150,000 migrants flooded Sydney and Melbourne in 2019

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday released its Regional Population report for the 2018-19 financial year, which revealed that Melbourne remained the king of the population ponzi, adding an insane 113,480 people to its population in 2018-19, representing growth of 2.3%. Sydney’s population also surged by 87,065 people in 2018-19, representing growth of 1.7% (see below table).

As usual, the growth was driven overwhelming by net overseas migration (NOM):

An incredible 151,288 migrants swamped Sydney (73,919) and Melbourne (77,369) in 2018-19. Moreover, NOM accounted for 87% of these two cities’ growth (i.e. 85% of Sydney’s and 89% of Melbourne’s).

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.