Australia's population structure shows a nearly equal male to female ratio of 0.98 to 1, with a median male age of 38.10 years old and a median female age of 39.90 years old. The highest concentration of adults under 75 years old is in the 34 and 33 year-old age groups, while the lowest concentration is in the 74 and 73 year-old age groups.
Data after 2022 is projected based on recent change
* As of 2/12/2025
1 birth
Every 1.7 minutes
1 death
Every 2.9 minutes
1 immigrant
Every 3.8 minutes
1 person
Every 2.0 minutes
City | 2025 Pop. |
---|---|
Sydney | 4,627,345 |
Melbourne | 4,246,375 |
Brisbane | 2,189,878 |
Perth | 1,896,548 |
Adelaide | 1,225,235 |
Gold Coast | 591,473 |
Canberra | 367,752 |
Newcastle | 308,308 |
Wollongong | 292,190 |
Logan City | 282,673 |
The Australian population census of 2011 showed that of the 21,507,717 declared residents, 25.4% of the population claimed their ancestry to be Australian. Those that claimed to be of English ancestry represented 25.9% of the total population. Other figures included Irish at 7.5%, Scottish at 6.4% and Italian at 3.3%.
Australia’s population has quadrupled since World War I, mostly due to immigration. From the end of World War II through 2000, nearly 6 million immigrants came to Australia, accounting for 2 out of every 7 Australians. At the last census in 2011, over 30% of Australians were born in another country and over 46% had at least one overseas-born parent. The most common immigration sources in Australia are the United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, India, and Vietnam.
In 2011, the official indigenous population of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders was over 548,000, or 2.5% of the total population, up from 116,000 in 1976. This increase is due in part to the fact that many people with at least some indigenous heritage were undercounted before.
As with other developed countries, Australia’s demographics are shifting toward an older population. The median age in Australia is 37 years.
As of 2016, the population of Australia had the option to identify their religious affiliations through the census period and the findings show that 30.1% do not have a religious practice or belief, 22.6% of Australians are Catholic, 13.3% are Anglican Christian, 3.7% are affiliated with the Uniting Church, 2.6% identify as Christian in general, another 2.6% are affiliated with Islam, 2.4% are Buddhist, 2.3% are Presbyterian, 2.1% are Eastern Orthodox, 1.9% are involved in Hinduism, 1.5% are Baptist, 1.1% are Pentecostal, .7% are Lutheran, .5% are Sikh, .5% are other Protestant, .4% are affiliated with Judaism, another .4% are Jehovah’s Witnesses, .3% are Seventh Day Adventists, .3% are Latter Day Saints and .2% are Oriental Orthodox.
Australia has a long history of economic stability, and as of 2018, they were the country with the largest median wealth for the average adult. The service sector is the largest portion of the Australian economy, making up 61.1% of the market an employing 79.2% of Australian citizens. Despite these successes, the economy is actually growing at the slowest rate that it has in a very long time at just 1.8% annual growth.
In 1770 Captain James Cook chartered the eastern coast of the land and claimed it for Britain. For over twenty years, the area was used as a penal colony and once gold was found near New South Wales in 1851, the population exploded. By 1901, Australia had developed six states that were unified with a constitution. The population rate boomed to well over 2% after this time, and the country grew at that rate up until the 1970s, when it gradually started to slow down to the more manageable growth rate of today.
Yes, Australia is a continent. It includes mainland Australia including the island regions of Seram and Tasmania.
This region covers an area of 90,758 km² and is surrounded by Bass Strait to the north, Tasmanian Sea to the east, and Southern Ocean to the west and south. An interesting fact about this area is that it has got the cleanest air in the world, monitored by the Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station.
The lack of pollution is also attributed to Tasmania’s location in the Southern Ocean, far from other landmasses. About one-fifth of Tasmania has been categorized as a world heritage area. This region covers 1.5 million hectares and includes forest reserves, marine, and national parks.
This sub-region of Australia borders Queensland to the North, South Australia to the west and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It’s the most populous region in Australia with seven million people and covers an area of 802,000 square kilometers.
This region covers 32% of the Australian region and borders South Australia to the South-east, the Southern Ocean to the south and the Indian Ocean to the north and west. The area has a landmass of 2.5 million square kilometers with a population of 2.67 million people. This is about 10% of the national total.
Western Australia is also home to spectacular sceneries like the Super Pit Mine, one of Australia’s largest gold mines. The mine is 1.4 kilometers wide and 3.5 kilometers long. In fact, the western Australian petroleum and mineral industry sales was worth over $172 billion between 2019 and 2020. Gold accounted for $16 billion with iron ore at $103 billion.
This Australian sub-region is the third populous and second-largest in Australia. It has 4.8 million people and borders the Pacific Ocean to the East, New South West to the west. The region was named in honor of the monarch, Queen Victoria, on 6th June 1859.
This area borders South Australia to the South, Queensland to the east and Arafura seas to the north. It also covers about one-sixth of the Australian continent and is semi-arid in the far south and tropical in the north. This area is home to the Aboriginal people, who have been inhabitants of the region for over 40,000 years.
History accounts that about 70,000 of these people resided in the region when the British began colonizing the area in 1788.
This Australian sub-region lies in the southern district of New South Wales and extends 28 square miles east of the Tasman sea. This area has a rugged topography that allows for grazing, forestry, and farming. While this is the case, only a third of the territory is best suited for urban development.
This region has a continental climate characterized by seasonal variation in temperature. During the winter months (June to August), temperatures can go as low as -10 °C, with most of the higher parts of the mountain covered with snow.