Brisbane Square
Population
Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city - with only Melbourne and Sydney being larger. Brisbane’s estimated resident population in 2004 was 1.77 million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The Brisbane City Council website has more information about Brisbane’s population in their Statistical Portrait of the Brisbane region.
Cultural diversity
The population is also culturally diverse. Currently over twenty-six percent of Brisbane’s population was born overseas. In 1996 over fifteen percent of the population spoke a language other than English at home with Cantonese, Italian, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Greek, Spanish, German, Tagalog (Filipino), Polish and Russian being some of the most commonly spoken languages.
Brisbane’s Sister Cities
Brisbane’s Sister Cities Program is a major element of the Living in Brisbane 2010 “Regional and World City” strategy. At its basic level, this strategy is about Brisbane being open to new ideas and generous with its own – building strong links around the world and sharing knowledge. At a more tactical level it is about positioning Brisbane as a regional gateway for business, education, health services and recreation.
Brisbane has six (6) active Sister City Relationships:
- KOBE, Japan
- AUCKLAND, New Zealand
- SHENZHEN, People’s Republic of China
- SEMARANG, Indonesia
- KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan
- DAEJEON, Korea
More information about the Sister Cities Program and the Asia Pacific Cities Summit.
For more facts and statistics about Brisbane visit the Brisbane City Council website. The Living in Brisbane 2026 document also has some useful statistics and predictions about Brisbane's population and demographics.
