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.

The statistic shows the total population of Australia from 1980 to 2021, with projections up until 2029. In 2021, Australia had a total population of about 25.77 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.

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.

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.

The rent price index in Australia in the fourth quarter of 2024 was 120.7, marking an increase from the same quarter of the previous year. Rent prices had decreased in 2020; in Melbourne and Sydney, this was mainly attributed to the absence of international students during the coronavirus outbreak. The current state of the rental market in Australia The rental market in Australia has been marked by varying conditions across different regions. Among the capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne have long been recognized for having some of the highest average rents. As of September 2024, the average weekly rent for a house in Sydney was 775 Australian dollars, which was the highest average rent across all major cities in Australia that year. Furthermore, due to factors like population growth and housing demand, regional areas have also seen noticeable increases in rental prices. For instance, households in the non-metropolitan area of New South Wales’s expenditure on rent was around 30 percent of their household income in the year ending June 2024. Housing affordability in Australia Housing affordability remains a significant challenge in Australia, contributing to a trend where many individuals and families rent for prolonged periods. The underlying cause of this issue is the ongoing disparity between household wages and housing costs, especially in large cities. While renting offers several advantages, it is worth noting that the associated costs may not always align with the expectation of affordability. Approximately one-third of participants in a survey conducted in 2023 stated that they pay between 16 and 30 percent of their monthly income on rent. Recent government initiatives such as the 2024 Help to Buy scheme aim to make it easier for people across Australia to get onto the property ladder. Still, the multifaceted nature of Australia’s housing affordability problem requires continued efforts to strike a balance between market dynamics and the need for accessible housing options for Australians.

Since the 1960s, Australia's urbanization rate has consistently been above 80 percent, and in 2023 it has reached its highest ever rate at 86.62 percent. Historically, Australia has been one of the most urbanized countries in the world, due to high rates of immigration since the 20th century, which were generally to coastal, urban areas. However, despite its high urbanization rate, Australia is among the largest countries in the world; therefore its population density is among the lowest in the world.

This web maps looks at the breakdown of who is renting, who is paying off the mortgage, and who owns their place outright. Using data from ABS Census 2021 General Community Profile release. This map shows the percentage of the population that is married. Data is available for Country, Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), Local Government Area (LGA), Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) and 2 (SA2), and State Suburb (SSC) boundaries.This map contains layers that contain some of the more commonly used variables from the General Community Profile information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 census. Data is available for Country, Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA), Local Government Area (LGA), Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) and 2 (SA2), and Suburb and Localities (SAL) boundaries.The General Community Profile contains a series of tables showing the characteristics of persons, families and dwellings in a selected geographic area. The data is based on place of usual residence (that is, where people usually live, rather than where they were counted on Census night). Community Profiles are excellent tools for researching, planning and analysing geographic areas for a number of social, economic and demographic characteristics.Download the data here.Data and Geography notes:View the Readme files located in the DataPacks and GeoPackages zip files.To access the 2021 DataPacks, visit https://www.abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/datapacksGlossary terms and definitions of classifications can be found in the 2021 Census DictionaryMore information about Census data products is available at https://www.abs.gov.au/census/guide-census-data/about-census-tools/datapacksDetailed geography information: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/main-structure-and-greater-capital-city-statistical-areas: 2021 Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1), 2021 Statistical Area Level 2 (SA2), 2021 Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSA), 2021 Australia (AUS)https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/standards/australian-statistical-geography-standard-asgs-edition-3/jul2021-jun2026/non-abs-structures: 2021 Suburbs and Localities (SAL), 2021 Local Government Areas (LGA)Please note that there are data assumptions that should be considered when analysing the ABS Census data. These are detailed within the Census documents referenced above. These include:Registered Marital StatusIn December 2017, amendments to the Marriage Act 1961 came into effect enabling marriage equality for all couples. For 2021, registered marriages include all couples.Core Activity Need for AssistanceMeasures the number of people with a profound or severe core activity limitation. People with a profound or severe core activity limitation are those needing assistance in their day to day lives in one or more of the three core activity areas of self-care, mobility and communication because of a long-term health condition (lasting six months or more), a disability (lasting six months or more), or old age. Number of Motor VehiclesExcludes motorbikes, motor scooters and heavy vehicles.Please note that there are small random adjustments made to all cell values to protect the confidentiality of data. These adjustments may cause the sum of rows or columns to differ by small amounts from table totals.Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Between 2016 and 2021, Sydney was home to the largest number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in Australia, and is expected to maintain this status until at least 2026. An UHNWI is defined as an individual with net investable assets worth at least 30 million U.S. dollars. The number of UHNWIs living in Australia is above the global average.

