INNER WEST STATISTICS

The population of Inner West Council is 201,880 (2020).  

The data below show that we are currently adding 10,000 people over 4 years - and that includes the impact of Covid.  

The increase of 1,160 people in 2020 was the smallest rise since 2006.  Over the 3 years prior to Covid, the population of the Inner West was rising by 3,175 per year, on average. 

Inner West Council has the 14th highest population of all 128 Councils in NSW.  The table shows all Sydney Councils as well as Newcastle and Wollongong, including where the population of each of these Councils RANK against all 128 Councils in NSW.  

Inner West Council has the 5th highest population density in NSW.  In fact, we are the 5th highest of ALL 530 Councils in Australia.  Our population density is now 5,708 people per square km.  

In the past 20 years 1,000 people have been added to every square km of the Inner West.  Since the merger, in 2016, we have added 372 people for every square km.  

Comparing us with the Councils around us, Inner West has: 

• 2,257 more people per square km than Canterbury-Bankstown 

• 2,070 more than Bayside Council  

• 861 more than Canada Bay Council.

The most densely populated Councils in other States are: Port Phillip Council, Victoria (5,624), Brisbane Council (948) & Gold Coast Council (476), Prospect Council, SA (2,801), Vincent Council, WA (3,276), Hobart Council, Tasmania (709), Palmerston Council, NT (741).   

The table below shows the population densities for the Top 30 Councils in NSW.  

Note:  The AREA is square kilometres.  The DENSITY is people per square kilometre.

The Inner West has a much lower proportion of houses which are owned outright (24.7%) when compared with 32.2% across NSW and 31.0% for Australia.

So too, for houses with mortgages at 28.4% for the Inner West, 32.3% for NSW and 34.5% for Australia.

Our highest category of tenure is RENTER!  At 43.6% in the Inner West, the proportion of renters is much higher than NSW (31.8%) or Australia (30.9%).  

2016 Census data shows that the Inner West Council has 74,288 occupied private dwellings.  It also has 6,080 unoccupied dwellings.  In total, that’s 80,368 dwellings. 

The results presented below will focus on occupied private dwellings.  

In 2016, the proportion of flats and units increased to 41% of our dwellings (up from 38% in 2011).  The proportion of flats and units in the Inner West Council (41%) is significantly higher than for greater Sydney (29%). 

Flats and units have been the biggest category of dwellings in the Inner West since late 2006. 

Just over 3,800 new flats and units were added in the 5 years from 2011 to 2016 – that’s two additional flats or units EVERY DAY for that five year period.

Most of the flats and units in the Inner West - nearly 20,000 or 65% - are in blocks of 3 storeys and higher.  

A notable result in the 2016 data is the loss of 6,365 separate houses over the past five years.  There are now 18,040 separate houses in our municipality accounting for 24% of dwellings.  Only five years ago the number of separate houses was much higher at 24,405 or 34% of our dwelling stock.  

The proportion of separate houses in the Inner West Council (24%) is much less than that of greater Sydney (56%).  

This loss of separate houses in the Inner West has been somewhat offset by the increase in semi, row, terrace and townhouses which increased by almost 5,000 over the past five years.  These dwellings now make up nearly one third (32%) of our dwelling stock. 

The data show that medium to high density housing has increased from 62% of our dwelling stock 10 years ago to 72% now (i.e. adding together semi, row terrace with flats and units).  It was 58% twenty years ago, in 1996.  

At 63.2%, the Inner West has a lower proportion of family households than NSW (72.0%) and Australia (71.3%).

The proportion of group households in the Inner West (9.3%) is over double that for NSW (4.2%) and Australia (4.3%).

The Inner West also has a higher proportion of persons living alone (27.5%).    

There are 62,404 people living in the Inner West Council area who reported that they were born in a country other than Australia.  That’s just over a third (34%) of our municipality who reported that they were born overseas which is a little under the proportion for overall Sydney (37%). 

This 34% hasn’t really changed much over the past 10 years – 34% in 2006, 35% in 2011 and 34% in 2016. 

If we made some very simple assumptions about those 13,919 people who did not state a response to this Census question, then, the total number of overseas born people in the Inner West Council area could actually be close to 5,000 higher or around 67,200 being 37% of our local population.  

People who reported that they were born in UK were our largest group of overseas born people at 9,433 people or 5.2% of the Inner West Council population.  This group grew by 1,369 or 17% over the past 10 years. 

People who reported that they were born in China were our next largest group accounting for 3.5% of the Inner West Council population or 6,373 people, growing by 816 or 15% over the past 10 years.  

NZ was third with 4,160 people, falling by 2% or 91 people over the past 10 years.

The following table shows the top 20 birthplaces in the Inner West municipality.

The analysis below groups countries into ‘broad regions’.

Asia region - a total of 20,526 people in our municipality reported that they were born in the Asia region, making up 11.3% of our residents or one in nine people.  Over the past 10 years, the population from this region has increased by 3,502 - a strong 21% rise.  All 12 countries in the Asia region have experienced rises over the past 10 years with the numbers from China, Thailand, Philippines and India contributing most to the increase.  

UK and Ireland - people who reported that they were born in UK and Ireland saw a solid increase of 20% over the past 10 years.  Their numbers increased by 1,760 people to 10,783.  

Southern Europe - over the past 10 years, there has been a large fall (18%) in the number of people who reported that they were born in Southern Europe.  At 6,499 people, their numbers are now 1,462 lower than 10 years ago.  Greece accounted for half of this fall but all four countries listed have seen significant falls. 

Central Asia and the Middle East - across this region there has been virtually no change in population compared with 10 years ago.  There were mixed results for the five countries listed with falls for those born in Lebanon and Egypt but this has been offset by increases in persons born in Iran and Iraq.