capital cities and suburbs, including popular beachside tourist destinations. Elsewhere, the impact of population density appears to be confined to the Murray and other major river valleys.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics compiles population statistics by sampling statistical local areas (SLAas) through the national census. These data can be converted to a per catchment basis.

Interpretation of the indicator is largely unequivocal, although there are land-uses/activities (e.g. mining) where population density is not a good indicator of the degree of habitat decline. This indicator has not been validated relative to habitat decline. This indicator is easy to understand.

Data are available as:

• continental maps at 5km (0.05 deg) cell resolution for the ILZ;
• spatial averages over CRES defined catchments (CRES, 2000) in the ILZ;
• spatial averages over the AWRC river basins in the ILZ.

See further metadata for more detail.

Chart and table of Australia population density from 1950 to 2025. United Nations projections are also included through the year 2100.

This statistic shows the share of ethnic groups in Australia in the total population. 33 percent of the total population of Australia are english.

Australia’s population

Australia’s ethnic diversity can be attributed to their history and location. The country’s colonization from Europeans is a significant reason for the majority of its population being Caucasian. Additionally, being that Australia is one of the most developed countries closest to Eastern Asia; its Asian population comes as no surprise.

Australia is one of the world’s most developed countries, often earning recognition as one of the world’s economical leaders. With a more recent economic boom, Australia has become an attractive country for students and workers alike, who seek an opportunity to improve their lifestyle. Over the past decade, Australia’s population has slowly increased and is expected to continue to do so over the next several years. A beautiful landscape, many work opportunities and a high quality of life helped play a role in the country’s development. In 2011, Australia was considered to have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, with the average Australian living to approximately 82 years of age.

From an employment standpoint, Australia has maintained a rather low employment rate compared to many other developed countries. After experiencing a significant jump in unemployment in 2009, primarily due to the world economic crisis, Australia has been able to remain stable and slightly increase employment year-over-year.

Humans have been living on the continent of Australia (name derived from "Terra Australis"; Latin for "the southern land") for approximately 65,000 years, however population growth was relatively slow until the nineteenth century. Europeans had made some contact with Australia as early as 1606, however there was no significant attempt at settlement until the late eighteenth century. By 1800, the population of Australia was approximately 350,000 people, and the majority of these were Indigenous Australians. As colonization progressed the number of ethnic Europeans increased while the Australian Aboriginal population was decimated through conflict, smallpox and other diseases, with some communities being exterminated completely, such as Aboriginal Tasmanians. Mass migration from Britain and China After the loss of its American colonies in the 1780s, the British Empire looked to other parts of the globe to expand its sphere of influence. In Australia, the first colonies were established in Sydney, Tasmania and Western Australia. Many of these were penal colonies which became home to approximately 164,000 British and Irish convicts who were transported to Australia between 1788 and 1868. As the decades progressed, expansion into the interior intensified, and the entire country was claimed by Britain in 1826. Inland colonization led to further conflict between European settlers and indigenous Australians, which cost the lives of thousands of natives. Inward expansion also saw the discovery of many natural resources, and most notably led to the gold rushes of the 1850s, which attracted substantial numbers of Chinese migrants to Australia. This mass migration from non-European countries eventually led to some restrictive policies being introduced, culminating with the White Australia Policy of 1901, which cemented ethnic-European dominance in Australian politics and society. These policies were not retracted until the second half of the 1900s. Independent Australia Australia changed its status to a British dominion in 1901, and eventually became independent in 1931. Despite this, Australia has remained a part of the British Commonwealth, and Australian forces (ANZAC) fought with the British and their Allies in both World Wars, and were instrumental in campaigns such as Gallipoli in WWI, and the South West Pacific Theater in WWII. The aftermath of both wars had a significant impact on the Australian population, with approximately 90 thousand deaths in both world wars combined, as well as 15 thousand deaths as a result of the Spanish flu pandemic following WWI, although Australia experienced a significant baby boom following the Second World War. In the past fifty years, Australia has promoted immigration from all over the world, and now has one of the strongest economies and highest living standards in the world, with a population that has grown to over 25 million people in 2020.

