Sydney, Australia Population 2024

Sydney's 2024 population is now estimated at 5,184,900In 1950, the population of Sydney was 1,689,940Sydney has grown by 64,010 in the last year, which represents a 1.25% 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 Sydney, which typically includes Sydney's population in addition to adjacent suburban areas.

Sydney is the largest city in Australia and, as host to the Olympic Games in 2000, is probably the country's most well known city. Although not the capital of Australia, it is the capital of New South Wales. In 2016, the population was estimated to be 4.92 million.

The results of the 2011 census, released in June 2012, showed that that the official population of Sydney was 4,391,674. In the five years since the last census, in 2006, it has grown by 6.6 percent. Estimates in 2016 place the population at 4.92 million, and this number is expected to exceed 5 million by the end of 2016.

Australia's population in 2016 is just under 22 million so, to put this into some perspective, it might help to think that roughly one in every five Australians lives in Sydney.

Growth in Sydney

Sydney is growing quickly - so quickly in fact that it might have as many as 7 million residents by 2060 - not much smaller than the population of London today. Rival Melbourne, however, is growing at a faster rate and is tipped by many to become Australia's largest city within the next 25 years. Read more in our article about the population of Melbourne.

Sydney is widely recognized as being one of the most diverse and multicultural cities in the world - almost 45% of the people who live in Sydney today were born outside of Australia. The largest country of origin for Sydney residents in the United Kingdom (4.3% of Sydney residents, or about 175,000 people, are from the UK originally), closely followed by China (3.5% of residents).

Population Ancestry in Sydney

Looking at the ancestry of Sydney's residents gives plenty of clues about how the city's diverse identity has developed and changed over time. Although 25.7% of Sydney's inhabitants claim Australian ancestry (which is different from their country of birth), over 40% claim ancestry that is either English, Scottish or Irish, a legacy of Australia's colonial past. However, reflecting more recent waves of immigration into Australia, 8.2% of people in Sydney have Chinese ancenstry, 4.2% Italian ancestry, 2.5% have German ancenstry, and 2.6% have Greek ancestry.

Religious Demographics of Sydney

In terms of religion, Sydney is largely a Christian dominated city. According to 2011 figures, Roman Catholics comprise the single largest religious groups in Sydney (28.3%), follwed by Anglicans (16.1%), Eastern Orthodox (4.8%) and Islam (4.4%). A further 17.6% reported that they had no religion.

History of Sydney Population Growth

The area that is today's Sydney was home to many aboriginal people - perhaps as many as 8,000 - at the time of Sydney's founding as a penal colony in 1788, although with no kind of reliable data available it is difficult to be certain. It is believed, though, that within a year or two of the founding of Sydney an outbreak of smallpox decimated the local population, leaving under a thousand aboriginal residents and paving the way for the city to expand without any serious restriction.

By 1800, the new colony had become firmly established and had grown to around 3,000 people -- not just convicts and jailers but also emancipated convicts who had served their time and had been freed to live in Australia. The town soon began to develop like any other and banks, churches and other public institutions were soon being established. The population of the town of Sydney grew steadily, and by 1851, it had reached an estimated 39,000.

The advent of the Sydney Gold Rush in the 1850s saw the population rocket upwards, and by 1871 the population of Sydney was around 200,000. The increasingly confident city soon began lobbying against its great rival Melbourne to become Australia's capital city, although ultimately their dispute was settled by the decision to develop a neutrally located capital in Canberra instead.

By the early 1920s, Sydney had grown to over 1 million residents, and it has continued to grow steadily through the 20th century and into the 21st centuries as it attracted wave after wave of immigrants - firstly from England, then from other European countries and more recently from countries around the globe - to create the modern, multicultural population of Sydney that we see today.