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.

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

At the 2021 Australian census, 278,043 people in New South Wales were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. New South Wales is Australia’s most populated state, also housing Australia’s largest city, Sydney. By comparison, Australia’s second largest state, Victoria, was home to around 66 thousand Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

There are around 800,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia, which represents just over three percent of the Australian population. Indigenous people are often referred to as Australia's first people or the traditional custodians of the land in recognition of their ancestors inhabiting Australia more than 60,000 years ago. Australia's Indigenous peoples are represented by two distinct groups. Aboriginal people come from the Australian mainland. Torres Strait Islander people inhabit the group of Islands between the northern tip of Queensland and Papua New Guinea and represent less than 40,000 people.

Closing the gap

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience significantly poorer health and wellbeing outcomes when compared to their non-Indigenous Australian counterparts. The average life expectancy of Indigenous Australians is around eight years shorter than that of the non-Indigenous population. In education, Indigenous Australians are also underrepresented, but attendance rates are improving and in 2019, full-time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students numbered well over 200,000 people.

From 2015 to 2017, the average life expectancy of non-Indigenous women in major cities in Australia was 83.7 years. By comparison, men had a shorter life expectancy of around three years. Although life expectancy dropped slightly in regional areas, non-Indigenous Australians in remote areas enjoyed a similar life expectancy to their major city counterparts.

The statistic shows the 30 largest countries in the world by area. Russia is the largest country by far, with a total area of about 17 million square kilometers.

Population of Russia

Despite its large area, Russia - nowadays the largest country in the world - has a relatively small total population. However, its population is still rather large in numbers in comparison to those of other countries. In mid-2014, it was ranked ninth on a list of countries with the largest population, a ranking led by China with a population of over 1.37 billion people. In 2015, the estimated total population of Russia amounted to around 146 million people. The aforementioned low population density in Russia is a result of its vast landmass; in 2014, there were only around 8.78 inhabitants per square kilometer living in the country. Most of the Russian population lives in the nation’s capital and largest city, Moscow: In 2015, over 12 million people lived in the metropolis.

As of October 2023, around 30.32 thousand Japanese residents lived in Sydney. Sydney was therefore one of the cities with the highest number of Japanese residents outside of Japan. Similarly, Australia was one of the countries with the highest number of Japanese residents. In the observed time frame, the size of the Japanese population in the city has been growing gradually until it peaked in 2019 at close to 34.7 thousand individuals, but has been decreasing significantly ever since.The statistic, which is based on the information gathered by Japanese diplomatic missions abroad, does not include descendants of Japanese emigrants (nikkeijin) who do not hold Japanese citizenship. People with multiple citizenship are counted.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The two countries with the greatest shares of the world's Jewish population are the United States and Israel. The United States had been a hub of Jewish immigration since the nineteenth century, as Jewish people sought to escape persecution in Europe by emigrating across the Atlantic. The Jewish population in the U.S. is largely congregated in major urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with the New York metropolitan area being the city with the second largest Jewish population worldwide, after Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel is the world's only officially Jewish state, having been founded in 1948 following the first Arab-Israeli War. While Jews had been emigrating to the holy lands since the nineteenth century, when they were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, immigration increased rapidly following the establishment of the state of Israel. Jewish communities in Eastern Europe who had survived the Holocaust saw Israel as a haven from persecution, while the state encouraged immigration from Jewish communities in other regions, notably the Middle East & North Africa. Smaller Jewish communities remain in Europe in countries such as France, the UK, and Germany, and in other countries which were hotspots for Jewish migration in the twentieth century, such as Canada and Argentina.

