Tasmania Population 2024

January 21, 2024 by Babji

Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It is located 240 km to the south of the Australian mainland, separated by Bass Strait. Tasmania population in 2024 is estimated to be 572.9 thousand, has an area of 90,758 sq km, ranks sixth populous state in Australia. Tasmania is the smallest of Australia's states. Tasmania has a distinctive composition both by birthplace and by ethnic heritage, most of the residents are British descent. Tasmania being known for best scenery and the richest history compared to other states in Australia, It is a mountainous island. Mount Ossa is located in the heart of Cradle Mountain and Lake St Claire national park, and stands tall at 1617 meters. Tasmania has a lot of thick vegetation, some of the eucalypts are the tallest trees and the biggest in their world, the state has remained somewhat less urbanized than its mainland counterparts, Hobart is the capital city of Tasmania, located in the south of the Island. The state got its name to the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 became the first European to discover the island. Tasmania has the oldest and slowest growing population in Australia. The Tasmania Government has set a target to grow the population to 650,000 people by 2050 to improve the standard of living, drive economic growth, create jobs for all Tasmanians. Population growth is a key driver of local economic outcomes, providing demand for locally produced goods and services. There has been an acceleration in population growth in recent years, driven mainly through net migration compared to previous years where it was driven by natural increase. State Government will encourage the return of the Tasmanian diaspora and will invest $2.55 million over four years to facilitate overseas and interstate migration and retain people in Tasmania. Tasmania is the best place in the country to live, work, invest and raise a family.

According to 2016, ABS, Tasmania population by age group:

Age groups	Male	Female	Population
Total persons	249,478	260,482	509,965
0-4 years	14,544	13,929	28,469
5-14 years	31,685	30,056	61,739
15-19 years	15,960	15,118	31,078
20-24 years	15,289	14,574	29,865
25-34 years	28,338	29,695	58,034
35-44 years	28,598	31,227	59,830
45-54 years	33,896	36,154	70,050
55-64 years	35,070	37,087	72,160
65-74 years	28,078	29,305	57,381
75-84 years	13,679	15,926	29,604
85 years and over	4,347	7,413	11,767

Cities

Tasmania As per hobart city, In 2018, Greater Hobart recorded a population of 213,293 persons. The local population expanded by approximately 0.9% per annum between 2001 and 2018, a higher pace of growth than the State (at 0.6% per annum), but a relatively low rate of growth compared to the nation. LGA's which comprise Greater Hobart, Clarence is the most populous and growing city with 26.7% of the Greater Hobart population in 2018. Hobart (25.2%) and Glenorchy (22.3%) are the next most populous cities. Brighton is the smallest local government area by population size within Greater Hobart with just 8.1% of the population. Some of the areas are expanding due to population growth within Greater Hobart has been centred on the Brighton and Kingborough LGAs. Currently population growth in Greater Hobart tends to be stronger than Tasmania, however, the gap between Tasmanian and Greater Hobart population growth rates has been narrowing since 2015 reaching 0.3 percentage points in 2018. Tasmania population in 2023 is estimated to be 573 thousand, population in 2022 is estimated to be 571 thousand, population in 2021 is estimated to be 541,479.

The local population is relatively stable over time. Of the people living in Greater Hobart in 2016, 82.5% lived within the Greater Hobart LGAs in 2011. The highest proportion of persons who moved to Greater Hobart between 2011 and 2016 were from overseas locations, with 4.1% of 2016 residents living overseas in 2011. Growth of this magnitude would suggest a total population for Greater Hobart of approximately 251,000 in 2041. In keeping with historical trends, population growth is anticipated to be stronger in the Brighton and Kingborough LGAs to 2041, though at slower rates than have been recorded previously. Greater Hobart will play a significant role as the gateway of visitation of Tasmania, largely due to the presence of Hobart Airport located in Clarence.

Religions in Tasmania

According to 2016 Australia Bureau of Statistics, 49.7% follows Christianity out of these 20.36% are Anglican, 15.5% are Catholics. 37.7% of population do not follow religion, 9.7% has not stated their religion, 0.79% follow Buddhism, 0.5% follow Hinduism, 0.48% Islam, 0.04% Judaism and 0.09% Sikhism.

