Australia Population

The country Australia was founded by European immigrants 200 years ago, but has been inhabited for over 40,000 years. An abundance of natural resources and relatively few people have made the country one of the richest in the world.

Key figures and facts

• Capital: Canberra
• Ethnic groups: English 25.9%, Australians 25.4%, Irish 7.5%, Scots 6.4%, Italian 3.3%, Germans 3.2%, Chinese 3.1%, Indian 1.4%, Greeks 1, 4%, Dutch 1.2%, other 15.8% (including Australian Indigenous people 0.5%), unspecified 5.4% (2011) (based on questions of which nationality one feels one belongs to)
• Language: English 72.7%, Mandarin 2.5%, Arabic 1.4%, Cantonese 1.2%, Vietnamese 1.2%, Italian 1.2%, Greek 1%, other 14.8%, unspecified 6.5 % (2016)
• Religion: Protestants 23.1%, Catholics 22.6%, other Christians 4.2%, Muslims 2.6% Buddhists 2.4%, Orthodox 2.3%, Hindus 1.9%, none 30.1%, others/unspecified 10.9% (2016)
• Population: 24,772,247 (2018)
• Control Form: Federal Constitutional Monarchy
• Area: 7 741 220 km2
• Currency: Australian dollars
• GNP per capita: 46 012 PPP $
• National Day: January 26th

Australia has been populated for at least 40,000 years, probably longer. The predecessors of today’s indigenous peoples came by sea from the Sunda Islands via the land bridge that united Australia and New Guinea in one single continent, Sahul. Towards the end of the 18th century, British colonists estimated that the indigenous population was somewhere between 300,000 and 1,000,000 people. On January 18, 2020, the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Population Clock estimated that the population had reached 25 572 832. Of these, indigenous peoples made up 2.8 percent.

Population of Australia by Year (Historical)

Year	Population	Annual Growth Rate	Population Density	Global Rank
2020	25,499,773	1.180%	3.3193	55
2019	25,203,087	1.230%	3.2807	55
2018	24,898,041	1.270%	3.2410	55
2017	24,584,509	1.330%	3.2002	53
2016	24,262,601	1.380%	3.1583	53
2015	23,932,391	1.560%	3.1153	53
2010	22,154,568	1.890%	2.8839	53
2005	20,178,429	1.220%	2.6266	52
2000	18,991,320	1.090%	2.4721	51
1995	17,992,963	1.190%	2.3422	51
1990	16,960,486	1.600%	2.2077	49
1985	15,663,552	1.430%	2.0389	47
1980	14,588,294	1.160%	1.8990	46
1975	13,773,177	1.490%	1.7929	42
1970	12,792,923	2.490%	1.6653	42
1965	11,313,084	2.010%	1.4726	42
1960	10,241,965	2.250%	1.3332	39
1955	9,165,596	2.310%	1.1931	42
1950	8,177,231	0.000%	1.0644	43

