Melbourne is Australia's most populous city and has a diverse and multicultural population.

Melbourne dominated Australia's population growth for the 15th year in a row as of 2017, adding 125,424 people between 2016 and 2017, and boomed past 5 million people in 2019. Population growth is however projected to significantly decline as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic slowdown.

Melbourne has the 10th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. In the 2021 census, 58.8% of residents were born in Australia. Melbourne is home to residents from 200 countries and territories, who speak over 233 languages and dialects and follow 116 religious faiths.

The earliest known inhabitants of the broad area that later became known as Melbourne were Indigenous Australians – specifically, at the time of European settlement, the Bunurong, Wurundjeri and Wathaurong tribal groups. Melbourne is still a centre of Aboriginal life — consisting of local groups and indigenous groups from other parts of Australia, as most indigenous Victorians were displaced from their traditional lands during colonization – with the Aboriginal community in the city numbering over 20,000 persons (0.6% of the population).VicNet — Strategy for Aboriginal Managed Land in Victoria: Draft Report [Part 1-Section 2]

Demographic statistics

Melbournepopulation by year1836 177 18414,4791854 76,5651854 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project Gold rush1857 91,9001857 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project Gold rush1861126,5361861 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project 1871206,7801871 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project 1881 282,9471881 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project 1880s property boom1891490,8961891 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project 1901496,0791901 Census of Victoria, accessed from The Dataverse Project 1891 economic bust1911588,8541911 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.21921766,5061921 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.21933922,0481933 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.219471,226,9231947 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.21954 1,524,0621954 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.2 1961 1,911,8951961 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.2 1971 2,436,3351971 Census, accessed from Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=ProductsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=2.2 1981 2,806,000 1991 3,156,700 1990–91 recession2001 3,366,542 2006 3,744,373 2011 3,999,982 2016 4,485,211 Melbourneurban area density(people/ha)1951 23.41961 21.41971 18.1Australian Bureau of Statistics 19711981 15.91986 16.05Social Atlas/"Supermap" Census Data, 19861991 16.8Social Atlas/"Supermap" Census Data, 19911996 17.91999 17.052001 15.9Regional Economic Development in Victoria: Melbourne Statistical Division

Although Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the Melbourne statistical division was growing by approximately 50,000 people a year in 2003. Until 2020, Melbourne had attracted the largest proportion of international overseas immigrants (48,000) finding it outpacing Sydney's international migrant intake, along with having strong interstate migration from Sydney and other capitals due to more affordable housing and cost of living, which have been two recent key factors driving Melbourne's growth.Article by John O'Leary. Monash University Press

In recent years, Melton, Wyndham, Hume and Whittlesea, part of the Melbourne statistical division, recorded the highest growth rate of all local government areas in Australia.

Melbourne's population density declined following the Second World War, with the private motor car and the lures of space and property ownership causing a suburban sprawl, mainly eastward. After much discussion both at general public and planning levels in the 1980s, the decline has reversed since the recession of the early 1990s.

The city has seen increased density in the inner and western suburbs. Since the 1970s, Victorian Government planning blueprints, such as Postcode 3000 and Melbourne 2030, have aimed to curtail the urban sprawl.

Demographic history European settlement and Gold Rush immigration

The first European settlers in Melbourne were British and Irish. These two groups accounted for nearly all arrivals before the gold rush, and supplied most immigrants to the city until the Second World War.

Melbourne was transformed by the 1850s gold rush; within months of the discovery of gold in August 1852, the city's population had increased by nearly three-quarters, from 25,000 to 40,000 inhabitants. Thereafter, growth was exponential and by 1865, Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's most populous city.The Snowy Mountains Scheme and Multicultural Australia

Many Chinese, German and American nationals were to be found on the goldfields and subsequently in Melbourne. The various nationalities involved in the Eureka Stockade revolt nearby give some indication of the migration flows in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Post-war immigration In the aftermath of the Second World War, Melbourne experienced unprecedented inflows from Mediterranean Europe and the Balkans, primarily Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, and West Asia, mostly from Lebanon, Cyprus and Turkey. Since the end of the White Australia policy in 1973 during the Vietnam War, the city has received a larger wave of primarily Asian immigration and refugees, with Vietnam, China, India.

In 1971, 37.6% of Melbourne were either the children of immigrants (10.1%) or immigrants themselves (27.5%).

Multiculturalism In 2018, the population of the Melbourne metropolitan area was 4,963,349.

Although Victoria's net interstate migration has fluctuated, the population of the Melbourne statistical division has grown by about 70,000 people a year since 2005. Until 2020, Melbourne had attracted the largest proportion of international overseas immigrants (48,000) finding it outpacing Sydney's international migrant intake on percentage, along with having strong interstate migration from Sydney and other capitals due to more affordable housing and cost of living.

In recent years, Melton, Wyndham and Casey, part of the Melbourne statistical division, recorded the highest growth rate of all local government areas in Australia.

