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Melbourne — UN urban centre

3,639,893

Melbourne: 3,639,893 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #127 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 1634; territory: Australia (AUS). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: -37.8309, 145.0586. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19751,715,756Estimate
19801,850,290Estimate
19852,002,737Estimate
19902,168,312Estimate
19952,228,228Estimate
20002,342,596Estimate
20052,523,753Estimate
20102,876,172Estimate
20153,185,334Estimate
20203,523,624Estimate
20253,639,893Estimate
20303,750,427Projection
20353,888,195Projection
20403,995,670Projection
20454,089,292Projection
20504,237,996Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.