Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia
Australia: Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents was 29.5% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia, 1950–2020
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
Australia recorded 29.5% for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in 2020. That is the highest value across all 15 years on record.
That represents a change of up 5.3% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia peaked at 29.5% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 15.0%, in 1950.
Australia ranks 39th of 180 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 15.0% | — |
| 1955 | 26.1% | +73.7% |
| 1960 | 26.5% | +1.5% |
| 1965 | 26.9% | +1.2% |
| 1970 | 27.9% | +4.0% |
| 1975 | 28.3% | +1.4% |
| 1980 | 28.5% | +0.6% |
| 1985 | 28.7% | +0.5% |
| 1990 | 28.5% | -0.5% |
| 1995 | 28.2% | -1.0% |
| 2000 | 27.2% | -3.7% |
| 2005 | 27.1% | -0.4% |
| 2010 | 28.0% | +3.3% |
| 2015 | 28.7% | +2.4% |
| 2020 | 29.5% | +2.9% |
Australia compared with similar countries
- Australia's 29.5% is above the median for high income countries, which is 15.3%, 1.9× the median. (58 countries reporting)
- Australia's 29.5% is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 21.4%, 1.4× the median. (23 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | +73.7% | 15.0% | 26.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 20.6% | 15.0% | 26.1% | 2 |
| 1960s | 26.7% | 26.5% | 26.9% | 2 |
| 1970s | 28.1% | 27.9% | 28.3% | 2 |
| 1980s | 28.6% | 28.5% | 28.7% | 2 |
| 1990s | 28.4% | 28.2% | 28.5% | 2 |
| 2000s | 27.1% | 27.1% | 27.2% | 2 |
| 2010s | 28.3% | 28.0% | 28.7% | 2 |
| 2020s | 29.5% | 29.5% | 29.5% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Australia
More reference data data for Australia
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.21 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 28.02 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 38.41 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 2.55 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 38.41 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 4.07 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 6.14 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 118.71 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 170.29 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 13.9 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia?
- Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Australia was 29.5% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Australia?
- The highest recorded value was 29.5% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Australia?
- The lowest recorded value was 15.0% in 1950.
- How does Australia rank for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
- Australia ranks 39th out of 180 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents rising or falling in Australia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 5.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Australia data come from?
- The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of the total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.