This map shows where senior populations are found throughout the world. Areas with more than 10% seniors are highlighted with a dark red shading while a dot representation reveals the number of seniors and their distribution in bright red.This dataset is comprised of multiple sources. All of the demographic data are from Michael Bauer Research with the exception of the following countries:Australia: Esri Australia and MapData ServicesCanada: Esri Canada and EnvironicsFrance: Esri FranceGermany: Esri Germany and NexigaIndia: Esri India and IndicusJapan: Esri JapanSouth Korea: Esri Korea and OPENmateSpain: Esri España and AISUnited States: Esri Demographics

Introduction Low-density geochemical surveys provide a cost-effective means to assess the composition of near-surface materials over large areas. Many countries in the world have already compiled geochemical atlases based on such data. These have been used for a number of applications, including: - establish baselines from which future changes can be measured - design geologically sensible targets for remediation of contaminated sites - support decision-making regarding appropriate land-use - explore for natural resources - study links between geology and plant/animal health (geohealth)

A first pilot project was initiated to help establish sampling and analytical protocols relevant to Australian landscapes and climates. The Riverina region was chosen for this study because of its crucial economic, environmental and societal importance within the Murray-Darling basin. The region is a prime agricultural area, is bordered to the south by the Victorian goldfields, and is home to 11% of the Australian population. Results of this study are presented here.

Methods Using a hydrological analysis, 142 sites near the outlets of large catchments were selected within the 123,000 km2 survey area (1 site per 866 km2 on average). At each site, two 10-cm thick overbank sediment samples were taken, one at the surface ('top overbank sediment', TOS) and the other between 60 and 90 cm depth (`bottom overbank sediment', BOS). These were described, dried, sieved (<180 m) and analysed chemically for 62 elements. Exploratory data analysis was undertaken and geochemical maps (various styles are shown here) were prepared.

Results and discussion The geology of the area is dominated by Cainozoic sediments found in low-relief plains over the vast majority of the Riverina. The eastern and southern fringes of the area form higher relief landforms developed on outcropping or subcropping Palaeozoic sedimentary, mafic and felsic volcanic and felsic intrusive rocks.

The geochemical results of the survey are independently corroborated by the good match between the distributions of K, U and Th concentrations in TOS and airborne gamma-ray maps.

The distribution of Ca in BOS indicates generally higher concentrations in the northern part of the study area, which is also reflected in higher soil pH values there. Such data have implications for soil fertility and management in agricultural areas.

In terms of applications to mineral exploration, dispersion trains of typical pathfinder elements for gold mineralisation, like As and Sb are clearly documented by the smoothly decreasing concentrations from south (near the Victorian goldfields) to north (over sediments from the Murray basin).

Chromium is an element that can be associated with ill-health in animals and humans when present over certain levels. There is a smooth increase in Cr concentration from north to south, and the two sites with the highest values can be correlated with a ridge of Cambrian mafic volcanics. High total Cr concentrations in the Riverina are unlikely, however, to lead to serious health problems as only a very small proportion of Cr will be bioavailable.

Conversely, some elements can be present at concentrations that are too low for optimum plant growth, such as potentially Mo. The distribution map for this element shows a general decrease from south to north. Given its lower bioavailability in acid soils, Mo is likely to be deficient in the south of the region, despite higher total concentrations here. Farmers report the necessity to use Mo-enriched fertilisers in this area.

Conclusions Low-density geochemical surveys can be conducted in Australia using common regolith sampling media. They provide a cost-effective, internally consistent dataset that can be used by to support a variety of critical economic, environmental and societal decisions.

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

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Melbourne, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.

