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. With a population density of 2037 people per square kilometer the urban core has population density five times that of the greater region.[1][2]
Sydney is the most densely populated city in Australia. It's also the busiest city in Australia. The median age of Sydney residents was 35 years, and households comprised an average of 2.7 members.[3][4]
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]
Sydney (like Melbourne) has enjoyed a large number of migration since its inception. 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%)
Aboriginals were about 1.1% of all Sydney residents.
Sydney has been a hub of a number of migrant communities, such as the Lebanese, Fijian, Korean and Nepalese.[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 quite visible in Sydney, with the number of Ghanaian churches being unusually large considering the relatively small number of Ghanaians in Australia.[14] Furthermore, the suburb of Fairfield in the Greater Western Sydney area, is an ethnic enclave of Assyrian Christians,[15] where they are the largest ethnic group in the suburb and also in the surrounding areas of Fairfield Heights, Prairiewood and Greenfield Park.[16]
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%).[17]
Most common ancestries of Sydney urban area (2016)[18]
Some migrant groups are associated with the suburb in which they first settled in, such as the Vietnamese in Cabramatta, Italians in Fremantle, Indians in Parramatta and Liverpool, Chinese in Burwood and Hurstville and many more of various ethnicities that span across the globe.
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.[17] 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%. [19]
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