Population Rankings

by Michael Matusik

Back in 1986 when I started in this game there were 15.6 million living in down under.  A time of shoulder pads, mullets, Pacman, Rubik’s Cube and ‘We are the world’.  I even had thickish long hair and, for mine, the music sucked much of the time.
 
Anyway, fast forward to today and some 24.6 million people live in Australia. 
 
That’s a big increase – some 56% or 8.8 million people or about 295,000 new residents per annum.  This increase over the past 30 years is the equivalent of adding today’s NSW Central Coast (Gosford, Wyong and Woy Woy) to the nation’s total head count every year.
 
Over the last five years, the population increase has been closer to 400,000 each year.  That’s the size of Canberra!
 
Below are three tables.  All are based on ABS Census data. 
 
The first shows the top 20 urban areas in Australia in 1986.  Some 66% of us lived in these top 20 areas.

Table two shows the top 20 urban areas in 2016.  Seven out of ten of us live in these places today.  Our population is concentrating.  Also note the change in rankings since 1986.
 
The third table shows the total change in population over the past 30 years.  Some areas like the Gold and Sunshine Coasts have seen massive growth (as a percentage) over this period.  It is a real challenge to manage such growth well.

Table 1: 1986 Top 20 urban areas in Australia

Rank	Urban Area	Population
1	Sydney	2,989,070
2	Melbourne	2,645,484
3	Brisbane	1,037,815
4	Adelaide	917,000
5	Perth	895,710
6	Newcastle	255,787
7	Canberra	247,194
8	Wollongong	206,803
9	Gold Coast	163,332
10	Central Coast	162,669
11	Hobart	127,106
12	Geelong	125,833
13	Townsville	96,230
14	Darwin	72,937
15	Toowoomba	71,362
16	Sunshine Coast	69,565
17	Launceston	66,286
18	Ballarat	63,802
19	Cairns	54,862
20	Rockhampton	54,362

Table 2: 2016 Top 20 urban areas in Australia

Rank	Urban Area	Population
1	Sydney	4,398,491
2	Melbourne	4,238,692
3	Brisbane	2,065,799
4	Perth	1,866,522
5	Adelaide	1,166,426
6	Gold Coast	573,445
7	Canberra	399,522
8	Newcastle	319,757
9	Central Coast	304,921
10	Wollongong	261,044
11	Sunshine Coast	259,584
12	Hobart	177,908
13	Townsville	171,971
14	Cairns	163,967
15	Geelong	155,855
16	Darwin	132,735
17	Toowoomba	100,738
18	Ballarat	92,720
19	Bendigo	91,570
20	Maitland	77,138

Table 3: Population growth over last 30 years

Urban Area	Number	% increase
Sunshine Coast	190,019	273%
Gold Coast	410,113	251%
Cairns	109,105	199%
Perth	970,812	108%
Brisbane	1,027,984	99%
Central Coast	142,252	87%
Darwin	59,798	82%
Townsville	75,741	79%
Maitland	32,823	74%
Canberra	152,328	62%
Melbourne	1,593,208	60%
Sydney	1,409,421	47%
Ballarat	28,918	45%
Bendigo	27,768	44%
Toowoomba	29,376	41%
Hobart	50,802	40%
Adelaide	249,426	27%
Woolongong	54,241	26%
Newcastle	63,970	25%
Geelong	30,022	24%

Matusik Missive by independent property analyst, Michael Matusik.  Every week Michael shares his thoughts on the Australian housing market.  

Visit www.matusik.com.au to find out more.