This product represents the predicted spatial patterns of selected temperate shark and ray species abundance. Species selection was based on ecological risk assessments, threatened species listings and data availability. The maps are based on existing CSIRO National Fish Collection maps, supplemented with fishery catch data, independent survey data and the expert knowledge of 20 shark and ray experts from the region. Structure equates to total species distribution, core distribution – an estimate of where 90% of the population will occur and where possible, nursery areas. The product can be used to identify movement corridors, breeding and feeding areas that overlap between species. This allows managers to identify areas of overlap that are of key conservation value to the species of interest.

The Meeberrie earthquake is the largest known onshore Australian earthquake. Its magnitude was ML 7.2 and it was felt over a wide area of Western Australia as shown on the isoseismal map below, from Port Hedland in the north to Albany and Norseman in the south.

Damage from the earthquake was small because of the low population density in the epicentral region, but the shaking at Meeberrie homestead was very severe; all the walls of the homestead were cracked, several rainwater tanks burst, and widespread cracking of the ground occurred. Minor non-structural damage was reported in Perth more than 500km away from the epicentre.

The digital Electoral Boundaries and their legal identifiers have been supplied by the Electoral Commission from each state and territory as well as the Australian Electoral Commission and are available below. These boundaries undergo re-distribution depending on population of the electorate before each election.\r \r Electoral Boundaries are part of Geoscape Administrative Boundaries, which is built and maintained by Geoscape Australia using authoritative government data. Further information about contributors to Administrative Boundaries is available here.\r \r The full Administrative Boundaries dataset contains boundaries in seven themes: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) boundaries, electoral boundaries, state and territory boundaries, local government areas, suburbs/localities, wards and town points.\r \r As at November 2019, users have the option to download datasets with feature coordinates referencing the new Geocentric Datum of Australia 2020 (GDA2020) in addition to datasets on the GDA94 datum.\r \r For GDA2020 datasets, the name of the zip folder and the root folder (once extracted) include a reference to GDA2020. For GDA94 datasets, the zip and root folder names do not contain the datum name (i.e. they remain the same as previous releases).\r \r For example, the zip and root folder for Administrative Boundaries downloaded in GDA2020 for November 2019 looks like this:\r \r •\tNOV19_AdminBounds_ESRIShapefileorDBFfile_GDA2020; or \r •\tNOV19_AdminBounds_MapInfoTABFormat_GDA2020\r \r The zip and root folder for Administrative Boundaries in GDA94 for November 2019 looks like this: \r \r •\tNOV19_AdminBounds_ESRIShapefileorDBFfile; or \r •\tNOV19_AdminBounds_MapInfoTABFormat\r \r Irrespective of the datum chosen, files within the respective folder use exactly the same naming structures.\r \r ** There were no updates in the August 2024 release **\r \r Further information on Administrative Boundaries, including FAQs on the data, is available here through Geoscape Australia’s network of partners. They provide a range of commercial products based on Administrative Boundaries, including software solutions, consultancy and support.\r \r Note: On 1 October 2020, PSMA Australia Limited began trading as Geoscape Australia. \r \r

License Information\r

\r The Australian Government has negotiated the release of Administrative Boundaries to the whole economy under an open CCBY 4.0 license.\r \r Users must only use the data in ways that are consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles issued under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).\r \r Users must also note the following attribution requirements:\r \r Preferred attribution for the Licensed Material:\r \r

Administrative Boundaries © Geoscape Australia licensed by the Commonwealth of Australia under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0).\r \r Preferred attribution for Adapted Material:\r \r 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).

