Perth, Australia Population

Perth is the capital of Western Australia and a vibrant, energetic city. It’s home to vineyards, gorgeous beaches, and parklands and it currently has a population of 2 million people. This makes Perth the fourth-largest city in population size in Australia. There is no sign that Perth’s population plans on slowing down either. Experts predict Perth’s population will be up to 2.4 million by 2035.

Perth is located on the northern bank of the Swan River and the suburbs sprawl in all directions, reaching the Darling Range in the east and the Indian Ocean in the west. It was ranked the seventh most liveable city in the world in 2016 and it enjoys the most sunshine of any capital city in Australia.

Perth’s astronomical growth rate

Perth is a boomtown that has expanded at a staggering rate. In just the past five years, Perth has grown by 14.3%. In comparison, Perth grew less than 1.6% between 2000 and 2006, and in 2006, the city of Perth was only 1.5 million. This has made Perth one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. Much of this growth is due to Western Australia’s wealth boom, which has driven people to the area. This increase in popularity (and in population) has meant that Perth is now home to 4 of the 5 more privileged suburbs in Australia.

A different makeup than most Australian cities

Due to its astronomical growth rate, Perth’s demographics are quite different than those of other Australian cities. For example, 59.6% of Perth’s population were born in Australia. This is 10% less than the national average of 69%. Also, almost 10% of Perth’s citizens were born in England, compared to a countrywide average of about 4.2%. Other residents living in Perth are people from New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Malaysia. There are more immigrants living in Perth than almost anywhere else in the country.

A non-religious city

Perth is part of a newly evolving type of city whose residents don’t identify with any religion. While there are still many locations in the world where certain religions are still widely practiced, many places like Perth now have non-religious people is the largest “religious” group. About 25% of the people in Perth’s census identified themselves as not following any kind of religion. The second largest religious group was Catholics, at 24.5%, with the rest spread across several different religions.

A wealthy city, but not the wealthiest

For many years, Perth’s residents were ranked as having the highest personal net worth in Australia. In 2007, the average personal wealth in Perth was $338,000. This far surpassed the ACT’s (Australian Capital Territory’s) $329,000 and Sydney’s $292,000. This increase was due to Perth’s increased housing prices and the economic boom associated with the city’s mining activity. However, in the years since, the personal wealth of residents of Perth has fallen behind those of Sydney, Melbourne and the ACT. While those in Perth aren’t getting any poorer (the average personal net wealth is still a healthy $358,000) it has stagnated compared to the other major cities. Sydneysiders average net wealth reached a meteoritic $570,000, while Melbourne residents enjoyed an average of $491,000.

A growing tourist economy

Perth has been bolstering its tourism economy in recent years and people have been responding. Since 2009, the number of domestic visitors to Perth has increased by 91%, while the number of international visitors has increased by 42%. This has resulted in over 5.7 million tourists arriving in Perth between July of 2018 and June of 2019, the highest number the city has ever recorded. This total includes 924,000 international travellers, though the vast majority of overnight visitors to Perth are domestic travellers, which account for about 4.7 million people. The total visitors to Perth overall increased by 12.2% in the 2018 to 2019 tourism year.