Following a border change, Melbourne has surpassed Sydney as the most populous city in Australia for the first time since 19th-century gold rush.
Sydney has proudly held the honour for more than a century.
However, due to the fast-increasing population on Melbourne’s periphery, Melton has been included in the city’s boundaries.
The “significant urban area” of a city is defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as all-linked suburbs with a population of more than 10,000.
Media said that the revised boundary was “a technicality” and that Melbourne now has more residents than Sydney due to the incorporation of Melton into Melbourne in the most recent population categorization.
Proud Sydney residents will cite the ABS’s finding that Sydney stayed larger when comparing the more excellent Sydney and Melbourne regions in June 2021.
According to the ABS, more significant regions of a city take into consideration its “functional area” and include people who frequent or work in the city but may reside in nearby minor towns and rural areas.
According to demographer Liz Allen of the Australian National University, migration from outside has played a significant role in Melbourne’s rapid expansion.
Dr Allen observed that Melbourne has a reputation for embracing diversity, unlike Sydney, which has a “historical hangover” from a time when “it didn’t want to be seen as anything other than white.”
Melbourne has previously had the distinction of being Australia’s largest city.
Melbourne proliferated and surpassed Sydney in population until 1905 due to the gold rush that occurred in the late 19th century and caused a migration of people to the state of Victoria.