Unemployment Rate in Australia remained unchanged at 4.10 percent in February. This dataset provides - Australia Unemployment Rate at 5.8% in December - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The DSS Payment Demographic data set is made up of: Selected DSS payment data by Geography: state/territory, electorate, postcode, LGA and SA2 (for 2015 onwards) Demographic: age, sex and …Show full descriptionThe DSS Payment Demographic data set is made up of: Selected DSS payment data by Geography: state/territory, electorate, postcode, LGA and SA2 (for 2015 onwards) Demographic: age, sex and Indigenous/non-Indigenous Duration on Payment (Working Age & Pensions) Duration on Income Support (Working Age, Carer payment & Disability Support Pension) Rate (Working Age & Pensions) Earnings (Working Age & Pensions) Age Pension assets data JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance (other) Principal Carers Activity Tested Recipients by Partial Capacity to Work (NSA,PPS & YAO) Exits within 3, 6 and 12 months (Newstart Allowance/JobSeeker Payment, Parenting Payment, Sickness Allowance & Youth Allowance) Disability Support Pension by medical condition Care Receiver by medical conditions Commonwealth Rent Assistance by Payment type and Income Unit type have been added from March 2017. For further information about Commonwealth Rent Assistance and Income Units see the Data Descriptions and Glossary included in the dataset. Local Government Area has been updated to reflect the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2020 boundaries from March 2021. Commonwealth Electorate Division has been updated to reflect the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2018 boundaries from March 2019. SA2 has been updated to reflect the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2016 boundaries from March 2019. Prior to this Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) 2011 was used. From March 2017 the DSS demographic dataset will include top 25 countries of birth. For further information see the glossary. From March 2016 machine readable files containing the three geographic breakdowns have also been published for use in National Map, links to these datasets are below: 2016 SA2 2011 SA2 2018 Commonwealth Electoral Division 2016 Commonwealth Electoral Division 2013 Commonwealth Electoral Division 2020 Local Government Area 2018 Local Government Area 2014 Local Government Area Pre June 2014 Quarter Data contains: Selected DSS payment data by Geography: state/territory; electorate; postcode and LGA Demographic: age, sex and Indigenous/non-Indigenous Note: JobSeeker Payment replaced Newstart Allowance and other working age payments from 20 March 2020, for further details see: https://www.dss.gov.au/benefits-payments/jobseeker-payment For data on DSS payment demographics as at June 2013 or earlier, the department has published data which was produced annually. Data is provided by payment type containing timeseries’, state, gender, age range, and various other demographics. Links to these publications are below: Statistical Paper series Occasional Paper series, Numbers 1 & 7 Concession card data in the March and June 2020 quarters have been re-stated to address an over-count in reported cardholder numbers.

Travel Zones (TZs) are the spatial unit of geography defined by Transport Performance and Analytics (TPA), a business unit within Transport for NSW (TfNSW). The TZ spatial layer is applied to data sources used by TfNSW for transport modelling and analysis, including the Household Travel Survey and the Census 2016 Journey to Work data. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Statistical Area boundaries form the foundation of the TZ. Generally, a TZ is larger than a Statistical Area Level 1 or Mesh Block, both ABS geography definitions. The ABS Statistical Areas are based on population counts whereas TZ boundaries are defined using population, employment, housing and transport infrastructure. TZs are designed to have standardised trip generation levels across all zones. This causes zones to be different sizes across the metropolitan area. As with many other spatial boundaries, TZs tend to be small in areas with high land-use densities and larger in areas of lower density. This dataset now includes a CSV file mapping the Transit Stop Number (TSN) to the Travel Zone (TZ16). It captures the stop name, suburb and coordinates. Travel Zone Explorer is an interactive map where you can search for Travel Zones (TZ) and find out the current and future population in occupied private dwellings by age and sex.

The earliest point where scientists can make reasonable estimates for the population of global regions is around 10,000 years before the Common Era (or 12,000 years ago). Estimates suggest that Asia has consistently been the most populated continent, and the least populated continent has generally been Oceania (although it was more heavily populated than areas such as North America in very early years). Population growth was very slow, but an increase can be observed between most of the given time periods. There were, however, dips in population due to pandemics, the most notable of these being the impact of plague in Eurasia in the 14th century, and the impact of European contact with the indigenous populations of the Americas after 1492, where it took almost four centuries for the population of Latin America to return to its pre-1500 level. The world's population first reached one billion people in 1803, which also coincided with a spike in population growth, due to the onset of the demographic transition. This wave of growth first spread across the most industrially developed countries in the 19th century, and the correlation between demographic development and industrial or economic maturity continued until today, with Africa being the final major region to begin its transition in the late-1900s.