INNER WEST STATISTICS - PAGE 2

Inner West Council has the 15th highest population of all 128 Councils in NSW. 

If we look at inner-city Councils, Inner West Council has the highest population by a wide margin. In fact, 10 or the 13 inner-city Councils have less than half our population. 

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 5,348 people per square km.  

A little over half (51.7%) of people in the Inner West lived at the SAME address on Census night as they did 5 years before. That’s lower than for Greater Sydney (56.7%). If we look at some other Councils, Canterbury-Bankstown had 63.1% who were living at the same address 5 years ago, Northern Beaches 60.5%, Canada Bay 55.2%, Bayside 52.7%, Ryde 50.5% and North Sydney 42.2%.

As such, 48.3% of people in the Inner West lived at a DIFFERENT address 5 years ago as follows:

· 5.6% lived at a different address but within the Inner West

· 31.4% lived outside the Inner West but within Sydney or NSW 

· 3.0% of people in the Inner West lived interstate 5 years ago

· 7.3% of people in the Inner West lived overseas 5 years ago.

The table below also shows the data for the suburbs in the Baludarri-Balmain Ward. Birchgrove (59.0%), Balmain East (59.3%) and Lilyfield (58.2%) had a higher proportion of people who lived at the same address on Census night as they did 5 years before.

Rozelle had the highest proportion of people who changed address, with 49.9% living at a different address 5 years ago.

(Note: Data relate to people aged 5 and over. Data are adjusted for not stated. Also, half of Annandale is In the Baludarri-Balmain Ward and the other half in the Gulgadya-Leichhardt Ward.)

Also, our use of cars is much lower.  The results for workers who travel to work by car (as a driver or passenger) were: 40.0% in the Inner West, 64.6% in NSW and 68.4% across Australia.  

The 2021 Census shows that 102,207 people aged 15 and over in the Inner West have an occupation. This is an increase of almost 10,000 persons over the last 10 years.

In 2021, 51,803 females and 50,404 males in the Inner West had an occupation.

The biggest occupation in the Inner West is ‘Professionals’ making up 41,895 persons or 41% of occupations. This compares with 29% across Greater Sydney. The proportion of people in the Inner West who are professionals rose from 36.8% to 41.0% over the past 10 years. The data for 2021 show that 43.5% of females in the Inner West are professionals compared with 38.5% of males.

Our second biggest occupation is ‘Managers’ at 19,079 persons or 18.7% of occupations (this compares with 15.5% across Greater Sydney). In the Inner West 19.7% of males and 17.6% of females are managers.

The third highest occupation in the Inner West is ‘Clerical and Administrative Workers’ with 11,957 persons or 11.7% of occupations (falling from 14.3% ten years ago). Note that the proportion of females in clerical and administrative work is double that of males (15.5% vs 7.8%).

‘Technician and trade workers’ make up 7.6% of occupations in the Inner West with 11.8% of males reporting this compared with 3.4% of females.

‘Community and personal services’ account for 7.3% of occupations in the Inner West with 9.1% of females reporting this versus 5.4% of males.

In 2021, 68,581 or 37.5% of people across Inner West Council reported a long-term health condition. This was higher than Greater Sydney (34.9%).

Mental health (including depression and anxiety) was the biggest reported long-term health condition in the Inner West. One in 10 people (10.4%) or 19,044 people in the Inner West reported this.

Mental health was also the highest reported long-term health condition in the Inner West for both males (7,296 or 8.2%) and for females (11,748 or 12.5%).

The proportion of people in the Inner West with a long-term Mental health condition (10.4%) is significantly higher than for Greater Sydney (6.6%).

Asthma is the second most reported long-term health condition for the Inner West with 14,539 or 8.0% of people reporting this. It is also the second highest long-term health condition in the Inner West for both males (7.6%) and females (8.3%). Asthma is the biggest long-term health condition across Greater Sydney at 6.8%.

Arthritis is the third most common long-term health condition in the Inner West with 11,119 or 6.1% of people reporting this (males 4.3% and females 7.8%). Across Greater Sydney arthritis ranks second at 6.7%.

Note: The ABS Census data measures health conditions that have lasted or are expected to last six months or more, may occur from time to time, are controlled by medication or are in remission.

The proportion of flats/units in the Inner West continues to rise, making up 42.4% of our occupied private dwellings in 2021. This proportion is much higher than for Greater Sydney (30.7%).

Over the past 15 years flats/units have grown from 36.1% of occupied private dwellings in the Inner West to 42.4%. On average, we have added 440 flats/units every year, for 15 years, to our stock of dwellings..

High density development has been the biggest contributor to the increase in dwellings in the Inner West. The number of flats/units in 4+ storey developments has increased by 76% in the past 10 years from 5,752 to 10,107.

Separate houses make up 28.8% of dwellings in the Inner West, about half that of Greater Sydney (55.8%). If we ADD IN semis, row, terrace houses we see that the proportion rises to 55.9% in the Inner West compared with 68.6% for Greater Sydney.

(Note: The distributions of Separate Houses and Semi/row/terrace/townhouse are a little odd in 2016 and appear to have come back to normal in 2021. That is, the proportion of separate houses should be on a steady fall over time while semis/row/terrace etc should be increasing. Possibly ABS will review the 2016 data when they release the Census Time Series Profiles later this year.)

The 2021 Census tells us that 35.7% of people in the Inner West live in a separate house. Separate houses make up 28.8% of our occupied private dwellings.

In the Inner West, separate houses have 2.84 people on average per dwelling. This is this highest average number of persons across all dwelling types.

Semis, row and terrace houses and townhouses have the second highest number of persons per dwelling at 2.49. The table below shows that 29.4% of people in the Inner West live in a semi, row and terrace house or townhouse.

Flats and apartments account for 42.4% of occupied dwellings in the Inner West and 33.5% of our population lives in these. The average number of people in a flat or apartment is 1.81 persons.

Inner West Council has 2,418 dwellings per square kilometre. This is the 4th highest dwelling density of all 130 Councils in NSW.

The Inner West has twice the dwelling density of our neighbour Canterbury-Bankstown (1,210) and almost double that of Parramatta (1,272).

We have 2,000 MORE dwellings per square kilometre than Northern Beaches Council and 941 MORE dwellings per square kilometre than Bayside Council.

Over the last 10 years, the Inner West has seen growth of 248 dwellings for every square kilometre. This INCREASE in density, alone, is almost the same as the CURRENT dwelling density of Liverpool Council (255) and significantly higher than Campbelltown (203) and Penrith (201). In fact, Inner West Council has 10 to 12 times the dwelling densities of these three Councils.

The Inner West also has the 2nd LOWEST ratio of open space of all Councils in NSW. As we pack more dwellings in, there is little ability or funding opportunity for Council to purchase new open space.

Next time you hear someone refer to the Inner West as NIMBY, you might like to point out our very high dwelling density and our very low open space ratio. 

(Below are the dwelling densities for Councils across Sydney).