Major Cities in Australia by Population

Rank	City	Population
1	Sydney	4,627,234
2	Melbourne	4,246,264
3	Brisbane	2,189,767
4	Perth	1,896,437
5	Adelaide	1,225,124
6	Gold Coast	591,362
7	Canberra	367,641
8	Newcastle	308,197
9	Wollongong	292,079
10	Logan City	282,562
11	Geelong	225,923
12	Hobart	216,545
13	Townsville	196,108
14	Cairns	152,964
15	Toowoomba	131,147
16	Darwin	128,951
17	Rockingham	107,911
18	Launceston	106,042
19	Bendigo	100,506
20	Ballarat	97,826
21	Mandurah	83,183
22	Mackay	74,108
23	Bundaberg	70,715
24	Bunbury	68,137
25	Maitland	67,021
26	Armadale	62,185
27	Rockhampton	61,613
28	Adelaide Hills	60,283
29	South Brisbane	59,889
30	Hervey Bay	52,119
31	Reservoir	47,526
32	Tamworth	47,486
33	Wagga Wagga	46,802
34	Albury	45,516
35	Berwick	44,668
36	Port Macquarie	41,380
37	Queanbeyan	40,550
38	Orange	39,218
39	Blacktown	38,889
40	Shepparton	38,662
41	Caloundra	38,595
42	Hoppers Crossing	37,997
43	Werribee	37,626
44	Melton	35,379
45	Castle Hill	35,278
46	Saint Albans	34,980
47	Nowra	34,368
48	Frankston	34,346
49	Frankston East	34,346
50	Rowville	34,034
51	Warrnambool	33,871
52	Baulkham Hills	33,834
53	Albany	33,539
54	Mount Waverley	33,500
55	St Albans	33,400
56	Auburn	33,011
57	Bathurst	32,999
58	Pakenham South	32,800
59	Point Cook	32,302
60	Dubbo	32,216
61	Epping	32,089
62	Wodonga	31,494
63	Kalgoorlie	30,996
64	Bankstown	30,461
65	Mill Park	30,406
66	Gladstone	30,378
67	Kwinana	30,322
68	Lismore	29,975
69	Mildura	29,905
70	Preston	29,814
71	Sunbury	29,814
72	Hurstville	29,711
73	Narre Warren South	28,483
74	Noble Park	28,266
75	Southport	28,204
76	Kellyville	27,860
77	Port Stephens	27,420
78	Banora Point	27,257
79	Doncaster East	26,936
80	Croydon	26,835
81	Geraldton	26,761
82	Maroubra	26,427
83	Coffs Harbour	26,242
84	Mosman	26,125
85	Richmond	26,010
86	Narre Warren	25,771
87	Randwick	25,708
88	Strathfield	25,702
89	Bundoora	25,598
90	Alice Springs	25,075
91	Quakers Hill	24,906
92	Endeavour Hills	24,889
93	Palmerston	24,889
94	Coburg	24,866
95	Dandenong	24,808
96	Fremantle	24,724
97	Ferntree Gully	24,613
98	Campsie	24,430
99	Kew	23,765
100	Hampton Park	23,656
101	Canning Vale	23,178
102	Glen Iris	23,159
103	Mount Gambier	23,098
104	Marrickville	23,050
105	Northcote	22,809
106	Granville	22,778
107	Mount Isa	22,674
108	Keysborough	22,589
109	Armidale	22,562
110	Morphett Vale	22,491
111	Dianella	22,410
112	Forest Lake	22,315
113	Mornington	22,310
114	Thornlie	22,154
115	Ashfield	21,889
116	Traralgon	21,849
117	Dandenong North	21,799
118	Busselton	21,787
119	Cabramatta	21,672
120	Greystanes	21,592
121	Tarneit	21,579
122	Maryborough	21,390
123	Caboolture	21,367
124	Kirwan	21,305
125	Langwarrin	21,260
126	Carlingford	21,253
127	Liverpool	21,206
128	Caringbah	21,172
129	Brighton	21,146
130	Glenferrie	21,066
131	Hawthorn	21,066
132	Hawthorn South	21,066
133	Goulburn	20,829
134	Boronia	20,714
135	Woodridge	20,539
136	Booval	20,429
137	Thomastown	20,220
138	Cheltenham	20,181
139	Punchbowl	20,125
140	Prospect	20,106
141	Greensborough	20,103
142	Gawler	19,895
143	Burnie	19,861
144	Balwyn North	19,857
145	Lalor	19,762
146	Brunswick	19,756
147	Hornsby	19,752
148	St Clair	19,726
149	Springvale	19,660
150	Wheelers Hill	19,642
151	Craigieburn	19,617
152	Whyalla	19,534
153	Glenroy	19,533
154	Camberwell	19,526
155	Malvern East	19,482
156	Murray Bridge	19,466
157	Echuca	19,346
158	Devonport	19,206
159	Roxburgh Park	19,124
160	Glenmore Park	19,089
161	Epping	18,858
162	Ballajura	18,841
163	Essendon	18,741
164	Cherrybrook	18,667
165	Altona Meadows	18,635
166	Cranbourne	18,511
167	Katoomba	18,482
168	Surfers Paradise	18,390
169	Parramatta	18,337
170	Broken Hill	18,319
171	Doncaster	18,248
172	Eltham	18,051
173	Fairfield	17,970
174	Morayfield	17,909
175	Engadine	17,826
176	Eastwood	17,754
177	Saint Kilda	17,684
178	Highton	17,682
179	Mulgrave	17,536
180	Forster	17,480
181	Wantirna South	17,366
182	Dee Why	17,352
183	Thornbury	17,323
184	Wahroonga	17,260
185	Frankston South	17,249
186	Wyndham Vale	17,193
187	Gosnells	17,166
188	Mount Eliza	17,137
189	Willetton	17,132
190	Carrum Downs	17,102
191	North Ryde	17,097
192	Mount Martha	16,976
193	Wangaratta	16,734
194	Sunnybank Hills	16,719
195	Cronulla	16,643
196	Sunshine West	16,632
197	Taree	16,510
198	Earlwood	16,453
199	Sunnybank	16,331
200	South Grafton	16,288
201	Cessnock	16,282