Among countries with the highest number of overseas Chinese on each continent, the largest Chinese diaspora community is living in Indonesia, numbering more than ten million people. Most of these people are descendants from migrants born in China, who have moved to Indonesia a long time ago. On the contrary, a large part of overseas Chinese living in Canada and Australia have arrived in these countries only during the last two decades. China as an emigration country Many Chinese people have emigrated from their home country in search of better living conditions and educational chances. The increasing number of Chinese emigrants has benefited from loosened migration policies. On the one hand, the attitude of the Chinese government towards emigration has changed significantly. Overseas Chinese are considered to be strong supporters for the overall strength of Chinese culture and international influence. On the other hand, migration policies in the United States and Canada are changing with time, expanding migration opportunities for non-European immigrants. As a result, China has become one of the world’s largest emigration countries as well as the country with the highest outflows of high net worth individuals. However, the mass emigration is causing a severe loss of homegrown talents and assets. The problem of talent and wealth outflow has raised pressing questions to the Chinese government, and a solution to this issue is yet to be determined. Popular destinations among Chinese emigrants Over the last decades, English speaking developed countries have been popular destinations for Chinese emigrants. In 2022 alone, the number of people from China naturalized as U.S. citizens had amounted to over 27,000 people, while nearly 68,000 had obtained legal permanent resident status as “green card” recipients. Among other popular immigration destinations for Chinese riches are Canada, Australia, Europe, and Singapore.

In 2024, Sydney had the highest price per square meter of land across major cities in Australia. Lot buyers expected to pay a premium of 1,617 Australian dollars per square meter in the capital of New South Wales. Conversely, lot buyers in Adelaide expected to spend around 750 Australian dollars per square meter of land. Prices through the roof Over the past decade, the surge in land and housing costs has been attributed to rapid population growth, driving up median prices for property and land, particularly in cities. In Sydney, the per square meter price of land has almost tripled since 2010, while the number of new property listings has declined over the years. A shortage of residential land available to build on has exacerbated the housing affordability crisis in Australia. Will lending rates continue to climb? The homeownership dream is out of reach for the average Australian without a housing loan. Nevertheless, Australia's high mortgage interest rates for both owner-occupiers and investors have impacted current and aspiring mortgage holders, with the value of household lending trending downwards over the past two years. While rates remained high in the first half of 2024, they likely reached their peak, as shown by the gradual plateau in the second half of the year. This stabilization should, in turn, accelerate buying, selling, and lending activities.

Australia's café and restaurant scene continues to thrive, with New South Wales leading the way with over 19,225 establishments in operation at the end of the 2024 financial year. The second-leading state in terms of the number of cafés and restaurants was Victoria. As Australia's two largest states in terms of population, the concentration of food service establishments in New South Wales and Victoria mirrors Australia's population distribution, reflecting the urban-centric nature of the country's café and restaurant landscape. Gastronomy: a key economic sector In recent years, the number of cafés and restaurants throughout the country has shown relatively consistent growth, exceeding 55,700 in the 2024 financial year, up from approximately 41,570 in 2017. Australia's cafés, restaurants, and takeaway food services turnover experienced steady annual increases for many years up until the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, since 2021, the industry's revenue has been on the recovery, hitting a record of over 65 billion Australian dollars in 2024. Additionally, food services represent a key source of gross value added to the tourism industry. An added boost from coffee Coffee plays an important role in the Australian food service sector, with the beverage topping the list of regularly consumed drinks among Australians in a 2024 survey. Several international chains like McCafé operate alongside popular domestic coffee franchises, including The Coffee Club, in the country. Alongside this, the country's annual domestic coffee consumption remains robust, consistently exceeding two million sixty-kilogram bags in recent years, underscoring the enduring nature of Australia's coffee culture. Nonetheless, recent cost-of-living pressures have led to a shift in consumer behavior, with more Australians opting to brew their coffee at home.