Religions	Population
Buddhism	4,049
Christianity:
Anglican	103,839
Baptist	7,573
Brethren	1,343
Catholic	79,454
Churches of Christ	907
Eastern Orthodox	2,197
Jehovah's Witnesses	2,047
Latter-day Saints	1,570
Lutheran	1,334
Oriental Orthodox	200
Other Protestant	2,210
Pentecostal	5,331
Presbyterian and Reformed	10,154
Salvation Army	1,528
Seventh-day Adventist	1,001
Uniting Church	19,341
Christianity, nfd	12,799
Other Christian	679
Total	253,506
Hinduism	2,554
Islam	2,498
Judaism	248
Other Religions:
Australian Aboriginal Traditional Religions	78
Sikhism	488
Other Religious Groups	1,817
Total	2,381
Secular Beliefs and Other Spiritual Beliefs and No Religious Affiliation:
No Religion, so described	192,515
Secular Beliefs	1,646
Other Spiritual Beliefs	872
Total	195,034
Religious affiliation not stated	49,690
Total	509,965

Source: Tasmania Government

Ethnic groups in Tasmania

According to 2016 census, out of the total Tasmania population 10.75% are Indigenous people out of these 4.6% have registered their status with census and others not stated. The table below indicates the Indigenous people status in 2016:

Age Group	Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander	Non-Indigenous	Indigenous status not stated
0-4 years	2,439	24,465	1,570
5-9 years	2,788	27,007	1,719
10-14 years	2,566	25,989	1,671
15-19 years	2,381	27,011	1,685
20-24 years	1,916	26,215	1,737
25-29 years	1,577	25,380	1,752
30-34 years	1,463	26,173	1,690
35-39 years	1,205	25,556	1,571
40-44 years	1,236	28,477	1,784
45-49 years	1,383	31,143	1,985
50-54 years	1,184	32,224	2,129
55-59 years	1,127	33,910	2,343
60-64 years	859	31,700	2,214
65 years and over	1,455	89,888	7,404
Total	23,572	455,137	31,255

Ancestry by Country of Birth of Parents:

Country	Both parents	Father only	Mother only	Both parents	Birthplace	Total
	born overseas	born overseas	born overseas	born in Australia	not stated	responses

Australian	1,547	15,005	10,625	189,056	4,149	220,382
Australian Aboriginal	0	63	31	1,549	28	1,669
Chinese	5,725	191	293	869	63	7,137
Croatian	486	158	33	271	18	973
Dutch	4,461	1,481	1,040	3,200	91	10,283
English	28,795	14,647	10,230	169,019	4,383	227,074
Filipino	1,547	46	468	80	21	2,173
French	771	141	107	889	26	1,935
German	4,152	1,475	912	11,583	275	18,391
Greek	1,111	318	124	798	37	2,394
Hungarian	460	208	62	242	16	989
Indian	2,407	158	128	192	15	2,906
Irish	5,014	3,046	1,886	44,844	914	55,702
Italian	2,170	1,119	324	3,628	111	7,358
Korean	586	17	55	45	5	708
Lebanese	165	65	16	85	0	329
Macedonian	42	17	4	16	0	80
Maltese	249	115	44	247	7	656
Maori	524	186	132	186	21	1,048
New Zealander	1,146	571	441	333	23	2,515
Polish	1,690	501	200	1,066	34	3,485
Russian	502	76	52	203	9	840
Scottish	6,853	3,478	2,357	34,185	674	47,546
Serbian	192	42	12	47	3	300
South African	817	116	91	63	3	1,088
Spanish	636	85	58	307	6	1,093
Sri Lankan	338	30	14	20	8	410
Turkish	95	30	17	10	0	159
Vietnamese	425	29	25	16	5	499
Welsh	1,249	314	182	1,228	30	3,009
Other	14,829	2,663	1,845	4,438	228	24,008
Ancestry not stated	651	202	151	4,909	28,162	34,080
Total persons	73,757	27,091	18,595	353,447	37,073	509,965

The table below shows the Ancestry by Country of Birth:

Country of Birth	Persons
Afghanistan	302
Australia	411,492
Bangladesh	109
Bosnia and Herzegovina	122
Cambodia	29
Canada	822
Chile	194
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)	3,036
Croatia	243
Egypt	133
England	18,776
Fiji	252
France	337
Germany	2,108
Greece	480
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	457
India	1,980
Indonesia	336
Iran	565
Iraq	95
Ireland	678
Italy	847
Japan	413
Korea, Republic of (South)	594
Lebanon	76
Malaysia	1,409
Malta	111
Mauritius	53
Myanmar	295
Nepal	811
Netherlands	2,193
New Zealand	4,977
Northern Ireland	330
Pakistan	347
Papua New Guinea	320
Philippines	1,616
Poland	579
Scotland	2,283
Singapore	567
South Africa	1,524
South Eastern Europe	102
Sri Lanka	391
Taiwan	311
Thailand	609
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	16
Turkey	72
United States of America	1,630
Vietnam	400
Wales	569
Zimbabwe	291
Born elsewhere	6,441
Country of Birth Not stated	37,234

