The population of Australia's capital cities grew by almost 430,000 people in the year ending June 2024, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Beidar Cho, ABS head of demography said: 'Australia's capital cities grew by 427,800 people last financial year, down from a record growth of 520,900 the previous year. This was largely driven by net overseas migration.'
Melbourne (+142,600) and Sydney (+107,500) had the biggest rises in population in 2023-24. Perth and Brisbane each also added 73,000 people.
The growth rate for Australian capitals combined was 2.4 per cent, almost double the growth rate for regional Australia (1.3 per cent).
Perth had the highest growth rate (3.1 per cent), followed by Melbourne and Brisbane, both at 2.7 per cent.
| Capital city | Population change 2023-24 | Population 30 June 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People | Per cent | ||
| Sydney | 107,500 | 2.0 | 5,557,200 |
| Melbourne | 142,600 | 2.7 | 5,350,700 |
| Brisbane | 72,900 | 2.7 | 2,780,100 |
| Adelaide | 22,100 | 1.5 | 1,469,200 |
| Perth | 72,700 | 3.1 | 2,384,400 |
| Hobart | 950 | 0.4 | 254,900 |
| Darwin | 1,400 | 0.9 | 152,500 |
| Canberra | 7,500 | 1.6 | 473,900 |
| All capitals | 427,800 | 2.4 | 18,422,800 |
| Regional Australia | 113,800 | 1.3 | 8,771,600 |
The largest growth areas were mostly in outer-suburban parts of the capital cities, where population growth was driven by people moving into these areas from other parts of Australia.
Over 2023-24 Fraser Rise - Plumpton in Melbourne's outer west grew by 4,300 people. Box Hill - Nelson in Sydney's outer north-west (4,000 people) and Ripley in Ipswich (2,700) grew the most in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
| Capital city | Largest growing area | Population change 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Box Hill - Nelson | 4,000 |
| Melbourne | Fraser Rise - Plumpton | 4,300 |
| Brisbane | Ripley | 2,700 |
| Adelaide | Munno Para West - Angle Vale | 2,100 |
| Perth | Alkimos - Eglinton | 2,100 |
| Hobart | Rokeby | 230 |
| Darwin | Palmerston - South | 400 |
| Canberra | Taylor | 1,100 |
Outside the capitals, the largest growth areas in 2023-24 were Queensland's Caloundra West - Baringa (+2,500) and Landsborough (+1,400), and Victoria's Delacombe (+1,400) and Charlemont (+1,300).
