Demographics of Sydney

Map of the median age of Sydney residents by Postal Area in the 2011 census

Sydney is Australia's most populous city, and is also the most populous city in Oceania. In the 2016 census, 5,005,400 persons declared themselves as residents of the Sydney Statistical Division–about one-fifth (19.41%) of Australia's total population, giving an urban population density of 2037 people per square kilometre.^[1][2]

Sydney is the most densely populated city in Australia. The median age of Sydney residents was 35 years, and households comprised an average of 2.7 members.^[3][4]

History

European settlement in Sydney began in 1788, and in 1800 Sydney had around 3,000 non-indigenous inhabitants. It took time for the city's population to grow–in 1851 its population was only 39,000, compared with 77,000 in Melbourne. The subsequent gold rushes in Victoria caused the population of Melbourne to increase rapidly, while the lesser gold rushes in New South Wales had a less profound effect on the population of Sydney.

Sydney overtook Melbourne as Australia's most populous city in the early twentieth century, and reached the million inhabitants milestone around 1925. The opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge helped pave the way for further urban development north of Sydney Harbour. Post-war immigration and a baby boom helped the population reach two million by 1962. Sydney remained Australia's most populous city throughout the 20th Century, and is projected to retain this position for much of the 21st Century.^[7]

At the June 2016 Australian census, Sydney's population reached 5 million people.^[1]

Density

Sydney is particularly noted for its low population density, due to its history. Surrounded by land that was considered unowned by the city's founders, early Sydney enjoyed relatively low land values. Coupled with successive governments' willingness to release new land on the city's outskirts for further development, this history has given Sydney a low-density self-image.^[8][9]

Ethnic groups

Significant overseas born populations[10]
Country of Birth	Population (2011)
United Kingdom	155,065
China	146,853
India	86,767
New Zealand	77,297
Vietnam	69,405
Philippines	61,122
Lebanon	54,215
South Korea	39,694
Italy	39,155
Hong Kong	36,804
South Africa	31,681
Fiji	29,598
Iraq	28,594
Greece	28,192
Indonesia	24,707

The principal ancestries of Greater Sydney's residents (as surveyed in 2011) are:^[11]

• 19.2% English
• 19.0% Australian
• 7.2% Chinese
• 6.4% Irish
• 4.7% Scottish

Census respondents could nominate up to two ancestries they identified themselves as belonging to.

The principal countries of birth of Greater Sydney's residents (as surveyed in 2011) are:^[11]

• Australia (57.5%)
• China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) (3.8%)
• England (3.3%)
• India (2.2%)
• New Zealand (2.0%)
• Vietnam (1.8%)

Aborigines were about 1.1% of all Sydney residents.

Sydney has a disproportionately large concentration of many of Australia's migrant communities. The Lebanese, Fijian, Korean and Nepalese communities have been called "large population groups".^[10] Well over half of Australia's 25,000-strong Nepalese community,^[12] for example, is concentrated in Sydney.^[13] Seven out of every ten Lebanese migrants in Australia live in Sydney.^[10] The Ghanaian community has been noted as being disproportionately visible in Sydney, with the number of Ghanaian churches being unusually large considering the relatively small number of Ghanaians in Australia.^[14]

Each dot indicates 100 persons born in Britain (dark blue), Greece (light blue), China (red), India (brown), Vietnam (yellow), Philippines (pink), Italy (light green) and Lebanon (dark green). Based on 2006 Census

The most common languages spoken at home are English (the sole language of 60.8% of the population), Arabic (spoken by 4.4%), Cantonese (3.4%), Mandarin (2.6%), Greek (2.2%) and Vietnamese (2.0%).^[15]

Some suburbs are associated with particular ethnic groups. The adjacent image shows concentrations of persons born in different regions of the world residing in particular parts of Sydney.

Religion

Monks crossing a street in The Rocks

At the 2006 Census, the most common responses for religion were Catholic (29.2%), Anglican (16.5%), Eastern Orthodox (4.8%) and Islam (4.4%). 14.1% declared no religious affiliation.^[15] 10.4% left the question blank, 3.7% were Buddhists, 1.7% were Hindu, 0.9% were Jewish.

The 2011 Census most common responses were Catholic, (28.3%), Anglican (14.7%), Islam (5.3%) and Eastern Orthodox (4.6%). 17.5% declared no religion.^[11]

In 2016, the most common responses for religion in Greater Sydney were Catholic 25.1%, No Religion, so described 24.6%, Anglican 12.0%, Not stated 8.8% and Islam 5.3%. ^[17]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographic maps of Sydney.

• Demographics of Australia
• Immigration to Australia

References