Country of Birth of Person by year of Arrival in Australia:

Country of Birth	Before 1946	1946-1955	1956-1965	1966-1975	1976-1985	1986-1995	1996-2005	2006-2010	2011-2016	Not stated	Total
Canada	3	12	46	158	96	110	136	120	127	18	822
China (excludes SARs and Taiwan)	8	22	50	23	40	110	316	642	1,654	174	3,036
Croatia	0	15	86	82	5	10	16	5	3	12	243
Egypt	0	16	12	8	5	7	23	19	34	4	133
Fiji	0	3	24	19	39	54	47	15	39	9	252
Germany	3	541	440	283	247	142	157	117	104	71	2,108
Greece	3	48	187	123	34	22	6	8	25	27	480
Hong Kong (SAR of China)	4	3	21	36	38	67	58	65	132	40	457
India	6	37	38	115	50	84	214	622	755	50	1,980
Indonesia	0	39	27	18	15	24	64	52	94	11	336
Iran	0	0	0	5	14	21	30	52	408	21	565
Iraq	0	6	0	0	0	4	11	19	54	0	95
Ireland	0	31	60	162	90	89	73	58	92	14	678
Italy	4	182	376	119	24	19	18	15	32	58	847
Japan	0	9	4	8	17	52	100	82	112	25	413
Korea, Republic of (South)	0	0	0	10	26	77	114	146	193	39	594
Lebanon	0	3	3	24	24	11	7	0	0	0	76
Malaysia	3	4	56	92	83	102	176	153	689	46	1,409
Malta	0	37	28	22	8	6	4	0	0	5	111
Netherlands	3	827	615	190	213	83	124	47	27	56	2,193
New Zealand	30	53	187	673	1,083	973	914	400	475	200	4,977
Pakistan	0	3	3	3	4	7	16	53	243	13	347
Philippines	0	0	5	26	192	312	282	331	403	74	1,616
Poland	0	107	73	33	148	105	32	28	26	20	579
Singapore	10	5	28	42	26	37	87	56	254	22	567
South Africa	3	9	79	107	190	210	353	352	182	30	1,524
Sri Lanka	0	4	12	19	24	42	38	80	150	15	391
Thailand	0	0	0	8	23	63	125	171	190	23	609
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	16
Turkey	0	0	0	18	10	17	9	8	6	0	72
United Kingdom, Channel Islands and Isle of Man	92	2,222	4,382	7,404	2,444	1,507	1,473	1,079	775	783	22,167
United States of America	3	13	53	274	175	190	332	236	310	37	1,630
Vietnam	0	0	0	8	40	34	40	63	210	16	400
Zimbabwe	0	3	13	17	52	35	73	63	31	3	291
Born elsewhere	17	397	668	998	559	749	1,089	1,457	2,926	361	9,222
Total	199	4,633	7,591	11,139	6,075	5,374	6,564	6,622	10,767	2,286	61,240

Literacy

State education levels are an important factor in labour supply within the region. Overall people in Greater Hobart are better educated than the State average. The majority of residents in Greater Hobart have completed high school to year 12 with 52.2% of people aged over 15 completing high school, higher than the state average of 42.1%. However, education rates differ considerably within Greater Hobart. Hobart residents are more likely to have completed high school with 71.9%than Brighton, Clarence and Glenorchy which all record completion rates below 50.0%. Higher education rates are higher in Greater Hobart compared to State rankings, the majority of residents aged over 15 years in Greater Hobart do not have a non-school qualification. Approximately 15% of residents hold a Bachelor's degree. Thus depends on socio-economic background between Greater Cities and Rural areas of Tasmania. Below table is the Age of persons attending an educational institution:

Age of persons	Male	Female	Population
0-4 years	2,251	2,188	4,448
5-14 years	28,913	27,389	56,305
15-19 years	11,254	11,066	22,320
20-24 years	4,300	4,631	8,931
25 years and over	6,248	10,401	16,645

Below table is the highest year of school completed:

Highest year of school completed	Male	Female	Population
Year 12 or equivalent	74,224	86,545	160,767
Year 11 or equivalent	17,199	19,454	36,653
Year 10 or equivalent	64,453	63,467	127,918
Year 9 or equivalent	17,605	16,999	34,598
Year 8 or below	10,381	10,072	20,458
Did not go to school	917	935	1,851

Languages in Tasmania

English is the official and more popular language in Tasmania, 88.32% speak English only, followed by 1% Chinese, 0.3% people speak German, 0.23% speak Greek, 0.17% Dutch, 0.16% French 0.16% Arabic. Only 70 people speak Australian Indigenous language, Out of Indian languages 148 speak Bengali, 639 Hindi, 489 Punjabi language.

