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 statistic shows a breakdown of the student population of Australia in 2016, by city. In 2016, there were just under 295 thousand students in Melbourne, followed by Sydney with around 219 thousands.

Public transport services offer a cost-effective, convenient, safe and mostly environmentally friendly travel option to the general public. Prior to the pandemic passenger numbers were growing strongly as the population increased, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, while public transport fares also expanded. However, travel patterns changed drastically during the pandemic in response to social distancing and lockdown measures, which greatly limited passenger numbers, negatively affecting demand for public transport. Overall, revenue for public transport providers is expected to decline at 3.2% per year over the five years through 2023-24, reaching $28.2 billion. This includes an anticipated increase of 1.9% in 2023-24, partly due to an ongoing, but slow, recovery in the number of commuters. More Australians than ever are living in urban areas, generating strong demand for transport options. Regional cities have also exhibited strong population growth, with residents demanding accessible transport options to and from these towns. Car transport costs and congestion on Australian roads have both increased, encouraging commuters to switch to public transport options. Operators have undertaken efforts to expand their networks and capacity to accommodate growing populations. However, government funding for public transport in many areas has been unable to keep pace with demand, causing some unreliability with services. Public transport providers are set to expand as Australia's population is forecast to increase steadily and workers are expected to increasingly be asked to return to the office, boosting demand for public transport. New capacity and networks across the country are due to open, while improvements to ticketing systems are also set to be implemented. These factors are set to boost passenger use, which, combined with fare increases, is poised to bolster revenue. Additionally, significant investments are being made to make public transport more environmentally friendly, supporting demand from environmentally conscious consumers. Overall, revenue is projected to increase at an average of 1.3% per year over the five years through 2028-29, to total $30.0 billion.

The Australian used car market, valued at $69.90 million in 2025, is experiencing robust growth, projected to expand at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.12% from 2025 to 2033. This surge is driven by several factors. Firstly, increasing affordability compared to new vehicles makes used cars a more accessible option for a wider range of buyers, particularly younger demographics and budget-conscious consumers. Secondly, the rising popularity of online marketplaces like Gumtree and Carsales.com.au has streamlined the buying and selling process, boosting market transparency and facilitating quicker transactions. Furthermore, the growing preference for SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs) is shaping market segmentation, with these categories experiencing disproportionately high demand. However, challenges exist. Fluctuations in fuel prices and the increasing adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could influence buyer preferences in the coming years. Moreover, stringent vehicle inspection regulations and concerns regarding vehicle history could act as restraints on market expansion. The market's diverse structure, encompassing organized dealerships alongside informal sales channels, further contributes to its dynamic nature. Organized dealerships benefit from established reputations and warranties, while the unorganized sector offers potentially lower prices. The market's regional distribution likely mirrors Australia's population density, with major cities like Sydney and Melbourne contributing significantly to overall sales. While precise regional breakdowns are unavailable, the provided global regional segmentation suggests a concentration within Australia's urban centers. Future growth will depend on managing the evolving landscape of consumer preferences, addressing concerns regarding vehicle quality and transparency, and adapting to the ongoing transition towards sustainable mobility solutions. Further research into specific vehicle types, online versus offline sales channels, and regional variations within Australia would provide more granular insights into the market's intricacies and growth potential. The ongoing influence of economic factors like interest rates and consumer confidence will play a crucial role in shaping the market's trajectory in the coming years. This report provides a detailed analysis of the Australian used car market, encompassing historical data (2019-2024), current estimations (2025), and future forecasts (2025-2033). It offers invaluable insights for businesses and investors navigating this dynamic sector. With a focus on key segments like petrol, diesel, and electric vehicles, the report leverages high-search-volume keywords such as "used cars Australia," "second hand car market Australia," "pre-owned car prices Australia," and "Australian used car industry report" to maximize online visibility. Recent developments include: March 2023: Hyundai Australia announced that it has begun selling used Ioniq 5 models on its company’s website, beginning with 23 vehicles initially., May 2023: Sojitz Corporation acquired full ownership of Albert Automotive Holdings Pty Ltd, which operates a wholesale and retail used car business as part of Dutton Group.. Key drivers for this market are: Quality Assurance is Driving Market Growth in the Country. Potential restraints include: Trust and Transparency in Used Car Remained a Key Challenge for Consumers. Notable trends are: The Online Sales Channel Segment is Expected to be the Fastest Growing Segment Between 2024 and 2029.

