A recent Weekend Australian article observes that, given current trends, Melbourne will be Australia's largest capital eight years from now and will consolidate its leading position as a city to live, work and do business in.
In the article Ean Higgins takes a thorough look at Melbourne’s growing stature as a place to live, work and do business. In particular he notes that, if the population trend continues, Melbourne will soon overtake Sydney as Australia’s dominant city.
Higgins points out that while the populations of Melbourne and Sydney have grown dramatically in the last 12 years, Melbourne’s 36% growth rate is likely to push its population past Sydney’s in eight years.
In 2016-17 Melbourne experienced the largest population growth of all Australian capital cities. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that overseas migration was the major contributor, accounting for 64% of the 125,400 change with a natural increase making up 29%. Interestingly, Melbourne attracted 9,200 from within Australia while Sydney lost 18,100 through internal migration.
In terms of a place to do business, Melbourne has a distinct lead in a number of areas. According to the 2016 census, 10 of the top 20 manufacturing centres in Australia are based in Melbourne along with many knowledge and research based industries including the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Melbourne attracts 40% of all of Australia’s medical research funding.
The attractiveness of Melbourne as a place to do business is clearly not lost on the world stage either. Amazon, Alibaba, CEVA Logistics are just a few global companies who have chosen Melbourne as their Australian base. Meanwhile Melbourne’s position as the fashion and retail capital of Australia is a significant reason for David Jones relocating its head office from Sydney to Melbourne.
Lastly, that Melbourne has been declared the world’s most liveable city for seven years running is ample reflection of the quality of life that makes Melbourne a compelling place to for people of all generations and interests to live.