Country
Australia
Growth Rate
1.25%

86 Rows

Year
Population
20355,875,310
20345,813,910
20335,752,370
20325,690,610
20315,628,550
20305,566,120
20295,503,260
20285,439,980
20275,376,400
20265,312,640
20255,248,790
20245,184,900
20235,120,890
20225,056,570
20214,991,650
20204,925,990
20194,859,430
20184,792,280
20174,708,150
20164,625,500
20154,544,290
20144,464,620
20134,386,350
20124,309,560
20114,233,900
20104,165,740
20094,098,690
20084,032,810
20073,967,810
20063,903,940
20053,874,820
20043,846,060
20033,817,430
20023,789,050
20013,760,880
20003,779,700
19993,798,810
19983,817,980
19973,837,250
19963,856,590
19953,819,260
19943,782,190
19933,745,470
19923,709,160
19913,673,110
19903,631,940
19893,591,200
19883,550,970
19873,511,090
19863,471,700
19853,432,440
19843,393,660
19833,355,220
19823,317,270
19813,279,740
19803,252,110
19793,224,690
19783,197,530
19773,170,610
19763,143,940
19753,117,910
19743,092,120
19733,066,550
19723,041,220
19713,016,040
19702,892,480
19692,773,470
19682,659,510
19672,549,930
19662,445,020
19652,390,220
19642,336,860
19632,284,540
19622,233,460
19612,183,520
19602,134,670
19592,086,780
19582,040,040
19571,994,330
19561,949,720
19551,905,980
19541,863,280
19531,819,820
19521,777,420
19511,735,900
19501,689,940

86 Rows

Year
Population
Change
Growth
19501,689,9400%0
19511,735,9002.72%45,960
19521,777,4202.39%41,520
19531,819,8202.39%42,400
19541,863,2802.39%43,460
19551,905,9802.29%42,700
19561,949,7202.29%43,740
19571,994,3302.29%44,610
19582,040,0402.29%45,710
19592,086,7802.29%46,740
19602,134,6702.29%47,890
19612,183,5202.29%48,850
19622,233,4602.29%49,940
19632,284,5402.29%51,080
19642,336,8602.29%52,320
19652,390,2202.28%53,360
19662,445,0202.29%54,800
19672,549,9304.29%104,910
19682,659,5104.3%109,580
19692,773,4704.28%113,960
19702,892,4804.29%119,010
19713,016,0404.27%123,560
19723,041,2200.83%25,180
19733,066,5500.83%25,330
19743,092,1200.83%25,570
19753,117,9100.83%25,790
19763,143,9400.83%26,030
19773,170,6100.85%26,670
19783,197,5300.85%26,920
19793,224,6900.85%27,160
19803,252,1100.85%27,420
19813,279,7400.85%27,630
19823,317,2701.14%37,530
19833,355,2201.14%37,950
19843,393,6601.15%38,440
19853,432,4401.14%38,780
19863,471,7001.14%39,260
19873,511,0901.13%39,390
19883,550,9701.14%39,880
19893,591,2001.13%40,230
19903,631,9401.13%40,740
19913,673,1101.13%41,170
19923,709,1600.98%36,050
19933,745,4700.98%36,310
19943,782,1900.98%36,720
19953,819,2600.98%37,070
19963,856,5900.98%37,330
19973,837,250-0.5%-19,340
19983,817,980-0.5%-19,270
19993,798,810-0.5%-19,170
20003,779,700-0.5%-19,110
20013,760,880-0.5%-18,820
20023,789,0500.75%28,170
20033,817,4300.75%28,380
20043,846,0600.75%28,630
20053,874,8200.75%28,760
20063,903,9400.75%29,120
20073,967,8101.64%63,870
20084,032,8101.64%65,000
20094,098,6901.63%65,880
20104,165,7401.64%67,050
20114,233,9001.64%68,160
20124,309,5601.79%75,660
20134,386,3501.78%76,790
20144,464,6201.78%78,270
20154,544,2901.78%79,670
20164,625,5001.79%81,210
20174,708,1501.79%82,650
20184,792,2801.79%84,130
20194,859,4301.4%67,150
20204,925,9901.37%66,560
20214,991,6501.33%65,660
20225,056,5701.3%64,920
20235,120,8901.27%64,320
20245,184,9001.25%64,010
20255,248,7901.23%63,890
20265,312,6401.22%63,850
20275,376,4001.2%63,760
20285,439,9801.18%63,580
20295,503,2601.16%63,280
20305,566,1201.14%62,860
20315,628,5501.12%62,430
20325,690,6101.1%62,060
20335,752,3701.09%61,760
20345,813,9101.07%61,540
20355,875,3101.06%61,400

Sydney Population Data (Urban Area)

Name
2024 Pop.
2024 Growth
Melbourne5,315,6001.53%
Sydney5,184,9001.25%
Brisbane2,536,4501.28%
Perth2,143,4901.2%
Adelaide1,379,2800.91%
Gold Coast742,6001.4%
Canberra477,5671.11%
Newcastle465,1450.93%
Sunshine Coast370,8281.52%
Central Coast344,2000.84%
Wollongong315,3790.93%

Other Cities in Australia

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics - Regional population growth for New South Wales
  2. New South Wales Government - New South Wales population and household projections

Sources