202	Hillside	16,215
203	Westmead	16,198
204	Carnegie	16,188
205	Nerang	16,145
206	Narangba	16,112
207	Deer Park	16,093
208	Taylors Lakes	15,984
209	Deception Bay	15,979
210	Umina	15,948
211	Seaford	15,922
212	Burwood	15,919
213	Yagoona	15,892
214	West Pennant Hills	15,856
215	Paralowie	15,761
216	Lilydale	15,538
217	Moe	15,471
218	Clayton	15,432
219	Lara	15,409
220	Griffith	15,344
221	Bracken Ridge	15,244
222	Eight Mile Plains	15,211
223	Parafield Gardens	15,206
224	Prestons	15,202
225	Buderim	15,117
226	Brighton East	15,056
227	Carindale	15,024
228	Port Hedland	14,933
229	Duncraig	14,915
230	Pascoe Vale	14,889
231	Rochedale South	14,885
232	Coorparoo	14,833
233	Meadow Heights	14,732
234	Mitcham	14,700
235	Casula	14,585
236	Bossley Park	14,474
237	Cranbourne North	14,459
238	Caulfield North	14,443
239	Lakemba	14,357
240	Kingston	14,260
241	Grovedale	14,197
242	Horsham	14,174
243	Bentleigh	14,160
244	Ballina	14,131
245	Kingsford	14,121
246	Lidcombe	14,050
247	Carlton	13,993
248	Wantirna	13,867
249	Manly	13,838
250	Ingleburn	13,791
251	Burleigh Waters	13,757
252	Elwood	13,674
253	Cleveland	13,665
254	Victoria Point	13,644
255	Yarraville	13,636
256	Singleton	13,554
257	Bongaree	13,538
258	Raymond Terrace	13,495
259	Mount Druitt	13,471
260	Bacchus Marsh	13,464
261	Newtown	13,441
262	Moonee Ponds	13,421
263	Palm Beach	13,383
264	Ascot Vale	13,364
265	Morwell	13,288
266	Port Melbourne	13,182
267	Yeppoon	13,174
268	Keilor East	13,148
269	Port Augusta	13,146
270	Port Pirie	13,095
271	Footscray	13,092
272	Williamstown	13,092
273	Sale	13,075
274	Coogee	13,068
275	Templestowe Lower	13,041
276	Brunswick West	13,037
277	Hawthorn East	13,022
278	Surrey Hills	13,022
279	Port Lincoln	12,933
280	Doonside	12,920
281	Concord	12,897
282	Toongabbie	12,892
283	Dulwich Hill	12,870
284	Balwyn	12,833
285	Miranda	12,792
286	Toorak	12,760
287	Beaumaris	12,718
288	Port Kennedy	12,705
289	Broome	12,655
290	Fawkner	12,485
291	Scarborough	12,482
292	St Kilda East	12,465
293	Inala	12,457
294	Warwick	12,451
295	Rosebud	12,390
296	Hampton	12,371
297	Como	12,314
298	Ashwood	12,309
299	Chadstone	12,246
300	Marsfield	12,236
301	Kiama	12,175
302	Mayfield	12,137
303	Leichhardt	12,137
304	Springvale South	12,073
305	Goonellabah	12,026
306	Port Augusta West	12,022
307	Geelong West	12,010
308	Lavington	11,921
309	Doreen	11,889
310	Newport	11,876
311	Greenvale	11,858
312	Blackburn	11,847
313	Burwood	11,775
314	West Ryde	11,756
315	Kingswood Park	11,702
316	Penrith	11,702
317	Varsity Lakes	11,685
318	Donvale	11,684
319	Muswellbrook	11,680
320	Taylors Hill	11,674
321	Bateau Bay	11,648
322	North Melbourne	11,644
323	Wynnum West	11,634
324	Karratha	11,617
325	Charlestown	11,614
326	Wynnum	11,608
327	Penshurst	11,581
328	Mentone	11,556
329	Paddington	11,550
330	Caringbah South	11,494
331	Clayton South	11,489
332	Happy Valley	11,420
333	Diamond Creek	11,393
334	Redfern	11,371
335	North Fitzroy	11,362
336	Warnbro	11,310
337	Vermont South	11,305
338	Sandy Bay	11,223
339	East Maitland	11,199
340	South Perth	11,190
341	Lithgow	11,187
342	Bayswater	11,129
343	Manly West	11,084
344	Parkdale	11,074
345	Caulfield South	11,002
346	Gympie	10,916
347	Bairnsdale	10,894
348	Bowen	10,872
349	Nunawading	10,836
350	Samford Valley	10,820
351	Wanneroo	10,820
352	Mount Gravatt East	10,780
353	Altona North	10,775
354	Caroline Springs	10,769
355	Bulleen	10,757
356	Kensington	10,736
357	Gladesville	10,724
358	Menai	10,670
359	Bondi Beach	10,637
360	Wellington Point	10,602
361	Mount Lawley	10,592
362	Annerley	10,553
363	Tewantin	10,549
364	Box Hill North	10,538
365	Sunshine North	10,526
366	Yokine	10,502
367	Batemans Bay	10,446
368	Camp Hill	10,422
369	Marangaroo	10,408
370	Dapto	10,367
371	Maylands	10,336
372	Drummoyne	10,274
373	Melton West	10,270
374	Bondi	10,262
375	Sydenham	10,212
376	Keilor Downs	10,196
377	Neutral Bay	10,165
378	Highett	10,152
379	West Footscray	10,111
380	Nambour	10,110
381	Rutherford	10,071
382	Maribyrnong	10,054
383	Hallam	10,051
384	Hillarys	10,049
385	Burwood East	10,030
386	Blackburn South	10,018
387	Darlinghurst	10,017
388	Hamilton	9,993
389	Dingley Village	9,961
390	Glenorchy	9,951
391	Forest Hill	9,941
392	Kilsyth	9,932
393	Parkes	9,915
394	Nedlands	9,909
395	Moranbah	9,889
396	Broadmeadows	9,874
397	Grafton	9,844
398	Altona	9,807
399	Vermont	9,791
400	Dalby	9,736

