The chart above shows the population density of each urban area with a population of over 500,000. The urban areas have been normalized so as to avoid any inconsistencies with how cities and their metropolitan areas are defined by their governments. Each urban area has similar characteristics making this the definitive method with which to compare cities across various countries. All urban areas with over 500,000 people in Oceania belong to either Australia or New Zealand.
Findings
- The difference between the urban area with the greatest population density, Auckland, and the urban area with the least, Gold Coast, is 1,621 people per square kilometer (4,198 people per square mile).
- Auckland has 2.75 times the population density that Gold Coast does.
- The median population density of urban area with a minimum population of 500,000 in Oceania is 1,381 people per square kilometer (3,577 people per square mile) and the mean 1,552.71 people per square kilometer (4,022 people per square mile).
Caveats
- Data is from 2020.
- The methodology for how these urban areas have been defined can be found in the source link below. As of this writing this is the most reliable way to compare urban areas throughout the world.
- Some of these urban areas span several states, and the state that is being used here is the one where the core of the urban area is located. For instance, Milan's urban area spans both Italy and Switzerland, but since the core of the urban area is in Italy it would be listed as an Italian urban area and not a Swiss one.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest whole.
Details
Only two of the 25 Oceanian states have urban areas with at least 500,000 people. Of these, Nigeria has six and New Zealand has one.
Of the two urban areas with a population of over 500,000 people that have a population density of over 2,000 people per square kilometer one is located in Australia and one in New Zealand. The one urban area with a population of over 500,000 people that has a population density less than 1,000 people per square kilometer is located in Australia.
New Zealand has the largest mean population density in its urban areas of over 500,000 people with a mean of 2,548 people per square kilometer (6,599 people per square mile) distributed among its one urban area. Australia has the second largest mean population density in its urban areas of over 500,000 people with a mean of 1,387 people per square kilometer (3,592 people per square mile) distributed among its six urban areas.
American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Norfolk Island, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Wallis and Futuna do not have any urban areas with a population of over 500,000 inhabitants.
Sources
Demographia. 2021. "Demographia World Urban Areas: 16th Annual Edition." Accessed March 9, 2021. http://demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf.