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Australia: cities by population

By James Burfield, SEO consultant, Bath · Page updated 18 September 2026 · UN World Population Prospects

Australia has a population of 27,227,096 (UN estimate, 2026), with Canberra as its capital. The 50 largest of its 1,629 recorded towns and cities, ranked.

+42%

since 2000 (19,132,471)

+19%

projected by 2050 (32,506,969)

people per km²

UN estimates to 2026; the dashed line is the medium-variant projection to 2050, a forecast rather than a measurement. Source: World Population Prospects 2024.

Full UN series, 1950 to 2050

Year	Population
1950	8,176,750
1975	13,893,989
2000	19,132,471
2005	20,294,490
2010	22,141,581
2015	23,948,002
2020	25,743,791
2025	26,974,026
2026	27,227,096
2030 projected	28,188,539
2050 projected	32,506,969

Medium variant. Figures from 2026 onward are projections, not measurements.

Figures are the latest available in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), which draws on national censuses of varying dates — treat them as recent, not same-year. Country totals are UN World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant) where the UN lists the country separately; the handful it reports under a parent state keep a GeoNames figure and are marked as such. Sources & method.

Largest cities in Australia

#	Place	Region	Population
1	Sydney	New South Wales	5,638,830
2	Melbourne	Victoria	5,435,590
3	Brisbane	Queensland	2,780,063
4	Perth	Western Australia	2,384,371
5	Adelaide	South Australia	1,469,163
6	Gold Coast	Queensland	640,778
7	Newcastle	New South Wales	508,437
8	Sunshine Coast	Queensland	398,840
9	Canberra	Australian Capital Territory	367,752
10	Central Coast	New South Wales	346,596
11	Logan City	Queensland	345,098
12	Geelong	Victoria	282,809
13	Wollongong	New South Wales	280,153
14	Hobart	Tasmania	254,930
15	Townsville	Queensland	201,313
16	Cairns	Queensland	153,075
17	Toowoomba	Queensland	142,163
18	Darwin	Northern Territory	139,902
19	Ballarat	Victoria	111,973
20	Mandurah	Western Australia	107,643
21	Bendigo	Victoria	103,034
22	Caloundra	Queensland	96,305
23	Launceston	Tasmania	90,953
24	Maitland	New South Wales	89,597
25	Tuggeranong	Australian Capital Territory	89,461
26	Mackay	Queensland	84,333
27	Rockhampton	Queensland	81,021
28	Coffs Harbour	New South Wales	78,759
29	Bunbury	Western Australia	76,452
30	Bundaberg	Queensland	73,747
31	Adelaide Hills	South Australia	72,260
32	Hervey Bay	Queensland	52,230
33	Port Macquarie	New South Wales	51,965
34	Gladstone	Queensland	45,185
35	Tamworth	New South Wales	43,874
36	Dubbo	New South Wales	43,516
37	Orange	New South Wales	41,920
38	Wodonga	Victoria	38,949
39	Geraldton	Western Australia	38,595
40	St Albans	Victoria	37,629
41	Bathurst	New South Wales	36,230
42	Albany	Western Australia	35,053
43	Mildura	Victoria	34,565
44	Frankston East	Victoria	34,457
45	Palmerston	Northern Territory	33,695
46	Warrnambool	Victoria	32,894
47	Shepparton	Victoria	32,067
48	Liverpool	New South Wales	31,078
49	Kwinana	Western Australia	30,433
50	Parramatta	New South Wales	30,211

Twenty years earlier: Australia in the 2005 World Gazetteer — population then 20,507,264.

Common questions

What is the population of Australia?

Australia has a population of 27,227,096, the UN World Population Prospects estimate for 2026. The UN's medium-variant projection for 2050 is 32,506,969 — a forecast, not a measurement.

What is the capital of Australia?

Canberra. The largest place we record there is Sydney, with 5,638,830 people.

Go deeper

Sydney

The largest place we record in Australia: 5,638,830 people

Australia in 2005

The World Gazetteer's archive edition: 20,507,264 then

All 246 countries

Every country and territory, ranked by population