Today’s population composition

At the 2016 census, the population was 23,401,892, with a median age of 38 years. 50.7 percent of the population were women while 49.3 percent were men. The most commonly reported origins were English (25 percent), Australian (non-indigenous, 23.3 percent), Irish (7.6 percent), Scottish (6.4 percent) and Chinese (3.9 percent). The Australian indigenous population comprised 2.8 percent of the population. Of the total population, 15,614,835 people, or 66.7 percent, were born in Australia, which means the immigrant population is among the highest in the world. The most common birth countries include England (3.9 percent), New Zealand (2.2 percent), Mainland China (2.2 percent), India (1.9 percent) and the Philippines (1 percent).

In 2016, Australia was ranked as the world’s third least populous country, after Namibia and Mongolia, with 3.1 people per km². However, this is of little significance given that 86 percent of the population lived in cities. 33 percent of the indigenous population also lived in cities.

The Australian indigenous population consists of several groups of Aborigines (including Tasmania) and islanders from the Torres Strait. These have faced a host of massacres and assaults, first from British settlers and then from the federal state. Nor were they counted in the census before 1967. In the so-called Mabo case in 1992, the Australian court declared the terra nullius doctrine invalid in cases where people already occupied a given area. That is, the court recognized traditional legal systems as valid in cases where they still existed. This paved the way for indigenous peoples to claim back historic lands under a so-called Native Title Act. Despite increased pressure and calls for repeated investigative reports from the early 1990s, Australia did not make a public apology for the gross abuses committed against several generations of indigenous people until 2008.

Today, Australian indigenous peoples are experiencing persistent discrimination. Although Australian authorities have implicated a so-called Closing the Gap policy, which aims to improve the living conditions of indigenous peoples, there are still significant social differences between indigenous peoples and others. This has implications for health problems, low levels of education, alcoholism, unemployment, prison rates and lack of political representation.

