Australia

Capital cities

Median age

At June 2018 the median age (the age at which half the population is older and half is younger) for all greater capital cities combined (35.9 years) was younger than for the rest of Australia (41.1).

Hobart had the oldest median age of all capital cities at 39.7 years, ahead of Adelaide at 38.8.

Darwin was the youngest capital city with a median age of 33.9 years, followed by the Australian Capital Territory at 35.1.

Sex ratio

The sex ratio (the number of males per 100 females) for all greater capital cities combined (98.3) was slightly lower than for the rest of Australia (98.6) at June 2018.

Adelaide had the lowest sex ratio of all capital cities (96.7 males per 100 females), while Darwin had the highest (110.9).

Darwin was the only capital city where males outnumbered females.

SEX RATIOS AND MEDIAN AGES - Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs), 2018
	Sex Ratio	Median Age(a)
GCCSA	males per 100 females	years
Greater Sydney	98.9	35.8
Greater Melbourne	97.9	35.6
Greater Brisbane	97.8	35.4
Greater Adelaide	96.7	38.8
Greater Perth	98.9	36.4
Greater Hobart	99.1	39.7
Greater Darwin	110.9	33.9
Australian Capital Territory	98.0	35.1
Total Greater Capital Cities	98.3	35.9
Total Australia	98.4	37.3
(a) The age at which half the population is older and half is younger.

Age and sex distribution

The following graph (called a 'population pyramid') compares the age/sex structure of the population in greater capital cities with the rest of Australia at June 2018. Each dark bar shows the percentage contribution of a sex and five-year age group to the total population of capital cities, while each light bar shows the contribution to the rest of Australia's population. For example, the graph shows that in June 2018, males aged 0 to 4 years made up 3.3% of the population of the combined capital cities compared with 3.1% of the rest of Australia.

People aged 20 to 44 years made up 38% of the combined capital city population, compared with 30% of the population in the rest of Australia. This reflects the attraction of younger adults to education, employment and other opportunities in capital cities.

Older adults aged 45 years and over made up a smaller proportion of the population in capital cities (37%) than in the rest of Australia (45%).

In both capital cities and the rest of Australia, there were higher proportions of females than males in older age groups. The difference was most marked among the population aged 85 years and over, and is due to the longer life expectancy of female Australians.

AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION (%), Greater capital cities and rest of Australia - 30 June 2018


Females outnumbered males in both capital cities (8.50 million females to 8.36 million males) and the rest of the country (4.09 million females to 4.04 million males).


AGE AND SEX DISTRIBUTION ('000), Greater capital cities and rest of Australia - 30 June 2018




Statistical Areas Level 2

Median age

The Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s) with the highest median ages in 2018 were all popular retirement destinations on Australia's coast, including:

• Tea Gardens - Hawks Nest (62.7 years) and Tuncurry (61.1) in New South Wales

• Bribie Island (60.0) and Cooloola (59.5) in Queensland

The areas with the lowest median ages were:

• Acton (21.6 years) and Duntroon (22.3) in the Australian Capital Territory, which had large populations of students or military personnel

• Yarrabah (22.8) and Northern Peninsula (23.2) in Queensland, which had high proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

SA2s WITH OLDEST AND YOUNGEST MEDIAN AGES(a), 2018
		Median Age
SA2	SA4	years
OLDEST MEDIAN AGES
Tea Gardens - Hawks Nest	Hunter Valley exc Newcastle (NSW)	62.7
Tuncurry	Mid North Coast (NSW)	61.1
Bribie Island	Moreton Bay - North (Qld)	60.0
Cooloola	Wide Bay (Qld)	59.5
Sussex Inlet - Berrara	Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven (NSW)	59.2
YOUNGEST MEDIAN AGES
Acton	Australian Capital Territory	21.6
Duntroon	Australian Capital Territory	22.3
Yarrabah	Cairns (Qld)	22.8
Northern Peninsula	Queensland - Outback	23.2
St Lucia	Brisbane - West	24.2
(a) Excludes SA2s with less than 1,000 people.

Sex ratio

The SA2s with the highest sex ratios were:

• Howard Springs (306.3 males per 100 females) in Darwin, which contains the Darwin Correctional Centre

• East Pilbara (292.1) and Ashburton (245.1) in Western Australia, which are areas with significant mining activity

Areas with low sex ratios often had high proportions of elderly population, reflecting the longer life expectancy of females. The SA2s with the lowest sex ratios included:

• Deakin (82.0 males per 100 females) in the Australian Capital Territory and Mosman Park - Peppermint Grove (84.6) in Perth, which both also contain boarding schools for girls

• The Sydney areas of Woollahra (82.4), and Castle Hill - East (84.7) which has a relatively high number of aged care residents

SA2s WITH HIGHEST AND LOWEST SEX RATIOS(a), 2018
		Sex Ratio
SA2	SA4	males per 100 females
HIGHEST SEX RATIOS
Howard Springs	Darwin	306.3
East Pilbara	Western Australia - Outback (North)	292.1
Ashburton	Western Australia - Outback (North)	245.1
Wacol	Ipswich (Qld)	241.0
Duntroon	Australian Capital Territory	229.2
LOWEST SEX RATIOS
Deakin	Australian Capital Territory	82.0
Woollahra	Sydney - Eastern Suburbs	82.4
Mosman Park - Peppermint Grove	Perth - Inner	84.6
Castle Hill - East	Sydney - Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury	84.7
Millbank - Avoca	Wide Bay (Qld)	85.1
(a) Excludes SA2s with less than 1,000 people.