After a trend of declining population density since World War II, the city has seen increased density in the inner and western suburbs, aided in part by Victorian Government planning, such as Postcode 3000 and Melbourne 2030, which have aimed to curtail urban sprawl. As of 2018, the CBD is the most densely populated area in Australia with more than 19,000 residents per square kilometre, and the inner city suburbs of Carlton, South Yarra, Fitzroy and Collingwood make up Victoria's top five.Smith, Rohan (5 October 2018). "There’s a reason Melbourne feels so crowded — it’s the most densely populated area in Australia", news.com.au. Retrieved 14 April 2019.

Ancestry and immigration + Country of Birth (2021) Birthplace PopulationAustralia 2,947,136India 242,635Mainland China 166,023 England 132,912Vietnam 90,552New Zealand 82,939Sri Lanka 65,152Philippines 58,935Italy 58,081Malaysia 57,345Greece 44,956Pakistan 29,067South Africa 27,056Iraq 25,041Hong Kong SAR 24,428Afghanistan 23,525Iran 20,922US 20,231

At the 2021 census, the most commonly nominated ancestries were:

0.5% of the population, or 24,062 people, identified as Indigenous Australians (Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders) in 2016.

Melbourne has the 10th largest immigrant population among world metropolitan areas. In Melbourne at the 2021 census, the other most common countries of birth were India (5.1%), Mainland China (3.6%), England (2.7%), Vietnam (2.0%) and New Zealand (1.7%).

Language used at home The following figures come from the 2021 census for Greater Melbourne., accessed 3 October 2026 + Language used at home (Greater Melbourne) Identified languages with 10,000+ speakers Population %English 3,003,007 61.1Mandarin 212,680 4.3Vietnamese 115,314 2.3Greek103,658 2.1Punjabi 97,684 2.0 Arabic 87,689 1.8 Italian 83,637 1.7 Cantonese 80,584 1.6 Hindi 64,259 1.3 Sinhalese 47,504 1.0 Filipino/Tagalog 46,168 0.9 Spanish 40,412 0.8 Urdu 36,329 0.7 Turkish 33,290 0.7 Tamil 32,725 0.7 Macedonian 27,792 0.6 Telugu 23,432 0.5 Gujarati 23,057 0.5 Malayalam 21,742 0.4 Persian 21,497 0.4 Assyrian/Chaldean Neo-Aramaic 21,113 0.4 Nepali 20,142 0.4 Hazaragi 17,578 0.4 Russian 17,378 0.4 Khmer 17,041 0.3 Indonesian 16,841 0.3 French 16,607 0.3 Serbian 16,445 0.3 Croatian 16,379 0.3 Korean 16,139 0.3 Bengali 14,379 0.3 German 13,380 0.3 Maltese 12,952 0.3 Polish 12,590 0.3 Samoan 12,558 0.3 Thai 12,504 0.3 Dari 11,493 0.2 Japanese 11,233 0.2

Most foreign ethnic groups are associated with the suburbs they are most concentrated in: Italians with Avondale Heights, Reservoir, Fawkner, Thomastown, Keilor Park, Greenvale, Pascoe Vale, Bulleen, Mill Park, Keilor East and throughout much of the North and North-Western suburbs Greeks with Oakleigh, Oakleigh South, Bentleigh East, Hughesdale, Doncaster, Preston, Thornbury, Pascoe Vale South, Burwood East, Templestowe and interspersed throughout the North, North-Eastern and South-Eastern suburbs. Turkish with Broadmeadows, Dallas, Roxburgh Park, Craigieburn, Meadow Heights, Greenvale and Coolaroo Lebanese with Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Altona North, Coolaroo, Glenroy, Coburg, Campbellfield and Fawkner Egyptians with Hillside, Taylors Lakes and Taylors Hill Afghans with Dandenong, Hallam, Doveton, Narre Warren South and Hampton Park Iranians with Doncaster, Doncaster East and Templestowe Assyrians and Iraqis with Broadmeadows, Roxburgh Park, Greenvale, Craigieburn and Coolaroo Vietnamese with St Albans, Springvale, Footscray, Sunshine North, Deer Park, Delahey, Braybrook, Cairnlea, Sunshine, Sunshine West, Noble Park and Richmond. Sri Lankans with Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Noble Park, Hampton Park, Narre Warren, Mount Waverley, Glen Waverley, Clyde North and Craigieburn Chileans and Salvadorans with Caroline Springs, Hillside, Burnside Heights, Sunshine West and St Albans Colombians with CBD and Southbank Somalis with Heidelberg West, Bellfield, Broadmeadows, Carlton, Flemington and North Melbourne Ethiopians with Burnside, Tarneit, Truganina, Derrimut, Flemington and throughout the Western Suburbs. Eritreans with Braybrook, Flemington, Carlton and Roxburgh Park. Sudanese with St Albans, Sunshine, Wyndham Vale, Tarneit, Truganina, Noble Park, Dandenong, Melton, Pakenham and Doveton Croatians with St Albans, Taylors Lakes and Avondale Heights Serbians with Doveton, Noble Park North, Dandenong North, Endeavour Hills and St Albans Macedonians with Thomastown, Lalor, Kings Park, Epping, Mill Park, Taylors Hill, Keilor Downs and Taylors Lakes Bosnians with Cairnlea, Noble Park and St Albans Albanians with Dandenong Maltese with Hillside, St Albans, Caroline Springs, Taylors Lakes and throughout the western suburbs.