Language	Population
Speaks English only	450,411
Speaks other language:
Afrikaans	375
Arabic	829
Australian Indigenous Languages	70
Chinese languages:
Cantonese	972
Mandarin	3,971
Other	275
Total Chinese	5,223
Croatian	270
Dutch	903
French	820
German	1,576
Greek	1,191
Indo-Aryan languages:
Bengali	148
Hindi	639
Punjabi	489
Sinhalese	222
Urdu	291
Other	1,833
Speaks other language:
Italian	1,096
Japanese	601
Korean	506
Macedonian	18
Maltese	19
Persian (excluding Dari)	593
Polish	685
Russian	317
Samoan	49
Serbian	127
Southeast Asian Austronesian languages:
Filipino	321
Indonesian	253
Tagalog	617
Other	268
Spanish	936
Tamil	306
Thai	490
Turkish	88
Vietnamese	442
Other	4,689
Language spoken at home not stated	32,262
Total	509,965

Population projection

Year	2015	2020	2030	2040	2050
Population	515,000	530,000	570,000	600,000	650,000

As per the projected table Tasmania has already achieved more than the projected population of 545 thousand by 2020, Policies are relaxed to some extent as Migrants to Tasmania arrive on all visa types, skilled, humanitarian, temporary, permanent resident etc. The benefits of migration are great and many, and can vary according to the region migrants settle, the skills they bring and their backgrounds, the local economy and the existing population.

According to 2016, ABS, Tasmania population by marital status above 15 years:

Age Group	Married	Separated	Divorced	Widowed	Never married	Total
15-19 years	69	26	9	16	30,954	31,078
20-24 years	1,410	122	37	31	28,266	29,865
25-34 years	19,862	1,402	1,186	128	35,455	58,034
35-44 years	31,849	2,975	4,780	358	19,860	59,830
45-54 years	39,189	4,140	11,139	1,089	14,493	70,050
55-64 years	44,388	3,409	13,633	2,895	7,826	72,160
65-74 years	36,978	1,938	9,118	6,283	3,065	57,381
75-84 years	16,109	544	2,833	9,023	1,104	29,604
85 years and over	3,499	108	530	7,143	474	11,767
Total	193,360	14,677	43,270	26,966	141,489	419,752

Subdivisions of Tasmania

Hobart is the second oldest capital city in Australia. For many years Tasmania had two cities, Hobart and Launceston, Hobart in the south and Launceston in the north east. Hobart's population is growing at almost twice the rate of Tasmania's second largest city, Launceston. Launceston's population is stagnating, it's slow, it's very low growth and it does lose people to other areas of Tasmania Few years ago, Devonport in the north west then attained city status, Burnie in the north west, was also a city. Two suburbs of Hobart, Glenorchy and Clarence, had also acquired city status, so now there are six. Hobart and south-east Tasmania recorded population growth of 1.5 per cent in the recent years. To become a city in Tasmania it should hold the population for designated period and a town must have over 25,000 people.

The metropolitan area is often referred to as Greater Hobart, to differentiate it from the City of Hobart, The councils of Brighton, Clarence, Glenorchy, Hobart and Kingborough are referred as Greater Hobart. Population growth in Greater Hobart has traditionally been stable but recently accelerated. Projections for Greater Hobart suggest population growth will return to slower rates over the coming decades. Population growth in Greater Hobart is centred on the local government areas of Kingborough and Brighton, this trend is anticipated to continue into the future.

Area	Type	Area Sq.Km	Natural Increase	Net Overseas Migration	2020 Estimated Resident Population
Break O'Day	Rural	3523.9	-4	14	6,346
Brighton	Rural	171.2	208	24	18,123
Burnie	Rural	611	46	58	19,701
Central Coast	Rural	933.1	-45	46	22,157
Central Highlands	Rural	7,982.4	14	0	2,166
Circular Head	Rural	4898	36	36	8,152
Clarence	City	378	203	292	58,729
Derwent Valley	Rural	4108.1	13	18	10,518
Devonport	City	111.3	23	109	25,747
Dorset	Rural	3230.5	-5	19	6,685
Flinders	Rural	1,996.6	-4	0	1,004
George Town	Rural	653.4	-16	28	7,117
Glamorgan/Spring Bay	Rural	2591.6	-23	22	4,750
Glenorchy	City	121.1	215	414	47,963
Hobart	City	77.9	60	1,122	55,250
Huon Valley	Rural	5507.4	49	88	17,966
Kentish	Rural	1,156.2	3	30	6,393
King Island	Rural	1,095.7	5	5	1,612
Kingborough	City	720.1	156	229	38,628
Latrobe	Rural	600.5	24	38	11,961
Launceston	City	1,413.6	170	788	68,813
Meander Valley	Town	3,330.8	37	65	20,037
Northern Midlands	Rural	5,135.3	18	29	13,598
Sorell	Town	583.8	79	47	16Â 030
Southern Midlands	Rural	2,615.5	28	5	6,400
Tasman	Rural	660.4	-16	4	2,479
Waratah/Wynyard	Town	3,535.9	-10	31	13,900
West Coast	Rural	9,583.5	0	14	4,132
West Tamar	City	691.1	50	103	24,423

