Demographics

Brisbane is one of the fastest-growing capital cities in Australia in terms of population and employment. Our residents are young and skilled, highly educated and culturally diverse.

Population and growth

• South East Queensland is one of Australia’s largest metropolitan regions, comprising 3.1 million people, of which approximately 70 per cent reside in the Greater Brisbane area.
• The Greater Brisbane population has grown rapidly over the past decade, now totalling more than 2 million people.
• The region is set to continue to be one of Australia’s fastest-growing, with the Queensland Government forecasting Brisbane’s population to grow to nearly 3 million by 2031.

Our residents

• Brisbane provides a vast talent pool from which business can draw – the share of Brisbane’s working age population (15 to 64 years) is close to 70 per cent, higher than the Australian average and equal to over 1.4 million people.
• Brisbane’s population is extremely well-educated – more than 330,000 residents hold a university degree (bachelor level or higher), equivalent to 20 per cent of the adult population.
• Our community is extremely multicultural, with a quarter of Brisbane’s population born overseas and more than 17 per cent of households speaking a language other than English at home. Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin, Samoan and Vietnamese are among the most commonly spoken languages.