Urbanization in Australia

{{Short description|Concentration of Australian population in urban areas}}

Australia is one of the most urbanised nations, with 90 percent of the population living in just 0.22 per cent of the country’s land area and 87 percent living within 50 kilometres of the coast.{{cite web |url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2.%20DCCEEW-SOE_factsheet_Coasts.pdf |title= Australia State of the Environment 2021 Report Facts Sheets "Coasts" |accessdate=25 March 2023 |publisher= Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230325014245/https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2.%20DCCEEW-SOE_factsheet_Coasts.pdf |archive-date= 25 March 2023 }} As at the 2016 Census, more than two-thirds of Australians lived in a capital city, with 40 percent of the population being in the two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne.{{cite web |url=https://soe.environment.gov.au/ |title= Australia State of the Environment 2016 Report |accessdate=15 December 2017 |publisher= Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy}}

Greater capital city areas by population density

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" rowspan=2 | Rank

! scope="col" rowspan=2 | Greater Capital City Statistical Area

! scope="col" rowspan=2 | State/territory

! scope="col" colspan=1 | Population (2023){{Cite web |title=Population estimates by LGA, Significant Urban Area, Remoteness Area and electoral division, 2001 to 2022 |url=https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/2022-23 |access-date=26 March 2024 |website=abs.gov.au |publisher=Australian Bureau of Statistics |language=en}}

! scope="col" rowspan=1 | Land
area
(km²)

! scope="col" rowspan=1 | Density
(/km²)

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 1

| Canberra

| {{flag|Australian Capital Territory}}

| 466,566

| 814.2

| 573

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2

| Melbourne

| {{flag|Victoria}}

| 5,207,145

| 9,993

| 521.08

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 3

| Adelaide

| {{flag|South Australia}}

| 1,446,380

| 3,259.8

| 443.7

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 4

| Sydney

| {{flag|New South Wales}}

| 5,450,496

| 12,367.7

| 440.7

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 5

| Perth

| {{flag|Western Australia}}

| 2,309,338

| 6,417.9

| 359.8

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 6

| Brisbane

| {{flag|Queensland}}

| 2,706,966

| 15,842

| 170.9

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 7

| Hobart

| {{flag|Tasmania}}

| 253,654

| 1,758.8

| 144.2

scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 8

| Darwin

| {{flag|Northern Territory}}

| 150,736

| 3,163.8

| 47.6

50 most densely populated Australian suburbs

class="wikitable sortable"

! Rank

! Suburb

! Metropolitan Area

! PopulationAustralian Bureau of Statistics 2016, General Community Profile 'Table G01: Selected Person Characteristics by Sex and State Suburb' data cube: Excel spreadsheet, cat no. 2001.0, viewed 15 December 2017, https://datapacks.censusdata.abs.gov.au/datapacks/ !! -Area
(km²)

! Inhabitants
per km²

! Inhabitants
per mi²

Urbanization in Australia

Greater capital city areas by population density

50 most densely populated Australian suburbs

See also

References