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.
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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;
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Population in largest city in Australia was reported at 5315600 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Australia - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.
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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.;;
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Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in Australia was reported at 22.52 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Australia - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.
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.
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This horizontal bar chart displays urban population (people) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Australia and New Zealand. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.
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.
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.
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This horizontal bar chart displays median age (year) by capital city using the aggregation average, weighted by population in Australia and New Zealand. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.
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Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Sydney, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.
Since the 1960s, Australia's urbanization rate has consistently been above 80 percent, and in 2024 it has reached its highest ever rate at 86.75 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.
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Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Brisbane, Australia metro area from 1950 to 2025.
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
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.
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:
See further metadata for more detail.
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最大城市人口在12-01-2024达5,315,600.000人,相较于12-01-2023的5,235,407.000人有所增长。最大城市人口数据按年更新,12-01-1960至12-01-2024期间平均值为3,709,165.000人,共65份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-2024,达5,315,600.000人,而历史最低值则出现于12-01-1960,为2,134,673.000人。CEIC提供的最大城市人口数据处于定期更新的状态,数据来源于World Bank,数据归类于全球数据库的澳大利亚 – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics。
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最大城市人口占城市总人口的百分比在12-01-2024达22.768%,相较于12-01-2023的22.673%有所增长。最大城市人口占城市总人口的百分比数据按年更新,12-01-1960至12-01-2024期间平均值为24.964%,共65份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-1971,达27.701%,而历史最低值则出现于12-01-2013,为22.181%。CEIC提供的最大城市人口占城市总人口的百分比数据处于定期更新的状态,数据来源于World Bank,数据归类于全球数据库的澳大利亚 – Table AU.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization 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.
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Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4s) are geographic areas built from whole Statistical Area Level 3 (SA3s). Most SA4s have a population of over 100,000 people. SA4s are the largest sub-state regions in the Main Structure of the ASGS and are designed for the output of a variety of regional data, including data from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. SA4 boundaries represent labour markets and the functional area of Australian capital cities respectively. They are designed with an emphasis on stability over time to support the time series of statistical releases such as the Quarterly Labour Force publication. These areas represent labour markets or groups of labour markets within each state and territory.Data and geography referencesSource data publication: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 2 - Statistical Area Level 4Further information: Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 2 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical AreasSource: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)Made possible by the Digital Atlas of AustraliaThe Digital Atlas of Australia is a key Australian Government initiative being led by Geoscience Australia, highlighted in the Data and Digital Government Strategy. It brings together trusted datasets from across government in an interactive, secure, and easy-to-use geospatial platform. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is working in partnership with Geoscience Australia to establish a set of web services to make ABS data available in the Digital Atlas of Australia.Contact the Australian Bureau of StatisticsEmail geography@abs.gov.au if you have any questions or feedback about this web service.Subscribe to get updates on ABS web services and geospatial products.Privacy at the Australian Bureau of StatisticsRead how the ABS manages personal information - ABS privacy policy.
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.