Victoria's population: size, growth and where people live (2026)

Updated 29 Sept 2026

Victoria had 7,154,221 residents at 31 March 2026, equal to 25.6 per cent of Australia's 27,921,150 people. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) quarterly population data, the state added 109,500 people, or 1.6 per cent, over the year to 31 March 2026. By 30 June 2025, 76.8 per cent of the state's population lived in Greater Melbourne.

Victoria population: 7,154,221; The second largest of any state or territory at 31 March 2026
Annual growth: +109,500; 1.6% in the year to 31 March 2026, the largest of any state or territory
Share of Australia: 25.6%; 7,154,221 of 27,921,150 people at 31 March 2026
Living in Greater Melbourne: 76.8%; 5,435,590 of 7,073,859 people at 30 June 2025

Where interstate migrants goVictoria's net interstate loss narrowed to 685 people in 2025, the smallest of its six consecutive years of loss. The interstate migration article covers the flows between all eight states and territories, and how they shifted from 2020 onwards.

The national picture in fullVictoria held just over a quarter of Australia's people at 31 December 2025. The national population article covers the 27.8 million total, how fast it is changing, and the births, deaths and migration behind it.

Section 01 · The headline number

How many people live in Victoria?

Victoria had an estimated resident population of 7,154,221 at 31 March 2026, the most recent quarter in the ABS data¹.

That was 25.6 per cent of Australia's 27,921,150 people. It was the second-largest population of any state or territory, behind New South Wales at 8,670,105 and ahead of Queensland at 5,739,461¹.

The ABS updates the estimate each quarter. The next release, covering the June quarter 2026, is due on 17 December 2026¹.

Section 02 · The pace

How fast is Victoria's population growing?

Victoria added 112,206 people, or 1.60 per cent, in the year to 31 December 2025,¹ the largest increase of any state or territory. Its growth rate was the fourth-fastest of the eight states and territories, behind Western Australia (2.15 per cent), the Northern Territory (1.68 per cent) and Queensland (1.65 per cent).

The years since 2020 include Victoria's only two population declines and its fastest calendar year since 1982. Of the 44 calendar years from 1982 to 2025, the population fell only in 2020, by 22,855 people (0.35 per cent), and 2021, by 12,182 (0.19 per cent). The fastest growth came in 2023, when the state added 180,673 people (2.70 per cent)¹. Victoria was the only state or territory whose population fell in either year. Growth then slowed to 122,742 people (1.78 per cent) in 2024 and 112,206 (1.60 per cent) in 2025.

Within those calendar years, year-ending growth, measured over the 12 months to each quarter rather than from December to December, turned negative. Annual growth was negative in five consecutive year-ending readings, from the December quarter 2020 to the December quarter 2021, and the largest fall was 67,224 people (1.02 per cent) in the year to the June quarter 2021. Growth peaked at 187,976 people (2.82 per cent) in the year to the September quarter 2023¹.

Line chart of Victoria's annual population growth rate by calendar year, 1982 to 2025 — Each year's rate is the change in the estimated resident population between 31 December of the previous year and 31 December of that year, divided by the earlier value. 2020 and 2021 are the only negative years in the series; year-ending readings for other quarters fell as low as minus 1.02 per cent in the year to the June quarter 2021.

Section 03 · The drivers

What drives population growth in Victoria?

Three components made up the state's growth. In the year to 31 December 2025, net overseas migration added 84,628 people, natural increase (births minus deaths) added 28,263, and net interstate migration reduced the population by 685¹. The components totalled 112,206, matching the overall change in population.

The interstate flows came close to balance. Victoria lost a net 685 people to the other states and territories in 2025. A total of 73,691 people arrived from other states and territories, while 74,376 left¹. It was the smallest annual net interstate flow, in either direction, since 2008. The loss has narrowed every year since 2021: from 35,932 in 2021 to 16,819 in 2022, 4,764 in 2023, 4,639 in 2024 and 685 in 2025. In the year to 31 March 2026, the flow turned to a small net gain of 82 people.

Victoria recorded net losses from 1982 to 1997, followed by net gains from 1998 to 2002 and further losses from 2003 to 2008. The state then recorded net gains from 2009 to 2019, before returning to net losses from 2020 to 2025. The largest gain was 17,106 people in 2016 and the deepest loss was 35,932 in 2021¹.

The national birth and death behind natural increase is covered in the births and deaths article.

