Tuesday 24 April 2018

Sydney's population growth climbs to all-time high

Sydney 5.1 million

The ABS reported that Sydney's population increased by more than +100,000 in FY2017 for the first time ever, in doing so rising to an estimated 5.1 million.

More than 70 per cent of Australia's population growth was accounted for by Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.


Sydney's population growth climbed dramatically to +101,600 (+2 per cent), while Melbourne remained extremely strong at +125,400 (+2.7 per cent).

Melbourne's population has increased by well over ¼ million in only two financial years to hit 4.9 million. 

Population growth in Brisbane also picked up strongly to +48,000 or +2 per cent, driven partly by interstate migration. 


Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and Geelong recorded some fair population growth in absolute terms, and the ACT also increased by an estimated +6,833 persons. 

But generally speaking population growth was considerably weaker around regional Australia.

Darwin (+696), Adelaide (+9,648), and Perth (+21,094) also recorded population growth rates of 1 per cent or less.