INNER WEST STATISTICS
CONTENTS
POPULATION
AGE DISTRIBUTION
BIRTHS
YOUNG PEOPLE
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
BIRTHPLACE
ANCESTRY
RELIGION
POPULATION OF COUNCILS IN SYDNEY
POPULATION DENSITY OF COUNCILS IN SYDNEY
WHERE WE LIVED 5 YEARS AGO
OCCUPATIONS
LONG TERM HEALTH CONDITIONS
DWELLINGS
PERSONS PER DWELLING
DWELLING DENSITY OF COUNCILS IN SYDNEY
HOUSING TENURE - OCCUPIED DWELLINGS
MOTOR VEHICLES
OPEN SPACE
POPULATION OF INNER WEST COUNCIL
The population of Inner West Council is now 188,325 (2023) increasing by 5,172 people or 2.8% over the past year. We first reached this population level in 2015, and even higher after that, but then Covid impacted on our population from 2019.
The population of Inner West Council peaked in 2018 at 192,661 which means that we are still 4,336 people below that peak. We should be heading back to this peak population again by mid-2024.
The data shows that our population fell by 9,508 people over a period of 4 years mainly as a result of Covid. The biggest single fall was over the year 2020 to 2021 where our population fell by 6,196 people or by 3.3%.
In 2007 and 2008, the Inner West had two solid years of population growth at 1.7% each year (adding close to 2,900 people in EACH of those two years). This year (2023) we had a big 2.8% population growth!
Of the 530 Councils in Australia, the population of Inner West Council ranks 30th.
The table below shows the population of the Inner West Council back to 2001. Of course, Inner West Council was formed in 2016, but it’s easy to compile the data prior to that by adding up the populations of the 3 previous Councils.
AGE DISTRIBUTION
The age distribution of the Inner West differs from that of Greater Sydney.
Greater Sydney has bigger proportions of persons aged 0 to 9 and 10 to 19 than the Inner West.
The Inner West, however, has bigger proportions of the population aged 20 to 29, 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 is bigger than Greater Sydney.
From age 60, Greater Sydney has slightly higher proportions than the Inner West.
BIRTHS
There were 2,078 births in the Inner West Council area in 2022. This is the lowest number of births since at least 2001 (more likely the lowest since 1990/1991 but I couldn’t access earlier data).
The number of births in the Inner West peaked in 2010 at 3,163 which is 1,085 more births than now (2022).
The fertility rate in the Inner West in 2010 was 1.75 … it has fallen to 1.26 now (in 2022).
The top 6 Councils in Greater Sydney in terms of fertility rate are: Camden 2.22, Hawkesbury 2.05, Campbelltown 2.02, Central Coast 1.98, Penrith 1.97, Liverpool 1.96
The bottom 6 Councils are: Inner West 1.26, Ryde 1.24, Willoughby 1.21, Strathfield 1.21, Burwood 1.02, Sydney 0.88
None of the 35 Councils in greater Sydney reached a peak number of births during 2022. For example, the number of births in the Inner West in 2022 was 34% below the peak (in 2010). Births in Camden were 9% below the peak which was reached only the year before (in 2021). City of Sydney was 18% below its peak number of births in 2018.
YOUNG PEOPLE
The number of people aged 0 to 14 in the Inner West Council area has fallen by 11.4% since it peaked in 2018.
That is, after peaking at 29,690 in 2018, the number of people aged 0 to 14 in the Inner West has fallen by 3,377 to 26,313 in 2022. This is the lowest level since 2009.
The fall in the number of persons aged 0 to 14 in the Inner West is likely to continue for several more years.
NUMBER OF CHILDREN
The ABS asks women aged 15 years and over how many children they have had.
In the Inner West, just over half (51.5%) of women aged 15 and over have had children.
One in five women aged 15 and over (20.9%) have two children.
If you look down the column showing women who have had 4 or more children, most of the women who had these larger families are now aged sixty and over.
In fact, 18.1% of women aged 80 and over had 4 or more children.
BIRTHPLACE
In 2021, around 61,000 people in the Inner West stated that they were born overseas. If we adjust the data for those people who did not state their birthplace, the number born overseas is probably around 63,500.
The proportion of the Inner West population who were born overseas fell from 37.4% to 34.8% over the past 10 years.
Across Greater Sydney, the proportion of people born overseas is 40.5% therefore, the proportion of overseas born in the Inner West is quite a bit lower than Greater Sydney.
UK is the highest overseas birthplace in the Inner West, accounting for 5.6% or 9,825 people.
The second highest overseas birthplace in the Inner West is China making up 3.2% or 5,556 people in our community.
NZ is the third highest overseas birthplace in the Inner West. There was a 10.8% fall in numbers compared with 10 years ago. The Census reported that there are 3,869 people from NZ.
Our fourth highest overseas birthplace is Vietnam, growing by 9.9% over the past 10 years to 3,137 people.
The number of people in our community who were born in Italy and Greece fell, by 18% and 19% respectively over the past 10 years.
Over the last 10 years, growth was strong for the following birthplaces: USA (50.8% growth), Singapore (46.9%), Thailand (36.2%), Malaysia (31.4%) and South Africa (28.2%).
(Notes: All data are from 2021 Census. The table below shows those birthplaces with over 500 people. Adjusting the data for not stated would see the population of those born in UK at around 10,200, China 5,800, NZ 4,000 and Vietnam 3,200.)
ANCESTRY
Below are the top 15 ancestries in the Inner West. Also shown is where the parents were born.
The table below shows that our biggest ancestry is English, almost a third of people reported this. Next is Irish (14.3%) and Scottish (10.1%). Chinese ancestry ranks 4th(8.8%) and Italian is 5th (7.1%).
Of those people with English ancestry, 51% have both parents born in Australia. For those with Irish ancestry 62% had both parents born in Australia and for those with Scottish ancestry it was 59%.
For people with Vietnamese ancestry, 90% had both parents born overseas. For those who reported Chinese ancestry, 86% had both parents born overseas and so too did those who reported Indian ancestry (86%).
RELIGION
Almost half of the population of the Inner West reported no religion. That’s 90,898 or 49.7% of people. This is much higher than Greater Sydney (30.3%).
Christian religions accounted for 64,968 or 35.5% of our community. Catholics accounted for 58% of Christians and 20.5% of the Inner West population.
Note that I have not included all religions only the top responses, but the proportions are accurate across the whole population..