Victoria population growth by component, 2025
Component	People	Derivation
Net overseas migration	+84,628	156,362 arrivals minus 71,734 departures
Natural increase	+28,263	75,031 births minus 46,768 deaths
Net interstate migration	-685	73,691 arrivals minus 74,376 departures
Total growth	+112,206	Derived sum; equals the change in estimated resident population over 2025

Source · ABS National, state and territory population, March 2026 (released 17 September 2026), time series Table 2 and data cube Tables 10, 11, 13 and 14.

Line chart of Victoria's net interstate migration by calendar year, 1982 to 2025 — Values below zero are net losses to the other states and territories. The series alternates between periods of net loss and net gain; overseas migration and natural increase, not shown here, more than offset the interstate loss in every loss year except 2020 and 2021.

Section 04 · Melbourne and the regions

How much of Victoria's population lives in Melbourne?

More than three-quarters of the state's people lived in the capital at 30 June 2025. Greater Melbourne had 5,435,590 people, while the rest of the state had 1,638,269.² That meant 76.8 per cent of Victoria's population lived in Greater Melbourne, based on the 7,073,859 people counted across the two regions.

Greater Melbourne's share has increased from 73.5 per cent at 30 June 2001, when Greater Melbourne had 3,500,249 of the 4,763,615 people in the two regions on the same boundaries.² Greater Sydney's share of the New South Wales two-region total, on the same basis, was 65.6 per cent at 30 June 2025.

Greater Melbourne grew faster than the rest of the state over 2024-25, and its increase was the largest of any Australian capital. Over the financial year, the capital grew by 105,030 people (2.0 per cent) while the rest of the state grew by 17,868 (1.1 per cent). The ABS publishes the changes, rounded, as 105,000 and 17,900, and reports Melbourne's as the largest absolute growth of any capital city³. The ABS reports Greater Melbourne's 2024-25 growth, rounded to the nearest hundred, as natural increase of 32,400 people and net overseas migration of 81,200, offset by a net internal migration loss of 8,600. It states that Sydney and Melbourne had the largest net internal migration losses.

The largest population increases in the state in 2024-25 were on Melbourne's fringe. Rockbank - Mount Cottrell in the outer west grew by 4,600 people, and Fraser Rise - Plumpton, also in the outer west, and Mickleham - Yuroke in the outer north each grew by 4,100. The highest growth rate in the state was Port Melbourne Industrial's 23 per cent, in the inner city³.

The capital's own long-run series is covered in the Melbourne population article.

Changes and growth rates derived from the 30 June 2024 values in the same cube; shares derived by division. The 30 June reference date differs from the 31 December figures elsewhere on this page.
Greater Capital City Statistical Area boundaries, at 30 June 2025
Region	Population	Change over 2024-25	Growth rate %	Share of state %
Greater Melbourne	5,435,590	+105,030	2.0	76.8
Rest of Victoria	1,638,269	+17,868	1.1	23.2
Two regions combined	7,073,859	+122,898	1.8	100.0

Source · ABS Regional population, 2024-25, Population estimates by SA2 and above data cube.

Section 05 · The national picture

How does Victoria compare with other states and territories?

Victoria was the second most populous of the eight states and territories at 31 December 2025, with 1,519,184 fewer people than New South Wales and 1,402,690 more than Queensland¹. Victoria has remained the second most populous jurisdiction throughout the ABS quarterly data, covering 180 quarters from June 1981 to March 2026.

Its 1.60 per cent growth rate in 2025 ranked fourth, behind Western Australia (2.15 per cent), the Northern Territory (1.68 per cent) and Queensland (1.65 per cent), while its increase of 112,206 people was the largest of any state or territory¹.

The ABS reports that net overseas migration was the major contributor to population change in all states and territories in the year to 31 March 2026¹.

Ranked bar chart of population growth rate by state and territory in 2025 — Rates derived by dividing each jurisdiction's change in estimated resident population over 2025 by its 31 December 2024 value, using the revised quarterly estimates in the March 2026 release.

Exact estimated resident population from the quarterly series; changes and growth rates derived from the 31 December 2024 values. The March 2026 release revised the September quarter 2024 to December quarter 2025 estimates. The Australia row includes the other territories of Jervis Bay, Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island, so the state and territory rows do not sum exactly to it.
Population by state and territory, Australia, as at 31 December 2025
State or territory	Population	Change over 2025	Growth rate %
New South Wales	8,635,200	+96,523	1.13
Victoria	7,116,016	+112,206	1.60
Queensland	5,713,326	+92,927	1.65
Western Australia	3,075,864	+64,667	2.15
South Australia	1,910,780	+19,556	1.03
Tasmania	579,085	+2,814	0.49
Australian Capital Territory	487,259	+6,001	1.25
Northern Territory	267,703	+4,420	1.68
Australia	27,790,263	+399,138	1.46

Source · ABS National, state and territory population, March 2026, Table 4 (released 17 September 2026).

