The population of Australia’s capital cities grew over 500,000 in the year ending June 2023, the largest annual growth recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Beidar Cho, ABS head of demography said: “Australia’s capital cities grew by a record 517,200 people last financial year, with this growth largely driven by net overseas migration.”
Melbourne (up 167,500) and Sydney (up 146,700) had the biggest increase in 2022-23, with Perth and Brisbane each also adding over 80,000 people. Along with Adelaide (28,100), these five cities had their largest annual population growth since the start of the series in 1971.
The growth rate for the capitals combined was 3.0 per cent, more than double the growth rate for regional Australia (1.4 per cent).
Perth had the highest growth rate (3.6 per cent), followed by Melbourne (3.3 per cent) and Brisbane (3.1 per cent).
| Capital city | Population change 2022-23 | Population 30 June 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| People | Per cent | ||
| Sydney | 146,700 | 2.8 | 5,450,500 |
| Melbourne | 167,500 | 3.3 | 5,207,100 |
| Brisbane | 81,200 | 3.1 | 2,707,000 |
| Adelaide | 28,100 | 2.0 | 1,446,400 |
| Perth | 81,300 | 3.6 | 2,309,300 |
| Hobart | 1,200 | 0.5 | 253,700 |
| Darwin | 1,600 | 1.1 | 150,700 |
| Canberra | 9,700 | 2.1 | 466,600 |
| All capitals | 517,200 | 3.0 | 17,991,300 |
| Regional Australia | 117,300 | 1.4 | 8,657,600 |
The largest growth areas were mostly in outer-suburban parts of the capital cities, where population growth was driven by net internal migration gains.
Over 2022-23 Rockbank – Mount Cottrell in Melbourne’s west grew by 4,300 people. Marsden Park – Shanes Park in Blacktown (3,900 people) and Boronia Heights – Park Ridge in Logan (2,000) grew the most in Sydney and Brisbane respectively.
| Capital city | Largest growing area | Population change 2022-23 |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Marsden Park – Shanes Park | 3,900 |
| Melbourne | Rockbank – Mount Cottrell | 4,300 |
| Brisbane | Boronia Heights – Park Ridge | 2,000 |
| Adelaide | Munno Para West – Angle Vale | 1,800 |
| Perth | Alkimos – Eglinton | 1,800 |
| Hobart | Rokeby | 320 |
| Darwin | Palmerston – South | 550 |
| Canberra | Taylor | 1,200 |
Outside the capitals, the largest growth areas over 2022-23 were Caloundra West – Baringa and Landsborough (both up 1,700) in Queensland, and Barwon Heads – Armstrong Creek and Delacombe (both 1,100) in Victoria.