Immigration policy and asylum seekers

In the 1970s, immigration demographics changed drastically as a result of numerous military conflicts worldwide. Among these were the Indochinese war, Indonesia’s siege of East Timor and the rise of several South American dictators. In light of this, Australia changed immigration policy, from White Australia to an embrace of multiculturalism. In recent years, immigration has contributed to about half of the annual population growth in Australia.

Australia’s asylum policy has been markedly bipartisan since World War II. On the one hand, they have been at the top of the world when it comes to receiving asylum seekers. On the other hand, they have failed to provide lasting solutions for those to come. Australian asylum policy is and has also been controversial, especially with regard to the offshore processing of paperless refugees. Many of these are denied access to Australia and are instead transported to asylum camps in the Pacific, such as Manus in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Although the Manus camp was officially closed in 2017, there were 422 people left there in February 2019.

Religion

In 2016, the “non-religious” category was the largest among respondents, with 29.6 percent. Yet, as a whole, Christianity represented the largest religious group at 57.7 percent, with Catholicism representing 22.6 percent and Anglicanism 13.3 percent of the total population. In addition, 8.2 percent of the population belongs to non-Christian religions, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Judaism and bahá’í. In 2001, 0.03 percent reported following traditional Aboriginal religions.

Language

Australia has no official language, but in practice English is a national language. At the 2016 census, 72.7 percent stated that they only spoke English at home. At the same time, 22.2 percent said they spoke a non-English language at home. In 2016, the five most common languages ​​other than English were Mandarin (2.5 percent), Arabic (1.4 percent), Cantonese (1.2 percent), Vietnamese (1.2 percent) and Italian (1.2 percent).

It is common to estimate that there were around 250 different languages ​​among the Australian indigenous peoples at the beginning of British colonial rule. Since the distinction between language and dialect is arbitrary, this list can include over 360 languages ​​if you count with those languages ​​with less variation than Norwegian and Danish. Nevertheless, only 20 of these were used by people of all age groups at the beginning of the previous decade.

History

Early settlement

The first migrants spread rapidly around the entire Australian coast. For example, the southwestern part of Western Australia was already populated 40,000 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, the sea level rose enough for the Australian continent to form a separate land mass, separate from New Guinea in the northeast and Tasmania in the southeast. However, Aboriginal groups along the north coast maintained extensive contact and trade with islanders in the Torres Strait and today’s Papua New Guinea.

Recent DNA studies indicate a significant contribution of Aboriginal DNA from India to just over 4,000 years ago. This deposit could mean a migration wave directly from India to Australia, or their DNA may have traveled through a wide range of cultural encounters between different populations until it ended in Australia. In any case, this indicates a widespread cultural contact between Australian Aborigines and the outside world long before British colonization.

Colonial times and early immigration waves

On February 7, 1788, two weeks after the first naval prisoner fleet arrived in Sydney Cove, the United Kingdom declared the New South Wales Colony as established. Over the next eighty years, around 165,000 people had arrived in Australia as a criminal. Nevertheless, many free settlers traveled to the newly established colonies during the same period. States such as South Australia and Victoria were established by free settlers.

In 1851 gold was found in several places in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, leading to a gold fever similar to that ravaged in California from 1848. This was particularly evident in Victoria, where the massive entry of European fortune hunters resulted a population growth from 77 245 in 1851 to 538 628 a decade later.

In connection with a constantly accelerating colonial development and economic development during the latter half of the 19th century, British government decided to subsidize immigration to Australia, mainly from the British Isles and Northern Europe.

Australia’s whiteness policy

From the founding of the federal state in 1901 and up to the end of World War II, Australia had an immigration policy aimed at restricting immigration from people of non-European ethnic background. The term “White Australia policy” covers a number of statutes, including the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, which helped to strengthen this policy. White Australia policy was mainly aimed at Asians and Pacific people.

In the decades following World War II, the hard line of immigration policy gradually faded. For example, the Immigration Restriction Act was replaced by the Migration Act in 1958, which meant, among other things, an end to the dictation test, which required flawless spelling of fifty words in any European language. Nevertheless, White Australia policy was not officially liquidated until 1973. Only then were laws passed that said race should not be a criterion in immigration regulations.