VICTORIA

STATE SUMMARY

At June 2014 the estimated resident population of Victoria was 5.84 million people, an increase of 106,700 since June 2013. This was the second-largest population increase of any state or territory, behind New South Wales (109,100 people). Victoria's population increased by 1.9% between June 2013 and June 2014. This was the second-fastest growth rate of all states and territories, behind Western Australia (2.2%).

POPULATION CHANGE IN GREATER MELBOURNE

At June 2014, there were an estimated 4.44 million people resident in Greater Melbourne, an increase of 95,700 from June 2013. This was the largest growth of all Greater Capital Cities in Australia. Greater Melbourne's rate of growth for this period was 2.2%, accounting for 90% of Victoria's total growth. As at June 2014, Greater Melbourne had 76% of Victoria's total population.

Of the ten SA2s with the largest growth in Australia in 2013-14, seven were in Greater Melbourne. The SA2s with the largest growth in Australia were South Morang in Melbourne's outer north (up by 4,200 people) and Point Cook in Melbourne's outer west (3,500).

Melbourne - West had the largest growth of all SA4s in Greater Melbourne, with an increase of 22,700 people. This was followed by Melbourne - Inner (up by 17,400 people) and Melbourne - South East (17,200). Melbourne - West also had the fastest growth (up by 3.3%), followed by Melbourne - Inner (3.1%), Melbourne - North West (2.6%), Melbourne - South East (2.4%) and Melbourne - North East (2.3%).

Melbourne - West contained several of the fastest growing SA2s in Victoria including Truganina which increased by 17%, Tarneit (12%), Laverton (9.7%) and Point Cook (8.7%).

Melbourne - South East was the most populous SA4 in Victoria at June 2014 with 733,100 people. The fastest-growing SA2s in Melbourne - South East between 2013 and 2014 were Cranbourne East (up by 24%), Cranbourne North (8.5%) and Cranbourne West (8.0%). Cranbourne East was also the fastest-growing SA2 in Victoria.

The population in the Melbourne - North East SA4 grew by 11,200 people (2.3%) in the year to June 2014. Melbourne - North East contains South Morang, which had the largest growth of all SA2s in Victoria, up by 4,200 people, and Epping which grew by 2,500 people. South Morang has been the most populous SA2 in Victoria since 2010, and surpassed 55,000 people in 2014.

The population increase of the Melbourne - Inner SA4 can be attributed to strong infill development activity, particularly in the SA2s of Docklands (up by 9.9%), Abbotsford (8.4%), South Yarra - East (8.0%) and Southbank (7.9%). Melbourne SA2 had the largest growth within the Melbourne - Inner SA4, with a population increase of 1,600 people.

SA2s WITH LARGEST AND FASTEST POPULATION GROWTH(a), Victoria
	ERP at 30 June	Population Change
	2014p	2013r-2014p
SA2	no.	no.	%
LARGEST GROWTH
South Morang	55 200	4 200	8.3
Point Cook	44 000	3 500	8.7
Craigieburn - Mickleham	45 600	3 400	8.1
Tarneit	31 400	3 300	11.7
Cranbourne East	14 100	2 700	24.1
FASTEST GROWTH
Cranbourne East	14 100	2 700	24.1
Truganina	17 500	2 500	16.8
Tarneit	31 400	3 300	11.7
Docklands	8 200	730	9.9
Laverton	7 100	630	9.7
(a) All population figures presented in this table are rounded. Estimates of population change are based on unrounded numbers.

Population decline

In contrast to the strong growth in greenfield outer suburbs and many inner suburbs in 2013-14, population decline occurred in under 10% of the SA2s in Greater Melbourne. Most of these were established outer- and middle-ring suburbs. The largest decreases were in Hoppers Crossing - South (down by 130 people), Ferntree Gully and Yarra Valley (both down by 100), Taylors Lakes (down by 90), and Hoppers Crossing - North and Bundoora - East (both down by 60).


POPULATION CHANGE IN REGIONAL VICTORIA

Regional Victoria grew by 11,000 people (0.8%) in the 12 months to June 2014, reaching 1.40 million.

Population growth

In 2013-14 the largest increases in regional Victoria were in and around the main regional cities and coastal towns.

Of the eight SA4s in regional Victoria, Geelong had the largest growth (up by 4,100 people), followed by Ballarat (2,100) and Bendigo (2,000).

The SA2s of Ocean Grove - Barwon Heads (up by 810 people) and Highton (720), both in Geelong, had the largest growth in regional Victoria. The three fastest-growing regional SA2s were Beaufort (up 7.0%) near Ballarat, Seymour Region (up 6.0%) in central Victoria, and White Hills - Ascot (up 5.6%), a suburb of Bendigo.

Population decline

Population declined in just over 40% of SA2s in regional Victoria, with more than one third of those decreasing by 1% or more. Eight of the ten fastest-declining SA2s were in the two SA4s of North West, and Warrnambool and South West. The SA2 of Lorne - Anglesea had the fastest decline (down by 3.3%), followed by Robinvale (down by 3.2%) and West Wimmera (down by 2.9%). Lorne - Anglesea also had the largest decline, down by 170 people.


POPULATION DENSITY

At June 2014, the population density of Victoria was 26 people per square kilometre (sq km), the second highest of all states and territories after the Australian Capital Territory (160 people per sq km). The population density of Greater Melbourne was 440 people per sq km, which was the highest of any capital city.

Within Greater Melbourne, the SA2 with the highest population density was inner-city Melbourne, with 13,000 people per sq km. This was followed by nearby Carlton (9,500 people per sq km) and Fitzroy (8,000). Melbourne SA2 also experienced the largest increase in density in 2013-14, up by 670 people per sq km. The next largest increases occurred in South Yarra - East (up by 560 people per sq km) and Carlton (520).

CENTRE OF POPULATION

At June 2014, Victoria's centre of population was in the suburb of Coburg North. In the ten years to 2014, the centre moved 1.9 kilometres south, towards Melbourne's central business district.

Greater Melbourne's centre of population at June 2014 was in the suburb of Glen Iris, near the Monash Freeway.