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Melbourne to be biggest Aust'n city with 8 million residents by 2051

Xinhua, November 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Melbourne is expected to surpass Sydney and become Australia's biggest city in 20 years, with its population topping eight million by 2051, official state projections have revealed.

Currently at 4.4 million people, Melbourne's population is growing at a rate of 1,800 people per week due mainly to overseas immigration, the data showed.

At the current rate of growth, Melbourne would become Australia's biggest city by 2036, have a population of seven million by 2041 and eight million by 2051.

Matthew Guy, leader of the Opposition Liberal National Party (LNP), said that the growth was not sustainable and his party had set up an expert taskforce to advise on population issues.

"Victoria is going to become one great big city state with a great heaving metropolis in the middle of it and nothing else -- it's not sustainable." Guy said on Monday.

Guy, who served as Minister for Planning from 2010 to 2014, said Melbourne with eight million people would resemble Madrid or greater San Francisco of today.

"It's a very big metropolitan area and I don't think the vast majority of Melburnians want a city of eight million people, they want a liveable city," Guy told News Limited.

Guy said he wanted more population growth diverted to regional centers such as the Latrobe Valley, Wangaratta, Bendigo, Bairnsdale and Warrnambool.

India is the top source country for migrants to Melbourne, followed by China, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Endit