The value of commercial building activity in Australia was forecasted to amount to around 43.2 billion Australian dollars in the 2025 fiscal year. This was around the same as the commercial building activity value as of fiscal year 2019, which reached over 43.3 billion Australian dollars.

Commercial building activity boom

The short-term increase in commercial building activity was attributable to strong employment and population growth. Buildings such as shops, hospitals, cafes, restaurants, schools, and offices have been required to fill the needs of the increasing Australian population. In addition, warehouses, factories, and wholesale distribution facilities have been required to further support this growth. In the tourism sector, there has been a need for more accommodation options in the major tourist destinations in the country.

Office space demand

In the office segment, the nation’s larger cities such as Melbourne and Sydney have remained competitive with some of the lowest vacancy rates in the world. In Sydney, the recent COVID-19 outbreak seemed to have led to a decline in office leasing enquiries, and therefore an increase in the vacancy rate in 2020. The same trend was seen in the prime office vacancy rate in Melbourne. It is yet to be seen if the office space demand will return to pre-pandemic levels in the near future.

Four of Australia's largest five population centres are topographically constrained by prominent escarpments (i.e. Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide). These escarpments are underlain by faults or fault complexes capable of hosting damaging earthquakes. Paleoseismological investigations over the last decade indicate that the seismogenic character (e.g. recurrence and magnitude) of these structures varies markedly. Uplift rates on range bounding faults in the Mount Lofty Ranges suggest average recurrence times on individual faults for Mmax earthquakes (MW 7.1-7.4) in the order of 10-20 ka. A high density of faults with demonstrated Late Quaternary surface rupture occurring proximally to Adelaide suggests recurrence times for damaging ground shaking at a given location from earthquakes on these faults in the hundreds to low thousands of years. Uplift rates on faults proximal to Melbourne (and the Latrobe Valley, where much of Melbourne's power is generated) in some cases exceed those of the Mount Lofty Ranges. However, a lower relative density of seismogenic faults proximal to the conurbation of Melbourne is suggestive of a lesser hazard than for Adelaide. In contrast to Melbourne and Adelaide, paleoseismological investigations on the Darling Fault near Perth, and the Lapstone Structural Complex near Sydney, indicate average recurrence for Mmax events in the hundreds of thousands to millions of years. Of course, distal larger events and proximal sub-Mmax events have been demonstrated to be damaging in these areas (e.g. 1968 Ms6.8 Meckering, 1989 ML5.6 Newcastle). The same is true for Adelaide and Melbourne (e.g. 1954 ML5.4 Adelaide, 2012 ML 5.4 Moe). Further research is required to demonstrate that earthquakes of sub-morphogenic and morphogenic magnitude might be modelled on the same Guttenberg-Richter distribution curve.

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.

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 the year ending June 2023, the most popular domestic air travel route in Australia was from Melbourne to Sydney; over the year, around 7.3 million passengers were carried on this route. Also popular were routes from Brisbane to Sydney and Brisbane to Melbourne, which carried around four and 3.1 million passengers respectively.

Outbound tourists from Australia spent just over 8.97 billion Australian dollars on trips to the United States in the financial year 2024. Australian visitor trip expenditure in the United Kingdom followed closely, bringing in around 860 million Australian dollars less than the United States. Despite being the leading tourist destination for Australians in terms of tourist numbers, the expenditure of Australians in Indonesia ranked in fourth place at around six billion Australian dollars. Australians’ wanderlust has been reignited Throughout the pandemic, overseas travel was ruled out for the majority of Australians, with several opting to explore the diverse landscapes closer to home. Nonetheless, since the borders reopened in 2022, the Australian population’s ability and desire to travel abroad has soared. The number of overseas departures of Australian residents leaped from around 1.4 million in 2022 to over 9.6 million in 2024, with the highest number of outbound residents traveling from New South Wales. Indonesia, New Zealand, and the United States attracted the highest numbers of Australia’s outbound tourists, with over 1.3 million Australian residents traveling to Indonesia in the 2024 financial year. Australians traveling closer to home Traveling domestically is also a popular choice among Australians, with Sydney topping the ranking as the leading destination visited by domestic overnight visitors in Australia in 2023. While Sydney was the overall top destination for domestic overnight visitors, Melbourne snatched Sydney’s crown as the most popular holiday or leisure destination in Australia that year. The most prevalent reason for traveling domestically in Australia was for holiday purposes, with over 47 million domestic overnight trips taken for a holiday in 2023, followed by around 37 million trips to visit friends and relatives.

