Topics
Melbourne, 
Australia
3,639,893 people lived in Melbourne in 2025. It is the 127th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 2nd largest in Australia.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Melbourne governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Melbourne grew
For every 10 people in Melbourne in 1975, there were 21.2 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 4.2 million people in 2050.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Melbourne through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Melbourne in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Australia · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: every dot is one of the 29 cities in Australia in 2025, and a dot's area is how many people live there, the biggest being Sydney. The ringed dot in colour is Melbourne; the grey dots are the rest. The outlines around them are neighbouring countries.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Melbourne covered 1,357 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 363 km² of it. That is 100 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 10 by 10 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown by 86%, and its people are 2.1 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in Australia
Its share of Australia
Of every 100 people in Australia in 2025, 13 lived in Melbourne, which is 3.6 million people.
How to read this: 100 squares stand for everyone in Australia, one square for every 100th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Melbourne's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 123 Ibadan Nigeria3,720,721
- 124 Recife Brazil3,691,196
- 125 Chicago United States3,683,385
- 126 Brazzaville Republic of the Congo3,656,322
- 127 Melbourne3,639,893
- 128 Qingdao China3,616,657
- 129 Ankara Türkiye3,612,251
- 130 Kasaï-Oriental Democratic Republic of the Congo3,605,738
- 131 Karaj Iran3,598,661
In Australia, 2025
- 107 Sydney4,150,917
- 127 Melbourne3,639,893
- 474 Perth1,079,374
- 476 Brisbane1,071,628
- 592 Adelaide879,249
- 1399 Point Cook404,501
- 1926 Gold Coast298,750
How to read this: the number before each name is its place among all 12,138 cities in the world in 2025; bars are people, on one scale per list. Only cities that reach 300,000 people have a page here, so a gap in the numbers is a smaller city.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Melbourne are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Melbourne publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries