Regional Population, 2022–23

• Population growth in the capital cities recovered over 2022–23, reaching 3.0 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent growth in the previous year. This was driven by the strong recovery in net overseas migration, with a net inflow of 455,000 overseas migrants to capital cities.
• This net inflow of overseas migrants to capital cities accounted for 86 per cent of national NOM in 2022–23.
  • Sydney and Melbourne had the majority of NOM in 2022–23 (for 57 per cent). A further 21 per cent of NOM went to Brisbane and Perth.
  • The inner city (SA4s) of these four cities accounted for around 20 per cent of national NOM, despite having just 5.8 per cent of national population.
• The net internal migration outflow from capital cities to regional areas (‑27,000) appears to be recovering from the large net outflows of capital city residents seen during the COVID‑19 lockdowns (‑49,000 in 2020–21).
• Perth (3.6 per cent), Melbourne (3.3 per cent) and Brisbane (3.1 per cent) all grew by over 3 per cent in 2022–23, while Hobart (0.5 per cent) was the only capital city with a growth rate below 1 per cent.
• Combined regional areas grew at 1.4 per cent, the fastest rate of growth since 2008–09.[1] This was driven by primarily by an increase in overseas migration (73,000).

[1] Regional areas include rest‑of‑state areas outside of capital cities, including non‑capital cities such as the Gold Coast and Newcastle, but do not include ‘other territories’ such as Norfolk Island and Christmas Island.