Section 06 · The long run

How has Victoria's population grown since 1981?

Victoria grew from 3,968,398 people at 31 December 1981 to 7,116,016 at 31 December 2025, adding 3,147,618 people. It first exceeded 7 million in the December quarter of 2024¹.

By the end of 2025, the state's population was 1.79 times its size at the end of 1981.

Each million milestone is a derived figure marking the first quarter in which the data shows the state at or above the threshold. Victoria first exceeded 4 million people in the September quarter 1982, 5 million in the September quarter 2005, 6 million in the June quarter 2015 and 7 million in the December quarter 2024¹. The gaps between milestones have narrowed: 23 years from 4 million to 5 million, 9 years and 9 months from 5 million to 6 million, and 9 years and 6 months from 6 million to 7 million.

The state grew by 110,355 people in 2019, before the population fell by 22,855 in 2020 and 12,182 in 2021. Growth then increased to 145,382 people in 2022 and 180,673 in 2023, based on the December-to-December changes in the quarterly population figures¹.

Line chart of Victoria's estimated resident population at 31 December, 1981 to 2025 — December-quarter values from the quarterly series; the intervening quarters sit between these points. The 2020 and 2021 points are the only annual falls in the series.

Derived milestones: the first quarter in which the quarterly estimated resident population series shows Victoria at or above each threshold. The series begins at the June quarter 1981, with the state already above 3.9 million.
Victoria population milestones, 1982 to 2024
Milestone	First quarter at or above	Population that quarter
4 million	September quarter 1982	4,002,731
5 million	September quarter 2005	5,006,241
6 million	June quarter 2015	6,022,322
7 million	December quarter 2024	7,003,810

Source · ABS National, state and territory population, March 2026, Table 4 (released 17 September 2026).

Section 07 · Common questions

Victoria population: quick answers

What is the population of Victoria?

Victoria had an estimated resident population of 7,154,221 at 31 March 2026, the most recent quarter in the ABS data, released 17 September 2026. That was 25.6 per cent of Australia's 27,921,150 people and the second-largest population of any state or territory, behind New South Wales. The next update, covering the June quarter 2026, is due on 17 December 2026.

How fast is the Victorian population growing?

Victoria added 112,206 people, or 1.6 per cent, in the year to 31 December 2025, based on the revised ABS estimates. That was the largest increase of any state or territory for the third consecutive year, and the fourth-fastest growth rate of the eight, behind Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland. In the year to 31 March 2026, the state added 109,491 people (1.6 per cent).

Is Victoria losing people to other states?

Victoria recorded a net interstate migration loss of 685 people in the year to 31 December 2025. A total of 73,691 people arrived from other states and territories, and 74,376 left, making it the state's smallest annual net interstate flow since 2008. Based on calendar-year totals from the ABS quarterly data, Victoria recorded net gains from 2009 to 2019 and net losses from 2020 to 2025. The deepest loss was 35,932 people in 2021. In the year to 31 March 2026, Victoria recorded a small net gain of 82 people.

How much of the Victorian population lives in Melbourne?

Greater Melbourne had 5,435,590 of the 7,073,859 people counted across the state's two regions at 30 June 2025, which was 76.8 per cent. The rest of the state had 1,638,269 people. The capital's share was 73.5 per cent at 30 June 2001 on the same boundaries.

When did Victoria pass 7 million people?

Victoria first exceeded 7 million people in the December quarter of 2024, when the ABS quarterly data recorded 7,003,810 residents. On the same basis the state passed 5 million in the September quarter of 2005 and 6 million in the June quarter of 2015.

Australia population statistics

References

ABS, National, state and territory population, March 2026 · Australian Bureau of Statistics ↑ b c d e f g h i j k l m n o
ABS Regional population, 2024-25: population estimates by SA2 and above, 2001 to 2025 (datacube 32180DS0003) · Australian Bureau of Statistics ↑ b
ABS Regional population, 2024-25 · Australian Bureau of Statistics ↑ b
ABS, National, state and territory population methodology, December 2025 · Australian Bureau of Statistics