Twenty years of urban growth and change

Australia is said to be one of the most urbanised countries in the world. The 2021 Census showed that 90% of the population lived in urban areas with more than 1,000 people. This blog looks at the growth of urban areas in Australia over the period 2003-23. What are Australia's largest urban areas? Which ones have grown the most? Read on to found out.

Brisbane is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia

Every year around this time the ABS releases population estimates (ERP) for small areas.  This year the data has been somewhat lost in the coronavirus madness.  Despite the seriousness of that situation, there is still a wealth of interesting population data.  This blog will look at spatial patterns of population change in Brisbane, which recorded a growth rate of 2.1% in 2018-19.  This makes Brisbane the second fastest growing state capital city behind Melbourne (2.5% growth rate).

Building approval trends in cities - behind the headline number

The number of building approvals is generally viewed as an indicator of the state of the economy, and hence is one of the more important data sets released by the ABS.  Approvals are linked to construction activity, jobs and the flow-on effects to the rest of the economy.  Recently I had a conversation with someone who expressed concern at the decline in building approvals, suggesting it was a precursor to an economic recession.  Now I'm not an economist by any stretch of the imagination, but surely it's more than just the number?

Record number of births registered in 2018

In demographic terms, the relationship between births and deaths indicates the level of natural increase and is one of the components of population change.  In 2018, a total of 315,147 births were registered in Australia - the highest number ever recorded.  At the same time, the number of deaths registered in Australia was 158,493.  However not all areas record more births than deaths.  This blog looks at natural increase, and how it differs across NSW.

Which area has the most diverse housing stock?

Australian cities are typically low density, sprawling entities.  Separate houses are the most common dwelling type in Australia, comprising 71% of all dwellings in 2016.  In recent years, more dense forms of housing, such as flats, townhouses and villas, have become increasingly common.  This has increased the diversity of housing stock in many parts of our cities, and the dominance of the separate house is eroding.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be looking at measures of housing diversity in metropolitan Melbourne.

Australia and Japan - a demographic comparison

When I travel, I like to look beyond the tourist realm.  Naturally, I'm drawn to the demographics of the country I'm in, such as the population, how it's changing, how people live, and how they get around.  I recently travelled to Japan, a country that is culturally, socially and historically very different from Australia.  But how does it compare from a demographic perspective?  Fortunately, the Statistics of Japan website (where I've sourced the statistics) is also in English, so I was able to obtain a lot of interesting data for my readers.

Melbourne versus Sydney - a long standing rivalry

The rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney has a long history.  Everything from the weather to the football is keenly debated.  But one thing remains a fact - Sydney is Australia's largest city, with a 2018 population of 5.23 million.  But has it always been this way, and what of the future?  Read on the find out more.

35 Melbourne suburbs are growing by 5% per annum

If you follow this blog you will have noticed that I favour population analysis from a spatial perspective.  In this day and age headline numbers get clicks, but it's not until you look at the differences across metropolitan areas that you gain a better perspective of how our cities are changing.  In 2017-18, Greater Melbourne grew by 2.5%, or 119,420 people.  But how was this growth spread across Melbourne?  SA2 data released by the ABS provides a fine-grained perspective on population change - read on to find out more.

Population trends in Darwin

With all the attention on issues of population growth and immigration in our largest cities, population trends in our smaller cities has tended to slip under the radar.  Recent population data from the ABS confirms that the Northern Territory (NT) recorded a decline in population in 2017-18.  This is primarily due to increasing levels of net interstate migration loss.  However, there are spatial differences across the NT, and this blog looks at population change in the Greater Darwin region in 2017-18.

Hobart and Launceston - compare the pair

Tasmania's urban hierarchy is distinctive in that there are two major cities, Hobart and Launceston.  This is unusual in the Australian context as many states have a state capital that is many times larger than the next largest urban centre (urban primacy).  Both cities were established in the early 1800s.  Over the last two hundred years, despite their different histories and economic fortunes, they have grown into the major cities they are today.  From a demographic perspective, how different are Hobart and Launceston?  To paraphrase a superannuation commercial, let's "compare the pair".