MONA: The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) located in Glenorchy, is the largest privately funded museum in the Southern Hemisphere. It is frequently updated and hosts the annual MOFO and Dark MOFO music and arts festivals.

Salamanca Place: Salamanca Place is a precinct of Hobart, consisting of rows of sandstone buildings, formerly warehouses for the port of Hobart Town that have since been converted into restaurants, galleries, craft shops and offices. Once the stomping ground for sailors, whalers and workmen, Salamanca Place in Hobart is now home to a vibrant cultural scene.

Hobart Showgrounds: The Royal Hobart Showgrounds are the site of the Royal Hobart Show and many other smaller events. The Royal Hobart Showground is located 10 km north of Hobart, between the junction to Brooker Highway/Goodwood Road and the Main Road in Glenorchy.

Richmond and Coal Valley Region Clarence: The historic town of Richmond features Australia's oldest stone bridge, dating 1823 as well as several convict heritage and historic buildings. The area surrounding Richmond is the Coal River Valley region. It is a farming area featuring a variety of producers of exquisite Tasmanian produce. Coal River Valley support a number of wineries including Puddle Duck, Pooley Wines and Coal Valley Vineyard.

Heritage Areas and History: Hobart is Australia's second oldest city and has significant history as one of the oldest colonies in Australia. These sites include world heritage convict sites such as Port Arthur historic site, Hobart Town Hall on Macquarie Street and historic waterfront warehouses.

The River Derwent Greater:The River Derwent travels through Hobart from the Central Highlands at Lake St Clair before ending into Storm Bay. Agriculture, forestry, hydropower generation and fish hatcheries dominate catchment land use. The Derwent is also an important source of water for irrigation and water supply. Most of Hobart's water supply is taken from the lower River Derwent. Nearly 40% of Tasmania's population lives around the estuary's margins and the Derwent is widely used for recreation, boating, recreational fishing, marine transportation and industry.

Kunanyi/Wellington Hobart:Kunanyi/ Mount Wellington is a mountain in the southeast coastal region of Tasmania, Australia. It is the summit of the Wellington Range and is within the Wellington Park reserve. Located at the foothills of the mountain is much of Tasmania's capital city, Hobart. The mountain offers views over Hobart and is a major tourist destination being the second most visited attraction in Tasmania.

Income Distribution

Tasmania is a significant tourism destination, which receives over 1.0 million interstate and international visitors per annum. Ensuring adequate and appropriate infrastructure, products and experiences are on offer will assist in retaining these visitors within the region. Activities to attract Tourist activities to Tasmania and Greater Hobart are under the remit of Tourism Tasmania and Destination Southern Tasmania, respectively. This will lead to improve the economy. In recent years, Greater Hobart's economy has been relatively stable, likely reflecting the level of population growth experienced in the region. The local economy is reliant on population growth and government related industry, with health care and social assistance, public administration and safety, and education and training being the most prominent sectors in terms of both economic activity and employment. Economic diversity could assist and supporting local economic outcomes and improve local economic resilience.

LGA	2016 Household Income
Brighton	$1,341
Clarence	$1,608
Glenorchy	$1,270
Hobart	$1,835
Kingborough	$1,663
Greater Hobart	$1,576
Tasmania	$1,413
Australia	$1,802

Median age of persons is 42, Median mortgage repayment is $1,300 per month, Median total personal income is $573 weekly, Median rent is $230 weekly, Median total family income is $1,399 weekly, Average number of persons per bedroom is 0.8 persons, Median total household income is $1,100 per week, Average household size is 2.3.

References:
Tasmania Government
Hobart City
Australian Bureau of Statistics

History

Aboriginal people have lived in Tasmania for around 35,000 years, Tasmania is known to the Aboriginal people as 'Trowunna', 'Trowenna' or 'Loetrouwitter'. Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer, was the first European to explore Tasmania.