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

In 2019, Queensland was the Australian state with the highest density of general practitioners with 125.4 GPs per 100,000 of the population. The Australian Capital Territory had the fewest number of GPs in relation to its population.

The statistic depicts Australia's gross domestic product (GDP) from 1987 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. In 2023, GDP in Australia amounted to about 1.74 trillion US dollars. See global GDP for a global comparison.

Australia’s economy and population

Australia’s gross domestic product has been growing steadily, and all in all, Australia and its economic key factors show a well-set country. Australia is among the countries with the largest gross domestic product / GDP worldwide, and thus one of the largest economies. It was one of the few countries not severely stricken by the 2008 financial crisis; its unemployment rate, inflation rate and trade balance, for example, were hardly affected at all. In fact, the trade balance of Australia – a country’s exports minus its imports – has been higher than ever since 2010, with a slight dip in 2012. Australia mainly exports wine and agricultural products to countries like China, Japan or South Korea. One of Australia’s largest industries is tourism, which contributes a significant share to its gross domestic product. Almost half of approximately 23 million Australian residents are employed nowadays, life expectancy is increasing, and the fertility rate (the number of children born per woman) has been quite stable.

A look at the distribution of the world population by continent shows that Australia is ranked last in terms of population and population density. Most of Australia's population lives at the coast in metropolitan areas, since parts of the continent are uninhabitable. Unsurprisingly, Australia is known as a country with very high living standards, four of its biggest cities – Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Perth – are among the most livable cities worldwide.

Interest in bicycles, e-bikes (electric bikes) and carbon-friendly transportation methods has been growing across the globe, and Australians are not likely to miss out on the cycle trend. Australians purchased almost 1.2 million bicycles in fiscal year 2017, whether for sport, recreation or to lessen their impact on the environment.

Cyclists in Australia

The overall cycling participation rate was around 34.2 percent in 2017, a slight decrease from the previous year. Cycling in Australia is a popular pastime activity; most of those who recently cycled did so for recreation. More men seem to cycle compared to women, with the participation rate much higher for male cyclists compared to female riders.

Commuters

Australians also use bikes for transportation. Thousands of people based in metropolitan areas such as Melbourne and Sydney commute to work with a bicycle. The majority of cycling commuters are men across the country. In Sydney, the largest share of urban commuters earned a salary of over 100 thousand Australian dollars. The country has several state advertising campaigns that encourage people to get on their bikes and ride. While there has been some success, many people still feel unsafe to cycle on Australian roads.

In 2024, the total revenue of the coffee market in Australia amounted to just over 12.2 billion U.S. dollars. Roast coffee represented around 10.9 billion U.S. dollars of the Australian coffee market that year, with instant coffee representing around 1.3 billion U.S. dollars. The Australian coffee market revenue is expected to reach around 14.9 billion U.S. dollars by 2029.

In 2023, around 54 percent of roasted coffee beans imported into Australia came from Switzerland. Italy was the second most prominent country of origin, making up just over 15 percent of the total value of roasted coffee imports.

As of January 2023, there were approximately 285 thousand registered motorcycles in New South Wales, Australia. In total, more than 965 thousand motorcycles were registered in Australia that year. Sale of vehicles in Australia In December 2020, total passenger and commercial vehicle sales in Australia were estimated to be 95.65 thousand. This reflected an increase in vehicle sales in April 2020. That year, the country's passenger and commercial vehicle sales totaled nearly 917 thousand. The total number of registered vehicles in Australia will exceed 20 million by 2022. The number of registered passenger vehicles in Australia was the highest that year, followed by light commercial vehicles. Average emission intensity among vehicles In 2020, the average emissions intensity of diesel vehicles in Australia was approximately 178 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. This represented a decrease from the previous year. The average emissions intensity of diesel vehicles was higher than that of petrol vehicles. As of 2020, new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Australia emitted an average of 217 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer. This year's emissions were higher than the previous years.