Adelaide's 2026 population is now estimated at 1,407,600. In 1950, the population of Adelaide was 429,277. Adelaide has grown by 14,660 in the last year, which represents a 1.05% annual change. These population estimates and projections come from the latest revision of the UN World Urbanization Prospects. These estimates represent the Urban agglomeration of Adelaide, which typically includes Adelaide's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.
Adelaide is the 5th most populous city in Australia and the capital of South Australia, located on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf of St Vincent and the Mount Lofty Ranges. Named in honor of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the city was founded as a planned capital in the 19th century.
The Adelaide metropolitan area has an estimated population of 1.33 million in 2017 (over a total area of 3,257 square kilometers), while the City of Adelaide has a population of around 23,000 (over an entire area of 15.57 square kilometers).
About three-quarters of the population of South Australia lives in the Adelaide metropolitan area.
The foreign-born population of the city is about 30%, with large Italian and Greek communities in the east and west suburbs of Fulham, West Lakes, Newton, Payneham, Campbelltown and Torrensville. There are substantial Vietnamese populations in the northwest and northern suburbs of Athol Park, Mansfield Park, Pooraka, Woodville and others. Immigrants from Sri Lanka and India are concentrated in the inner suburbs such as Enfield, Kilburn, and Park Holme.
Recently, suburbs in the north and West have experienced substantial migration from Iran and Afghanistan. Chinese immigrants have settled mainly in the northeastern and eastern communities.
The largest communities of foreign-born residents of Adelaide originate from England (7%), Italy (1.5%), India (1.5%) China (1.4%) and Vietnam (1%).
While Adelaide was founded on religious tolerance, attracting many religious people and earning it the nickname “The City of Churches,” about one-third of the population now has no religious affiliation, which makes Adelaide one of the least religious cities in the country.
English is a language often used in Adelaide, as well as Italian and Greek.
Before becoming a British settlement in 1836, the Adelaide area was inhabited by the indigenous Kaurna Aboriginal people. South Australia was proclaimed a British colony in 1836 with the city’s layout based on the Sicilian city of Catania. The city was established as a planned colony of free immigrants with promised freedom of religion and liberties. Based on the ideas of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the land was sold by the government at a price high enough to be unaffordable to journeymen and laborers, which means Adelaide does not have the convict settlement history of other cities in Australia. Although, Edward Wakefield served time for crimes and it has been found that two officers and a mayor at different points were escaped convicts.
After years of struggle, Adelaide eventually began to prosper and, by 1856, it was a self-governing colony. Electricity was introduced in 1900, and the city had a post-war boom after World War I that was followed by droughts and the Depression. It was slowly transformed from an agriculture-based economy to a modern city with many transformed pre-war factories.
Over the past decade, certain areas of Adelaide have grown faster than others, notably Golden Grove and Mawson Lakes. According to a leading demographer of Australia, South Australia’s population growth rate has been very rapid. As it stands now, many new migrants initially come to South Australian regions like Adelaide first, eventually leaving for larger cultural communities further into the country.
In 2013, South Australia’s population grew 0.9%, which is much faster than many countries although it still lags behind almost every other Australian state, primarily due to geography.
| City | 2026 Pop. ↓ | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Melbourne | 5,464,920 | 1.35% |
| Sydney | 5,312,640 | 1.22% |
| Brisbane | 2,599,740 | 1.23% |
| Perth | 2,195,090 | 1.19% |
| Gold Coast | 762,290 | 1.29% |
| Canberra | 488,541 | 1.15% |
| Newcastle | 474,766 | 1.06% |
| Wollongong | 321,908 | 1.06% |
| Hobart | 178,009 | 1.01% |
| Townsville | 168,729 | 1.01% |
| Geelong | 157,104 | 1.02% |
| Cairns | 144,730 | 1.02% |
| Darwin | 118,456 | 1.03% |
| Toowoomba | 100,032 | 1.01% |
| Ballarat | 93,759 | 1.02% |
| Bendigo | 92,379 | 1.02% |
| Maitland | 78,015 | 1.03% |
| Mackay | 75,710 | 1% |
| Launceston | 75,329 | 1% |
| Bunbury | 71,090 | 1.02% |
| Rockhampton | 61,214 | 1% |
| Melton | 54,456 | 1.04% |
| Hervey Bay | 52,073 | 1.01% |
| Bundaberg | 50,148 | 1% |
| Wagga Wagga | 48,263 | 1.01% |
| Coffs Harbour | 48,225 | 1.01% |
| Albury | 47,974 | 1.01% |
| Port Macquarie | 44,814 | 1.02% |
| Orange | 37,182 | 1.01% |
| Queanbeyan | 36,248 | 1% |
| Wodonga | 35,130 | 1.02% |
| Sunbury | 34,425 | 1.01% |
| Dubbo | 34,339 | 1.01% |
| Tamworth | 33,885 | 0.99% |
| Bathurst | 33,587 | 1.01% |
| Mildura | 33,444 | 1.01% |
| Gladstone | 33,418 | 1.01% |
| Geraldton | 31,982 | 1% |
| Warrnambool | 30,709 | 1.01% |
| Albany | 29,373 | 1.02% |
| Lismore | 27,569 | 1% |
| Gawler | 26,472 | 1.02% |
