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Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia

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Publisher Australian Bureau of StatisticsUpdated yearlyLicence CC BY 4.0Latest 2026-10-20Rows 13,700Fields 6

The ABS Data Explorer table ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025, estimated resident population by Local Government Area (LGA 2025), age and sex, 2001 to 2025, read for Local Government Areas, both sexes and all ages only. Each row is one year and council area, with the estimated number of residents at 30 June and the ABS observation status. The ABS codes are kept beside the names it gives them.

Also called: Estimated resident population by LGA, Council area population Australia, Population by Local Government Area ABS, Regional population by LGA.

Before you use it
What is in each row?
The ABS's estimate of all the people usually resident in one council area at 30 June of one year from 2001, both sexes and all ages together.
Is there a breakdown by age and sex?
The ABS table also gives each council's population by sex and five-year age group. This dataset reads only the totals, which are the figure most uses need. The breakdown is 57 times larger.
Which council boundaries are used?
The Local Government Areas of the ABS's 2025 edition, the same edition as the council boundaries dataset here. The ABS has re-estimated every year from 2001 on those boundaries, so a council's figures for earlier years describe the area it covers in 2025. A table on another edition's boundaries is a separate dataset, because the ABS changes some codes between editions.
Are the figures final?
The ABS revises recent years when later census and migration data arrive. Each yearly release replaces the figures for the years it revises, and this site keeps every release as a dated version.
What do the codes beginning with the state digit and ending in 99 mean?
The ABS gives each state rows for its unincorporated area, for people with no usual address, and for people offshore or on ships. They are kept as the ABS publishes them and are not council areas.
13,700council area population by year
2001 to 2025years drawn
6fields
8formats
1version
010M20M30M2001: 19,274,70120012002: 19,495,2102003: 19,720,7372004: 19,932,7222005: 20,176,84420052006: 20,450,9662007: 20,827,6222008: 21,249,1992009: 21,691,65320092010: 22,031,7502011: 22,340,0242012: 22,733,4652013: 23,128,12920132014: 23,475,6862015: 23,815,9952016: 24,190,9072017: 24,592,58820172018: 24,963,2582019: 25,334,8262020: 25,649,2482021: 25,685,41220212022: 26,018,7212023: 26,659,9222024: 27,194,2862025: 27,613,6542025
Estimated resident population per year, 2001 to 2025. The figure is a sum of the estimated resident population column from version 2026-10-20, worked out in the build. Nothing else is added.

Made for agents

Connect your AI agent

Any agent that connects to publicdata.au/mcp can find this dataset, read its 6 fields, count and filter across all 13,700 rows and diff its versions. Every answer names the version and carries ABS's attribution. No key.

Then ask it: What does Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025, Australia hold, and what changed in the newest version?

claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp

One command. No key, no account, no sign-up.

Download it as Excel, CSV, JSON and 5 more formats

Pick a format and a version. Excel is picked first because it opens in the tools most offices have. The URL is yours to keep. A dated version keeps its content.

Format
"Latest" redirects to the newest version and will change when the publisher releases again. A dated version keeps its content.
https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.xlsx
Download this file

One workbook with a records sheet of 13,700 typed rows, a fields sheet and a publicdata sheet with the provenance. Dates are real Excel dates. Opens in Excel, Numbers, LibreOffice and Sheets.

In your own tools

Use it in Excel, R, Python and more

Excel and Power BI read the CSV from its address and refresh from it. The R and Python packages take any dataset on this site by its slug, so a new dataset needs no new release. The DuckDB file attaches read-only over HTTPS, and a query reads only the blocks it touches.

The dated URL in the code never changes. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/ redirects to the newest version.

https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.csv

In Excel choose Data, then From Web, and paste this address. Excel keeps it, so Refresh All reads the newest version. A sheet holds about a million rows; past that, load the query to the Data Model.

What is in it

Column names are made snake_case and the publisher's original header is kept beside each one. Blank cells are null. Nothing is added, removed, ranked or summarised.

FieldTypePublisher's headerNote
lga_codestringLGA_2025
lga_namestringRegion
yearintegerTIME_PERIODThe year whose 30 June the estimate is for.
populationintegerOBS_VALUE
obs_statusstringOBS_STATUS
obs_status_meaningstringObservation Status

Download this table as a data dictionary (Excel), or read it as a Frictionless Table Schema at schema.json. The key is lga_code, year.

