Talking about the characteristics of the population is what we do best at .id. However, the most basic demographic question of all is just “What is our population?”. With the recent release of Regional Population Growth (3218.0) by the ABS I just did a quick ranking to see what the biggest cities in Australia are.
Pretty straightforward, but always interesting. Everyone wants to know where their area ranks.
While Sydney and Melbourne are by far the two biggest cities, some of the smaller state capitals are eclipsed in population by some of the larger regional centres. Here is the official list of the top 33 centres for 2010-11. Why 33? The list includes all centres down to 50,000 population.
1 | Sydney (NSW) | 4,627,345 |
2 | Melbourne (VIC) | 4,137,432 |
3 | Brisbane (QLD) | 2,074,222 |
4 | Perth (WA) | 1,738,807 |
5 | Adelaide (SA) | 1,212,982 |
6 | Gold Coast – Tweed (QLD/NSW) | 600,475 |
7 | Newcastle (NSW) | 552,776 |
8 | Canberra – Queanbeyan (ACT/NSW) | 417,860 |
9 | Wollongong (NSW) | 293,503 |
10 | Sunshine Coast (QLD) | 254,650 |
11 | Hobart (TAS) | 216,656 |
12 | Geelong (VIC) | 180,805 |
13 | Townsville (QLD) | 176,327 |
14 | Cairns (QLD) | 153,075 |
15 | Toowoomba (QLD) | 132,936 |
16 | Darwin (NT) | 128,073 |
17 | Albury – Wodonga (NSW/VIC) | 107,086 |
18 | Launceston (TAS) | 106,655 |
19 | Ballarat (VIC) | 97,810 |
20 | Bendigo (VIC) | 92,934 |
21 | Mandurah (WA) | 89,559 |
22 | Mackay (QLD) | 87,324 |
23 | Burnie – Devonport (TAS) | 82,913 |
24 | Latrobe Valley (VIC) | 81,572 |
25 | Rockhampton (QLD) | 78,643 |
26 | Bunbury (WA) | 70,037 |
27 | Bundaberg (QLD) | 69,500 |
28 | Hervey Bay (QLD) | 61,691 |
29 | Wagga Wagga (NSW) | 59,005 |
30 | Coffs Habour (NSW) | 53,798 |
31 | Gladstone (QLD) | 52,949 |
32 | Mildura (VIC) | 50,909 |
33 | Shepparton (VIC) | 50,373 |
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics: Regional Population Growth, Australia, 2010 – 11 (Cat. No. 3218.0)
Note that the boundaries used for this list include the main and outlying urban areas of the town or city, not necessarily based on local government boundaries. For example, the LGAs of Wagga Wagga and Bendigo have larger populations than the centres as listed here, while Albury-Wodonga’s definition extends beyond the LGA to encompass a wider district.
Some interesting points:
So where does your area sit? Current Estimated Resident Populations have now been updated on profile.id and economy.id sites, so you can check out the most up-to-date population for your LGA right now at .id’s demographic resource centre.