A sample of 10 rows

The ten council areas with the most residents at 30 June of the newest year, most first. A blank cell is shown as null.

lga_codelga_nameyearpopulationobs_statusobs_status_meaning
31000Brisbane20251375301nullnull
33430Gold Coast2025691230nullnull
35010Moreton Bay2025532445nullnull
89399Unincorporated ACT2025484630nullnull
10750Blacktown2025449385nullnull
21610Casey2025414929nullnull
34590Logan2025403515nullnull
11570Canterbury-Bankstown2025389687nullnull
36720Sunshine Coast2025381957nullnull
11650Central Coast (NSW)2025357816nullnull
The first row as JSON

As it appears in data.json.

GET https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.json
{
  "lga_code": "52100",
  "lga_name": "Corrigin",
  "year": 2001,
  "population": 1302,
  "obs_status": null,
  "obs_status_meaning": null
}

Query it without downloading

The query API returns only the rows you ask for, as JSON, NDJSON or CSV, from the same typed rows as the files. It needs no key. Build a query here and run it, then copy the URL or the code into your own work.

Try rows or aggregate for this dataset. The query builder needs JavaScript.

How filters work

Each filter is field=operator.value in the query string, and every filter must match. A number or date field compares as a number or date, and a text field compares as text. Values are case-sensitive, except that like and ilike ignore case in the ASCII letters A to Z. Prefix not. to negate a filter, as not.eq.value.

OperatorWhat it matches
eq.valueEqual to the value.
neq.valueNot equal to the value. A blank cell does not match.
gt.valueGreater than the value.
gte.valueGreater than or equal to the value.
lt.valueLess than the value.
lte.valueLess than or equal to the value.
like.*text*Matches a pattern where * stands for any run of characters, ignoring case in the ASCII letters A to Z.
ilike.*text*The same as like. Both ignore case in ASCII letters only, so É and é differ.
in.(a,b,c)Equal to any value in the list. A value cannot contain a comma.
is.nullBlank in the source, or suppressed by the publisher.
ParameterWhat it does
selectFields to return, comma-separated. Every field when absent.
orderfield.asc or field.desc, comma-separated. When absent, rows come in the order of the file they are read from. For the newest versions that is the version's own data.parquet, which keeps the publisher's order unless the dataset sorted it. Any other version is read from the Parquet file the answer names in file, and when that file is sorted the answer names its sort in order, which ties follow too.
limitRows per page, 1 to 10,000. 100 when absent.
offsetRows to skip. The next URL in each answer sets it for you.
groupOn aggregate, fields to group by, comma-separated.
metricOn aggregate, count, sum.field, avg.field, min.field or max.field, comma-separated. count when absent.
formatjson, ndjson or csv. JSON carries the provenance header, and the others carry it in response headers.

Without a version the API answers from the newest version, and that answer changes when the publisher releases again. Put versions/<date>/ before rows or aggregate for an answer from that version alone. Every version with a table can be queried, and /api/v1/datasets/<slug>/versions lists them. A query on a version the database does not hold is read from its Parquet file, and one that would read too much of it is refused with DuckDB SQL that answers it from the file. The 1 newest version is loaded; versions lists them.

The API allows 60 requests in 10 seconds from one address. Above that it answers 429 for 10 seconds with a Retry-After header, a RateLimit-Policy header and a JSON body that gives the limit. Every API answer carries the same RateLimit-Policy. A client should wait the Retry-After seconds, or read the files, which have no limit. openapi.json describes this dataset's query paths for client generators and agents.

https://publicdata.au/mcp is a remote MCP server over Streamable HTTP with the same tools, defined in the same place, so a tool added to the pages is added here too. It needs no key and no account. Its row tools and the query API answer every version through one query path, so a tool's answer and the query URL it cites give the same rows. A query that would read too much of a file is refused with DuckDB SQL that answers it from the file. It also has search and fetch, the two tools ChatGPT's deep research and company knowledge call by name, which run search_datasets and read a dataset's record in the shapes those features expect. The row tools are held to the query API's limit of 60 queries in 10 seconds from one address, and each call is two queries because it also counts the matching rows. Add it to Claude Code with claude mcp add --transport http publicdata https://publicdata.au/mcp, add the URL in Claude as a custom connector, or give it to any client that connects to remote MCP servers. Each dataset with a table is also a resource at https://publicdata.au/d/<slug>/fields.json, which lists its fields with their types, the publisher's descriptions, their ranges and the values they hold, so an agent can read a dataset's shape before it writes a query.

What changed

One version for every release the publisher has made since this site started following the dataset. The date is the day the file changed on the portal.

  • 2026-10-20
    13,700 rows6 fieldsutf-8-sig3fdcb89ad146

    The publisher's server states no change date, so this version is dated by the fetch.

versions.json · changes.json · history.tar.zst (66 KB, every version's Parquet and manifest)

Questions

How do I download Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 as a CSV file?

Open https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/latest/data.csv. It redirects to the newest dated version, which is https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.csv today. The same path serves Excel, JSON, Parquet, SQLite, DuckDB, NDJSON. A dated URL never changes, so use it when the file must stay the same.

Can I open Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 in Excel?

Yes. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.xlsx is a workbook with the 13,700 rows on a records sheet, the field list on a second sheet and the provenance on a third. The CSV also opens in Excel. https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/data.csv.gz is the CSV at about a tenth of the size.

What years does Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 cover?

The current version covers 2001 to 2025. Each release from ABS becomes a new dated version here, and earlier versions stay online.

How often is Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 updated?

ABS releases it yearly. This site checks the portal every week and adds a dated version when the file changes.

Can I use Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025 commercially?

Yes. CC BY 4.0 allows commercial use, redistribution and derived works as long as the attribution is kept. The attribution string is in this page's side column and inside every file.

Is this the official source for Estimated resident population by Local Government Area, 2001 to 2025?

No. The publisher is Australian Bureau of Statistics, and its page is https://www.abs.gov.au/website-privacy-copyright-and-disclaimer. National Digital converted the publisher's file to other formats. It renamed and typed the columns and kept only those the schema lists. National Digital made these changes, and the publisher is not responsible for them. The original sits beside every version as source.csv with its SHA-256, so the two can be compared.

What this site did to the data. Cells were typed, headers were renamed and the encoding was made UTF-8. Rows were left alone. The publisher's file sits beside every version as source.csv so the change can be checked.

Attribution and citation

The licence requires the publisher's attribution. We ask that you also name publicdata.au and link to the version you used.

Australian Bureau of Statistics, ERP by LGA (2025), Age and Sex, 2001 to 2025 (ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025), ABS Data Explorer, sourced 19 October 2026, https://dataexplorer.abs.gov.au/vis?df[ds]=ABS_ABS_TOPICS&df[id]=ABS_ANNUAL_ERP_LGA2025&df[ag]=ABS&df[vs]=1.0.0, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Serialised and versioned by National Digital at publicdata.au, https://publicdata.au/d/au-population-by-lga-2025/v/2026-10-20/

The attribution alone is inside every file. Harvard is the author-date form a report or a brief asks for. Paste the HTML on a web page so the links carry.

Licence record

Australian Bureau of Statistics states the licence, CC BY 4.0, on its own page, which was read and recorded here on 18 October 2026.

Every fetch reads the licence again and stops when it has changed. The fetch that made version 2026-10-20 read it from www.abs.gov.au on 19 October 2026.

Also published on
  • Hugging Faceload_dataset("National-Digital/au-population-by-lga-2025")
  • Kagglewith a starter notebook
  • ZenodoDOI 10.5281/zenodo.23486167

Each copy carries the same attribution and links back to this page.

For agents and tools

This page carries a schema.org Dataset record and is listed in /.well-known/ard.json and /catalog.json.

Source

Australian Bureau of Statistics publishes this table on data.api.abs.gov.au. Questions about the content go to the publisher. Questions about the files here go to corrections.

Fetched 19 October 2026. Source SHA-256 3fdcb89ad1468cbf…

Improve this dataset

This page is built from register/au-population-by-lga-2025.yaml on GitHub. Anyone can propose a fix to it, such as a clearer description or a field the publisher renamed, as a pull request.

Report a file that differs from the publisher's · How to contribute